The Ricochet: The Ricochet is another design inspired by air defense missiles. It has a reducer to a long, thin payload section. It is an easy, modern kit. Instead of regular gloss, I used a metallic blue paint, and painted some silver rings around the tube heads, and clear coated the entire model after the decals were added. The payload section has vent holes for use with a barometric altimeter. I like this bird, it's tall but pretty light, and it travels pretty far on smaller motors. This rocket has flown higher than the Time Warner Center Towers in NY, and the Bell Atlantic Tower in Philadelphia. From sea-level it could have flown over the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
| Flight Date: | 2011-10-08 |
| Rocket Name: | Ricochet |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Richocet {Kit} (003208) |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | A8-3 |
| Launch Site: | Penn Manor School Lancaster PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 98 Feet |
The last flight successful, I decided to try another flight this time with a smaller A motor instead of the B. Doesn't fly so impressively with an A. This A motor burned for 4/10 second, generating 4.9 Gs on average and a peak of 11.5Gs. It reached a maximum speed of only 45 mph - about half of what the B motor did. It coasted for another 2.1 seconds and reached apogee of only 98 feet as it arched over. 7/10 seconds later, at an altitude of 92 feet, the ejection charge fired. It then descended under a full canopy at 8 mph, the entire flight finished in 10.5 seconds. Sucessful, but not too impressive. The A motor would be good for a tiny field, but I don't normally do tiny fields.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes A8-3 |
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