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: | 2013-10-06 |
| 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 |
This was a simple sport flight of the Ricochet, which I haven't flown in over a year.
As the propellant started burning, the rocket took off with 10 Gs of acceleration, averaging 3.9 Gs for the full 1/2 second burn. It reached a speed of 44 mph, then coasted for 2.4 seconds to reach an apogee of 98 feet. In spite of the somewhat gusty winds it flew straight up.
After apogee, it dropped 11 feet in 6/10 seconds, deploying the parachute at 87 feet. The chute opened well and the rocket returned at 7 mph. It landed nearby after a 11.5 second flight.
As for the performance of this flight, the A8 motor tied its lowest altitude record of 98 feet, and it had a record low speed, peak and average acceleration. The A8-3 motor had a precisely timed delay at 3 seconds exactly.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes A8-3 |
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