LUNAR List Excerpt

Peter --

Yes, Saturday's launch was a BLAST... perfect conditions!

LUNAR is a great place to do an L1 certification, you'll find a lot of helpful people. They certainly helped me.

I joined LUNAR about 18 months ago, did my L1 cert 8 months later at the May '00 Launch and my L2 in last September at Black Rock. So I have just went through the much of the same process you are considering.

If you haven't discovered them already, I recommend 2 good on-line rocketry resources: the USENET newsgroup rec.models.rockets and the www.rocketryonline.com website.

My suggestion: Learn your way up.

Build and fly a few mid-power rockets to get familiar with HPR construction techniques, recovery systems, motor retention, etc. Get comfortable with assembling motor reloads, as it is pretty tough to buy a single-use H motor in California.

Your L1 bird should be capable of flying on a G-motor, and you should do that a few times. Then the only thing that changes for your L1 flight is a larger motor (H) , in a rocket you have flown already flown several times. For maximum chances of successful flight and recovery you want your cert flights to be low and slow. Sure, you could pop an H in your Aura -- but it would fly out of sight and you may lose it. No recovery, no cert.

For example, I flew my LOC IV on F and G motors 6 times before I popped the smallest H motor for my cert flight. (An H128 to 1600 feet, L1 cert on the first try).

I don't recommend trying to do both an L1 and L2 cert with the same rocket. The rocket would have to fly well on G-motors (for pre-L1 flights) all the way through a J motor (an 8x increase in total impulse). I don't think you'll find a bird that will fly on a G and not shred or fly out of sight on a J.

So think in terms of a separate bird for L2. Besides, building is half the fun!. My L2 bird was a LOC Magnum. I flew it twice on I-motors and then popped in a J460 for the L2 cert. The only thing that was new was the J. (See a pattern here?).

We are limited to H and below at LUNAR so you'll have to do your L2 at Black Rock, the Fresno Tripoli launches or Hayburner.

You'll find rocketeers are only too happy to answer questions so don't be afraid to ask. And above all have fun!

Kevin

Level one is just that simple. However, Level two involves passing a written test, then flying on a J, K or L motor. There are several fliers at LUNAR that can administer the test. You can click the high power cert links on the NAR website to find the questions for study. Try not to be in too big a hurry to get to L2. Think of it as a journey. Learn what you can along the way. Come out to Fresno and see a few L2 birds fly, and then you'll really get the bug! While it can be done, a rocket small enough to fly on an H will be a bit small to fly on a J. Birds like the Binder Excel fly great on H motors, but will do some very serious altitude on a J350. The best idea for cert flights is "low and slow". If you really want to do both certs on the same rocket, a PML Endeavour might be good choice. L1 cert with an H242T-S (won't go very high, but will get the job done), and later, a bit over 4000 feet on a J350W-M. And if you install their Quick -Switch motor mount, you can fly it on even larger J's. I wouldn't recommend putting too large a motor in it, because their Quantum tubing isn't designed to go trans-sonic. I'm at most of the LUNAR launches through the year, so feel free to contact me there, or we can communicate through the e-mail. (I'm the fat curly haired guy that flew the yellow and black HPR two-stage on Saturday. That flight was too cool for words! Shame about the stripped chute on the booster, but I did learn from it. Next month, perfection!)

James