Positive Ascent's Final Flight - L3200 Vmax

Additional photos from the launch have been posted HERE.

This weekend was the September club launch with URRG in Potter NY. I had been planning to fly Positive Ascent at this launch for a while, but there was no way I could have known how perfect the weather was going to be. Winds were calm to about 5 mph, the temperature was comfortable at about 75, and the sky was clear and transparent all day.

I had the rocket all ready to go when I got to the launch, so I basically just enjoyed others' flights until everyone was there that wanted to see the flight.

It turned out to be an absolutely perfect 20th, and final flight. The L3200 ripped the 36 ish pound rocket off the pad hard with about 850 pounds of thrust. The flame was as long as the rocket and mach diamonds were clearly visible. The rocket accelerated to about 450 mph in one second, and coasted to about 4575 feet. Since the winds were so light, it came basically straight down and landed only a few hundred feet away.

It was definitely a spectacular way to end the rocket's long stretch of flying for over 4 years, and 20 flights. I'm glad that I get to keep the rocket that I did my level 3 certification flight on, knowing it had a 100% success rate.

I was told quite explicitly by a fellow URRG member that I am only allowed to retire a rocket if I build one to replace it. We will see how that shapes up in time I guess.

I took a ground video through my phone, as well as an onboard video. The photos and video links are below.

GROUND VIDEO

HD ONBOARD VIDEO

Perflectflight Stratologger Altimeter Data.