The Flight of the Black Diamond
So I was at Walmart a couple of weeks ago and happened to notice that they have rockets. Model rockets that is, not SCUD rockets. I always wanted one when I was little and what better time than now to get one. I was excited to tell my Nephew Jake about the rockets to see if he would share my excitement. He did so off to Walmart to pick the right one. I settled on a set of two. One was over 21 inches tall and required very little in the way of assembly. The other "The Black Diamond" was only a tad over 12 inches tall and required quite a bit more assembly. So I decided I would build and fly the larger rocket first. Well it did not take long for Erin to catch the rocket bug and she wanted her own. She took it upon herself to build the smaller rocket. With a lot of determination and time she did it. It was a beautiful rocket.
We decided what better day to launch than Easter Sunday. Everyone in the family would get to witness Erin's rocket building skills and we could launch two rockets. What a show it would be! Well first to launch was "The Black Diamond". On it's maiden flight the engine used was an "A" engine. The engines letter determines the intensity of the thrust. So "A" is basically a baby engine. It flew great, all of Erin's hard work paid off. Nose cone disengaged as planned and the rocket gently fell back to earth from a flight of over 700ft. Retrieving the rockets was the hard part as the park by my parents house is still all but flooded.
Second to launch was "The Outlaw". It would launch with a "C" engine. Everything went as planned and "The Outlaw fell back to earth from over 1400ft with the assistance of it's on board parachute. Upon closer inspection though the parachute was destroyed.
Time for "The Black Diamond" to reach out to the heavens once more. This time it was decide by me that she would fly with a "C" engine. This as it turns out was a bad decision. The launch was gorgeous. It went up so fast and furious that everyone lost contact really fast. Then the wait for the touch down. More waiting. More waiting. Where the hell is it?
We never saw it come back down. According to my Dad it got stuck in a cloud! My brother in law Stephan finally spotted a black spec floating away from us. Was this "The Black Diamond"? If you ask my brother, it was a bird. Stephan thinks it is the rocket. I tend to believe Stephan, it more than likely was the rocket. All of Erin's hard work down the drain. I felt horrible. She put a lot of time into gluing five fins, sanding, priming, painting, and assembling and she did a great job. It was a beautiful rocket.
RIP "The Black Diamond" 04-16-06
We decided what better day to launch than Easter Sunday. Everyone in the family would get to witness Erin's rocket building skills and we could launch two rockets. What a show it would be! Well first to launch was "The Black Diamond". On it's maiden flight the engine used was an "A" engine. The engines letter determines the intensity of the thrust. So "A" is basically a baby engine. It flew great, all of Erin's hard work paid off. Nose cone disengaged as planned and the rocket gently fell back to earth from a flight of over 700ft. Retrieving the rockets was the hard part as the park by my parents house is still all but flooded.
Second to launch was "The Outlaw". It would launch with a "C" engine. Everything went as planned and "The Outlaw fell back to earth from over 1400ft with the assistance of it's on board parachute. Upon closer inspection though the parachute was destroyed.
Time for "The Black Diamond" to reach out to the heavens once more. This time it was decide by me that she would fly with a "C" engine. This as it turns out was a bad decision. The launch was gorgeous. It went up so fast and furious that everyone lost contact really fast. Then the wait for the touch down. More waiting. More waiting. Where the hell is it?
We never saw it come back down. According to my Dad it got stuck in a cloud! My brother in law Stephan finally spotted a black spec floating away from us. Was this "The Black Diamond"? If you ask my brother, it was a bird. Stephan thinks it is the rocket. I tend to believe Stephan, it more than likely was the rocket. All of Erin's hard work down the drain. I felt horrible. She put a lot of time into gluing five fins, sanding, priming, painting, and assembling and she did a great job. It was a beautiful rocket.
RIP "The Black Diamond" 04-16-06
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