MB Rocketry Research - Media - NCR Launches

These are pictures and videos from all the NCR launches I have attended (scroll down). NCR has one of the best launch sites in northern Colorado. They use two sites during the year. In the winter months they use the Atlas site. It's on old abandon missile silo with a nice big concrete pad to launch from. This site has a lower waiver and a smaller recovery area. The North site is used for the rest of the flying season, with a 20,000 foot waiver (30,000 foot call-in at big launches), almost flat recovery ground and very little vegetation for the near perfect launch field.

To get to the Atlas site:

From the intersection of Colorado Highway 14 and US Highway 85 in Ault...

• turn North on Highway 85 and continue thru Pierce and past Nunn approximately 11.5 miles.
• Make a right on County Road 122 (Grover Road)
• Follow Rd 122 8.25 miles to the intersection with County Road 45.
• Make left onto County Road 45,opening and then closing gate as necessary*
• Follow Rd 45 north approximately 1 mile to launch site on right side of road.

   

  

  January 2003

  These are pictures and videos from the January 4th, 2003 launch in Northern Colorado.

  January 2003 Photo Album

  Here are the videos

  These video's require a MPEG 1 video player.  It was a cold day and my hands were shaking to the video's are a little jittery.

  • NCR Video 1 - (.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 2 - (.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 3 - (.8 meg)

  • NCR Video 4 - (1.9 meg)

  • NCR Video 5 - (3 meg)

  • NCR Video 6 - (.9 meg)

  • NCR Video 7 - (.6 meg)

  • NCR Video 8 - (3 meg)

  • NCR Video 9 - (2.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 10 - (3.5 meg)

  • NCR Video 11 - (1.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 12 - (1 meg)

  • NCR Video 13 - (1 meg)

  • NCR Video 14 - (1.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 15 - (1.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 16 - (1.3 meg)

  • NCR Video 17 - (1.7 meg)

  • NCR Video 18 - (1.3 meg)

  • NCR Video 19 - Ken Swanks rocket. (1 meg)

   

  February 2003

  These are pictures and videos from the February 1 2003 launch in Northern Colorado at the north launch site. It was a very nice day with some wind but the temp was in the low 70's. Not bad for a February day in Colorado.

   

  February 2003 Photo Album

  Here are the videos

   

  • NCR1 - James's rocket had a great flight. Even with a tracking device, most of the rocket was lost. (1.9 meg)

  • NCR2 - Early morning flight line and north site launch area. (5.8 meg)

  • NCR3 - Unknown. (1 meg)

  • NCR4 - Unknown. (1.7 meg)

  • NCR5 - Unknown. (.7 meg)

  • NCR6 - Ken Swank's level two cert flight. Congrat's Ken. (5.8meg)

  • NCR7 - Jeff finally got his Arreaux off the pad after several igniter problems. (1 meg)

  • NCR8 - I think this was Carl's first cluster of the day. (3.1 meg)

  • NCR9 - Unknown. (.8 meg)

  • NCR10 - Unknown. (1 meg)

  • NCR11 - Unknown. (1.8 meg)

  • NCR12 -  Carl's second cluster of the day. (1.1 meg)

  • NCR13 - Unknown Bullpup rocket. (1.2 meg)

  • NCR14 - Unknown. (1 meg)

  • NCR15 - Chris's hybrid that did not get filled all the way. I had to stop filming so I could see the rocket coming down, which landed only fifteen feet away. Too bad, it was a nice rocket. (1 meg)

  • NCR16 - Jim Amos's new modular rocket, modular electronics pac and new AMW motor. (2.4 meg)

  • NCR17 - Unknown. (1.1 meg)

  • Missileworks level 2 project

   

  June 2004

  MB Rocketry attended the June 12th NCR launch at the North site for my level 3 cert flight. The weather was somewhat nice as the wind was not too bad in the morning and calmed down to nil till about 1:30 when a small front came through. The day was mostly overcast with some high cirrus clouds and the temp was between 72 and 78 degree’s. It was a great day for flying rockets. Videos  and Pictures are below.
  
