The July 12th launch was SUPER!
 
Jon Ward had a successful Tripoli Level 3 Certification. His rocket Red Robin Fireball flew on an Aerotech M1297 to 6166 feet. This was the first L3 cert flight at SEARS. Chris Short is now a Tripoli Tap Member.
 
There were three Level 1 Certifications. Rob Wilson flew his “Emily Grace” on an H123,  Ricky Nikolson  flew his PML Callisto on a H148.  and Richard Crews flew his Little Dog on a H123. Congrats to all!  
There were 23 glider flights. Daymon Campbell won the draw from the prize pool. He picked an Estes Eliminator. Alexa Stetson won the Glider duration with a 90 second flight. Her pick from the prize pool was a Quest Bright Hawk.
 
There we several Georgia Tech fliers. Lelia and Demetri had unsuccessful L2 certs but they will succeed next time. Both Lelia and Demetri are aerospace majors and will be on the Georgia Tech USLI team next year.
 
We were spared from the forecasted thundershowers until 4 o’clock. There was one storm threatening but it only cooled the air which was a relief. Another relief was the SnoCone Stand run by Alexa Stetson. I forgot how good SnoCones were. Thanks Alexa!
 
I had requested more launch help. The response was great and appreciated. By the way, Russ Roberts actually likes being LCO and does a great job.

There are pictures and videos in our gallery. 

We enjoyed having John and Sherry Stein back. John treated us to a flight of his R/C Centurian. Jack Kale came for a visit. He is being treated for cancer so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
 
We will not have an August launch. So build some rockets in the air conditioning. See you on Sept 6th when the event is Scale Rocket Day. Thanks all for making the July Launch a great one!
 
Greg Lane,
S.E.A.R.S. President

Demetri’s skidmark launch

Alexa Stetson’s SnoCone Stand (more…)

Oscar Patterson Elementary in Panama City, FL is a NASA Explorer School. Their 5th Grade classes built Estes Alphas this year. They were launched in mass today at the school with the assistance of John Hansel and Greg Lane of SEARS.  John and Greg also provided a rocketry demo. The 5th Grade is fortunate to be taking a trip to Kennedy Space Center this year. The trip was arranged by Ms. Becky Pelton a Patterson Teacher in cooperation with NASA. Thanks to Ms. Candace Parker for inviting SEARS back for another event.

More pictures are available in the SEARS Gallery.

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John Hansel’s Report: We had a great launch. It was overcast early but the skies did open up somewhat as the day wore on.  I was almost summer hot and humid, everyone had to drink lots of water. We set up at the western most sprinkler hub and launch off the side of the road downwind from there.  The wind was 10 to 15 from the W to WS. 

There were a lot of people there. Randy Wiggins passed his level 2 written test and L2 flight, see videos. Great job Randy.  I think I was the only person to fly an upscale for the monthly event, I flew a 5 times upscale of a Totally Tubular.  Bob Mullins had a bulkhead fail in flight and lawn darted the upper section
and nosecone of one of his rockets. 

Chris Short and I drag raced LOC Minie Mags on I-161. I was first off the pad, flew highest and landed last.  Chris Short Rocketry was present as a vendor and was please with his sales.  Chris had Clark Word in tow from Birmingham.  Daymon was there with his wife and flew his first rockets with the club, he also lawn darted his first rocket with us.  We had some visitors who came to the launch, found out about us on the web site, name unknown but their 3 boys really enjoyed watching my Ultimate Endeavour go up on a AMW K-1000 sparky.

Chris Crews flew a Gizmo on a motor that had it vanish from the pad, what a liftoff!  Crews also flew his L3 project rocket on an L motor as a test flight.  That was really great seeing that 6 inch rocket come off the tower under an L.  There were ten or so of us ended up at Crews-BAR-B-QUE for dinner and rocket stories (lies).

Visit our gallery to enjoy more  photos and videos.

Randy Wiggins and his L2 Rocket

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The SouthEast Alabama Rocketry Society held their April launch on the April 12th in Samson, AL. The April 5th launch was cancelled due to rain. This launch was threatened as morning showers were expected. Therefore we planned a late start at Noon. I arrived in Samson at 11:00 and the rain was pouring. I was very worried the launch was a scratch but, we gave it 30 minutes and the rain began to trail off. But who would come with the iffy weather? Enough for a great launch it turned out. We had two new members Tom Macpherson and his wife Penny & Daymon Campbell and his wife Pearl. These folks are very enthusiastic. Tom had many flights and Daymon plans to bring rockets next time. We had most of the regulars including Bill Bosley and Reese. It was nice as the new wives were socializing as well as Bob Stetson’s and Jon Ward’s Daughters along with the other kids.

