Flight

First flight for the sniper came at a TORC regional five years ago.  For some reason I wasn't able to find a D12-7 locally.  My local Hobby Lobby had two pegs full of D12-0 motors, but no D12-7s, which seemed to be like finding jelly, but no peanut butter.  My second option was to pick up a pack from my on-field vendor, but he was also out.  I had a C11-7 and an E9-8 in my motor stash, but neither had the kind of history that made me comfortable using them.  The C11-7 came from the same pack as the one that destroyed my Maxi Mini Max the first time back in February, 2015.  The E9-8 was from a pack that included the motor that thoroughly killed my FSI Dart clone in 2013.  I went with the C11-7 with no confidence whatsoever.  Turns out my lack of confidence was well founded.  The Sniper left the pad looking great, much like the Mega Mini Max had.  I actually got great lift off and climb out pics of the Sniper, and had started to lower the camera when the C11-7 blew.  The nose cone blew off and the 1/4" elastic snapped like a string.  The body tube fell to the ground while the nose cone and chute recovered with the wind to the right.  The end of the body tube was discolored by the blast, but that would wipe off.  The tri-fold had to be replaced, but it would be ready the next time I got the chance to fly on a field large enough.  

Hobby Lobby never did restock the D12-7, so I'd eventually settled on a D12-5 for the next flight.  This flight was in the WSR beanfield in December, 2017.  It was a windy day, and I went with a smaller 12" chute for the flight to cut down on drift.  This time it actually completed the flight, windcocking fairly severely to the right as it left the pad, which cut down on overall altitude.  Ejection came just as the Sniper tipped over and the rocket immediately began drifting back across the flightline before ending up fairly deep in the beans.  It was recovered without damage and the next flight should be in the cornfield with an Estes E12, which I'm looking forward to greatly.