     Due to the conditions that can happen at this site (wind and weather etc.) I had pre prepped my rocket the night before. That way I was ready to fly early or later depending on the wind. I had both Tom Savoie and Bill Beggs (TRA TAP members) give the rocket a once over. Tom helped me test my tracking device that I made since it would be the first time in use. We tested it at 2 miles on the ground and it was working good. So I decided to fly. I had to wait for Ken Swank's flight to use the AMW 75/6000 case. After letting the case cool down and cleaning it up, I loaded the grains into the case as per the instructions. It was to go up on an AMW 1480 Red Rhino. Bill helped me load the rocket up on my launch pad and prep it. I turned on the tracking unit and then armed both Missile Works altimeters. The count down 5...4...3...2...1...launch. The motor hit hard off the pad with a huge red flame. The rocket was moving faster and faster going straight up. The boost was great until about 80 to 90% of the way through the burn, the forward closure snap-ring let go with a huge report. The rocket then corkscrewed a few times and several pieces started to fall. The fin can section came down straight as an arrow, backwards. When the forward closure blew out, it knocked the motor case out of the back of the fin can about a foot and a half and landed with a hard thud. The fin can was standing up like it was ready to be launched again. We started to walk the field to find all the other pieces of the rocket. I was able to recover almost all the rocket pieces including both altimeters (both need fixed), my tracking device (needs repair), a usable nose cone, and a few other odds and ends. My main parachute and main shock cord got striped away and may have been reported to be flying over Kansas somewhere. Finding almost all the pieces help to tell the story a bit better. When the forward closure blew out, it hit the 1/2 inch plywood bulkhead. It hit with so much force that both legs of the u-bolt on the threaded side got bent into S-shapes. At this point the forward closure changed directions and went out the lower side on the drogue section and of course from there the rocket was well up to speed that it folded over and broke into several pieces.  I must say that I was happy that no one got hurt. So much for my level 3 attempt. I will be building a new level 3 project for possible launch at Balls this year. Thanks to Tom and Bill and everyone else for their support.

   

     Ken Swank started off the day with his SATV3 rocket on an AMW 1350 White Wolf for his second attempt for his level 3. The flight was nice and fast and on his second round made the grade as his rocket landed with out any damage.
  
     Steve Mashburn was up next for his level 3 attempt with his huge red rocket called the Beast. He also flew on an AMW 1480 Red Rhino with a great boost. It was a great flight with lots of whistling. I guess that’s what happens when you have big vent holes. Anyway, Steve's flight was picture perfect with a nice flight and great landing with two eight foot chutes.
  
     Don Spillman had very successful flight on his scratch built rocket called Lunar Two (an MB Rocketry design). He flew it on a J210. Since he used motor ejection, and the chute came out on top, he had a bit of a walk, but it was worth it. The rocket was fine and another cert flight completed.
  
     Chips Anderson also had a go at two cert flights. He was able to crank out level one and two on the same rocket. Great job Chips.
  
     So a congratulations to all who certified this weekend. Everyone did a great job.

   

  June 2004 Photo Album

   

  Ken S. Level 3 and Don S. Level 2 Pictures
   

  June 12th Videos

  • Tall Daddy 1 - Here is my rocket during the boost phase. Mpeg1 (2.8 meg)

  • Tall Daddy 1a - Here is a another angle of the rocket going up. Mpeg1 (3.3 meg)

  • Tall Daddy 2 - Here is how it landed. Mpeg1 (1 meg)

  • Tall Daddy 3 -  A close-up of the fin can in the ground. Mpeg1 (3.2 meg)

  • SATV3 - Ken Swanks level 3 flight. Mpeg1 (1.4 meg)

  • Lunar2 - Don's level 2 flight. Mpeg1 ( 1.1 meg)

  • Ken 2 - Ken brought up another rocket. Mpeg1 (2.1 meg)

   

  Mile High Mayhem 2004

  Here are some pictures from the NCR 3 day launch on April 16th - 18th called Mile High Mayhem. I only attended Saturday the 17th, but that is when most of the flights happened. Here are some of the pictures from Saturday.

  Mile High Mayhem 2004 Photo Album

  Here are the videos from the day. I only a have a few Video's due to video camera problems.

   

  • Ken's Level 3 attempt - Here is Ken's level 3 attempt. Due to a small zipper in the fin can, he was not given his level status. Video by Steve Mashburn (3.2 meg)

  • Steve's Bruiser - Here is Steve's Bruiser with  central K  AMW Green Gorilla air starting 2 H Smokey Sam's  Great job Steve. (5.7meg)

  • Burt's Two Stage - Here is Burt's two stage rocket. Great flight with a nice separation. Video by Steve Mashburn. (1.5 meg)

   

  Mile High Mayhem 2005

  NCR hosted its third annual Mile High Mayhem at the North launch site in Colorado. This three day event had a great turn out with winds on Friday but a great day Saturday with little to no wind,  sunny cloudless sky's and not too hot. Just one of the best rocket launch day's you could ask for. I took Friday off of work and made it to the launch site about 1:00pm. I got to play LCO'ed from 2-4 and I helped a bit with the 4-6 shift was well.