The event was Peep Spot Landing? The target was about 60 feet from the pad. The peeps were being lofted with great determination to hit the target. Various strategies developed including picking smaller motors and pointing the rod toward the target. There we about 50 Peep flights. Tom Macpherson had the closest peep to the target which was about 10 feet. Tom got the first draw from the special prize pool donated by Sunward. The remaining Sunward prizes were given out to those participating in the peep event.

The weather continued to improve with the clouds lifting and we had blue skies by 5 o’clock. This was very timely as Jon Ward and John Hansel made several L flights from John Hansel’s tower on the away cell.  Then Chris Short made the first N flight at SEARS on an N2020 in his 15 foot War Eagle rocket. The flight went to 6500 feet. Sarah Gifford made her Level 1 Cert Flight at the end of the day. Congrats Sarah!

So after being doubtful that the launch would even be a go, I believe it was one of the best ever. Funny, I keep saying that after every launch. The May launch has been moved from May 3rd to May 10th. I hope you can make it.

Greg

Click here for more pictures and here for videos.
 

Greg Lane’s Peeps on a Snitch

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SEARS 572 held its month launch on March 1, 2008. The day started out a little cool, but turned into a beautiful day to launch. The high was about 65 F and the winds were mainly light.

Jim Flis day was the main event. Anyone who launched a Fliskits rocket had their name put into a hat for a prize. Jim Flis was very generous to send rockets for the prizes. 25 Jim Flis creations were flown and there was a mass launch of Fliskits.  The Fliskit Decaffinator and the Frick & Frack flew. They are both impressive and will make excellent demo rockets.  See pictures here and a video of the mass launch here.

There were many high power launches. There were two J motor drag races and 2 L motor launches. The Auburn team had an exciting L motor launch. The video can be seen here.

The quick flight stats show 98 flights from 19 flyers. Marty Wiggins was the “Frequent Flyer” of the day with 16 flights. We are missing a couple of flight cards, so the total is probably 101 flights. Here is the motor breakdown.

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SEARS supported the Alabama Aerospace week at Landmark Park in Dothan, AL Feb 20 - Feb 24. We provided a Newton’s Law talk and rocket demo flights. The activities at Aerospace Week also included a R/C Airplane demos and landing/takeoff by an Apache helicopter. This year, rain starting on Thursday limited the number of demos. Thanks to Jack Kale, Randy Wiggins and Marty Wiggins of SEARS for doing the demos.

See photos below and more in the gallery.

The crowd on the 20th

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SEARS 572 had its monthly launch in Samson, AL on Feb 2nd, 2008. You could not beat the weather as it warmed up nicely with high clouds and low winds. Our event was Egg Loft. Zachary Wilson won and chose the Exoskell from the prize pool. The Auburn SLI Team brought their 6 inch rocket with a instrument payload. They launched it on L motors. Greg Lane had a successful M flight with the Mighty Mo to 5352 feet. He also launched his new X15 rocket on a K550. Launch was fine but the chute did not fully deploy. It can be repaired. We were pleased to have Rob Wilson his wife Corinne, their three children and his Father and the In-Laws, Roger & Connie Leete. Thanks to John Hansel for the setting up the heavy duty launch gear and Randy, Kendall and John for the LCO support.

Rob Wilson with kids.

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SEARS 572 had its monthly launch in Samson, AL on Jan 5, 2008. The day started out cool, but warmed to the upper 60s in the afternoon. The winds were mainly light.  They got up to about 10 mph around noon, but fell as the day wound down.
 
The day was one of the biggest attended in SEARS history.  There were 18 vehicles at the launch.  The totals were 18 fliers and 102 flights.

Many came to see the flight of the “Hewes Space Special”.  The maiden flight was not great, as the rocket nosed in.  John says it is repairable.

John Hansel and Heather Parker with the the Hewes Space Special. Heather did the excellent artwork.  (more…)

The SEARS Dec 1st Launch in Samson was a Christmas present in itself! We were blessed with great weather having a high of 69 degrees and winds under 10 mph. Our event was ‘Tis The Season and John Hansel won the event with his Christmas Tree rocket. John Hansel also brought his Hewes Space Special to show. See it fly at the January 5th Launch.

John Hansel’s Christmas Tree Rocket	John Hansel’s Hewes Space Special

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SEARS 572 had the monthly launch in Samson today, 11-3-07. The day started out cool, with no breeze at all.  The winds picked up as the day worn on and were 10-15 mph by the time we left at 2:00 PM.
 
There were only 7 fliers for the day.  Those who could not make it missed a good day. There were 9 high power flights, with the biggest one being John Hansel’s Super Shadow on a J420.  Jack Kale was the most frequent flyer, with  9 flights.

Randy’s Scratch Rocket on an I	Marty’s Shuttle Thang

See more pictures and the videos in our gallery.

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