      It was windy most of the day on Friday but it subsided as the day went on. I had prepped Sponge Bob before driving up. After they closed the waiver, I finished up with the parachutes and shock cords. Friday night I had some entertainment for the people who were camping onsite. We made a movie screen out of a white bed sheet and watched DVD's.  "Balls 13" and then "The Rundown" were the movies that we played. The wind died down  enough to have a small fire in the fire pit. Although it got cold overnight, it was very calm and the stars were bright. The next morning I got a few great sunrise pictures to what was going to be a great day.

      As the morning went on more and more people showed up. I had to wait for the motor reload and case to arrive from Jim of Missile Works. Thanks Jim for all you help and generosity.

      My wife arrived with the kids and several other friends and family to watch and cheer Sponge Bob Round Pants. After doing a little work to get the motor to go into the motor tube (Thanks Ken and Bill for your help with this) I finished up getting the Sponge Bob ready to fly. We loaded up the motor and started walking out to the pad. With a few people helping and a few more taking pictures and video, we got Sponge Bob loaded onto the rail and started prepping the rocket for flight. I loaded the igniter and hooked up the leads. Waiting till others around us got their rockets loaded onto pads, I armed the electronics and got back. The first igniter popped but did not light the motor. After the cycled through the other rockets Ken brought out another couple of igniters and some thermalight. We reinstalled the new igniter and it was ready to go. 3…2…1… the igniter popped and a second later the AMW 1480 RR motor came to life. With a huge red flame and a not to fast lift off, Sponge Bob headed into the sky for a very nice straight boost.

       At apogee the drogue came out on queue and it was on its way back down. The first main charge was set at 1500 feet and as the main came out, it got tangled with the main shock cord. It tried to open but never fully inflated. With all the shock cord and 6 foot drogue and also the pilot chute for the main, it landed harder than I wanted, but for no main, it was not bad at all. There was next to no damage at all other than a couple of scratches and a couple of very small tube dings at the top of the tube by the nose cone. It was a very easy fix to fly again so I was given a successful level 3. Not bad for a fiberglassed cardboard rocket.

      Thanks to all who came out to help me and cheer on Sponge Bob. The really neat thing is on one of the video’s, my kids along with several other kids can be heard singing the Sponge Bob Square (replaced with Round) Pants song while the rocket  was in flight. How cool is that.

  Mile High Mayhem 2005 Photo Album

  Here are some videos from the Mile High Mayhem launch Both Friday and Saturday.

  • Sponge Bob - My level 3 cert flight on a AMW M1480RR wmv 3.2 meg
  • Sponge Bob - Same video in Mpeg format. 6.2 meg
  • Sponge Bob - Loading Sponge bob onto the rail. 4.7 meg
  • Sponge Bob - From another camera angle. wmv 1.4 meg
  • Kevin's L3 - Here is Kevin's level 3 attempt. wmv 2.3 meg
  • Don Spillman's Vidroc - Great video in the rocket. wmv 2 meg
  • Doug's Camera Rocket - Flying a an M1315. wmv 2.1 meg
  • Doug's Camera Rocket - From another camera angle. wmv 2.2 meg
  • Bill's Giant Misquote - On a RR motor. wmv 1.1 meg

   

  Oktoberfest 2005

  NCR hosted it's annual Oktoberfest from Sept. 30th - Oct 2nd with a great turn out. I have put up all the pictures I took and videos I was able to capture.

  Oktoberfest 2005 Photo Album #1

  Oktoberfest 2005 Photo Album #2

  Here are the videos from the 3 days.

  These are the videos I took of rocket during Oktoberfest. Since I wasn't going to fly anything I just took pictures and videos for people. If you see your rocket here and there is no description, please let me know and I will make changes.  Mikey B. All Videos are in MPEG1 format to keep the size small but still have good quality video.     Here are the videos I took on Friday:

  • Warren's Alt attempt.  1.0meg
  • John W Alt. attempt.  1.1meg
  • Unknown. Level 1 attempt  1.8meg
  • Unknown.      .7meg

  These are videos from Saturdays launch:

  • Unknown Hybrid.  2.8meg
  • Unknown.  1 meg
  • Garett's Rocket.  .8meg
  • Unknown. Rocket with BJ motor.  2.6meg
  • Unknown. Another rocket with BJ motor. 2.5meg
  • Steve's Harley Rocket on a GG. 2.4 meg
  • Steve's Rocket under the chute. 1.9meg
  • Troy and James drag race. .8meg
  • Unknown. 1.3meg
  • Crowd during the middle of the day. 5 meg
  • Unknown. 1.8meg
  • Mark B rocket. 2.1meg
  • Unknown rocket on BJ motor. 2.5 meg
  • Unknown. 1.1meg
  • Unknown. 1.7meg
  • Unknown. 1meg
  • Doug G rocket camera with correction control. Nice two stage flight. 4 meg.
  • Unknown. 1.7meg
  • Unknown. 2.4meg
  • Unknown. 4.1meg
  • Bill B Arcus Hybrid The system deployed early due to the oscillations from the motor. 1.6meg
  • Unknown. 1.6 meg
  • Unknown. 1.7meg
  • Unknown. 3.8meg
  • Eric P with his L hybrid. 2.2meg
  • Unknown. .9meg
  • Unknown. 1.3 meg
  • Unknown. 2.5 meg
  • Brandon Smart's . Level 1 cert attempt. Congrats Brandon. .9 meg
  • Unknown. .8 meg
  • Unknown. .5meg
  • Dave's aeronux .9 meg
  • Unknown. 1.4meg
  • Garett's 75mm minimum diameter rocket on a K600 GG. This rocket was headed to 12,000 feet. 1.7meg
  • Unknown. .5meg
  • Troy's camera rocket with a skidmark. .7meg

   

  Oktoberfest 2006

  NCR hosted Oktoberfest 2006 on Oct 6th - 8th. Here are all the pictures and videos I took while I was at the launch. I was able to get upclose and personal on a few of the big launches with some great footage. Over 58 videos in all. All the video are in Mpeg 2 DVD 720x480 to keep the quality up so some of the files are a bit large.

  NCR Oktoberfest 2006 Photo Album

  • Adam Boggs's - Adam flys an "L-730" cesaroni motor. 13.5 meg
  • Art's BAMF 1 - Art's Giant Leap Project going up. 11 meg.
  • Art's BAMF 2 - Coming down. 18.5 meg
  • Art' BAMF 3 - Going up again. 42 meg
  • Art's BAMF 4 - Coming downagain. 56 meg.
  • Chris L's Deuce - The Deuce going up on two J800's. 15 meg.
  • Chris's Tomahawk - Chris flys on a J420. 5 meg.
  • Civil Air Patrol Project - L cluster project. 15 meg.
  • Conway's L3 - Conway get's his level 3. Includes the whole flight all the way to the ground. 24 meg.
  • Dale and Patty's Double Trouble - Dale and Patty fly a cluster rocket. 12 meg.
  • Doug's Freeze Frame - Doug's new rocket Freeze Frame. 24 meg.
  • Ed's J350 - Ed flys for the Super Shot contest on a J350. 4 meg.
  • High Tension's hole - The hole made by High Tensions motors. 3 meg.
  • Joe's Porta Potty - Can porta potty's fly? 8 meg.
  • John's K250 - John fly's an old K250 motor. WOW! 13.5 meg.
  • Justin's High Tension - Justin flys 2 "M" motors and air starts two sparky "K" motors. 23 meg.
  • Mark's M motor - Mark flys a "M" motor. 13 meg.
  • Quark 1 - Quark rocket. 2.3 meg.
  • Quark 2 - 7.6 meg.
  • Spool Rocket - Need I say more? 10.8 meg.
  • Steve's Tomahawk - Steve F fly his Tomahawk on a J420. 3.5 meg.
  • Steve Marshal's K1100 - Steve flys a K1100. 11.6 meg.
  • Talon 2 - Geof Givens Talon 2 on a G64-4. 5.4 meg
  • camp on Friday - View of the flight line on Friday. 16.7 meg
  • NCR1 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR2 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR3 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR4 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR5 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR6 - Unknown rocket - 5 meg
  • NCR7 - Unknown rocket - 5 meg
  NCR8 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR9 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR10 - Unknown rocket - 6 meg
  • NCR11 - Unknown rocket - 8 meg
  • NCR12 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR13 - Natalie and Neil Givens"Long Tall Sally" ASP Tall Boy on a F39-6. 2 meg
  • NCR14 - Unknown rocket - 5 meg
  • NCR15 - Unknown rocket - 8 meg
  • NCR16 - Unknown rocket - 6 meg
  • NCR17 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR18 - Unknown rocket - 7 meg
  • NCR19 - Unknown rocket - 9 meg
  • NCR20 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR21 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR22 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR23 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR24 - Unknown rocket - 13 meg
  • NCR25 - Unknown rocket - 6 meg
  NCR26 - Unknown rocket - 13 meg
  • NCR27 - Unknown rocket - 5 meg
  • NCR28 - Unknown rocket - 4 meg
  • NCR29 - Unknown rocket - 9 meg
  • NCR30 - Unknown rocket - 18 meg
  • NCR31 - Unknown rocket - 10 meg
  • NCR32 - Unknown rocket - 3 meg
  • NCR33 - Unknown rocket - 8 meg
  • NCR34 - Unknown rocket - 5 meg