PREFECTURE ONE
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PSC Joint Launch Report November 8, 2020
TRIPOLI Pittsburgh conducted a joint launch with Pittsburgh Space Command (PSC) on November 8th 2020. Below is a report by TRIPOLI Pittsburgh member Ken Good.
 

 
For those who haven’t flown at the Weber Farm site (595 Tieline Road, Grove City), I highly recommend giving it a try when you can.  The site is generally fairly flat, with just a bit of rolling farm terrain.   There are several adjacent fields, and a couple of intersecting, low traffic roads.  In terms of overall size, it is comparable to the Tripoli Pittsburgh site, but recovery areas may be considered a bit less challenging than some of the areas at our site.  An exception to this is the presence of some farm buildings (not inhabited or worked on launch days) onto which one could land a rocket, although my understanding is that the Weber family are not opposed to flyers recovering rockets from the roofs of said buildings, if necessary.  Also, one must be careful to keep away from Rt 208, which borders the southern edge of the launch site.  Overall, it’s a usable and user-friendly, access-friendly site, but I wouldn’t want to push anything much over 3500 ft.
 
 
The Last Tripoli Pittsburgh Launch of 2020
 
It goes without saying that this year has been difficult for all of us.  Rocket events on a large scale (LDRS, BALLS) were canceled, but local prefectures have still been able to proceed with launches due to a more modest numbers of attendees, and the relative ease in following COVID guidelines.  Thus, Tripoli Pittsburgh has conducted a full event schedule with a notable degree of success.
 
I was able to attend the last event of our season, the joint Pittsburgh Space Command/Tripoli Pittsburgh launch at the PSC Weber Farm launch site on Sunday, November 8, 2020.  Due to earlier commitments, I was only able to arrive at 1 PM, to participate for the last two hours of the event.  This was a bit unfortunate, because the weather and winds were as perfect as I have ever seen in our part of the country.  Thus, it was an enjoyable afternoon, if too brief.
 
In attendance when I arrived were perhaps 20 people, with the only other Tripoli Pittsburgh member present being Gary Sluser.   Long time PSC members Rod Schafer (Section Advisor) and Steve Foster were there - both really good guys - and I had an enjoyable chat with them.   Also TRA/NAR member Duane Wilkey, one of the more senior TRA members was there, flying a few I and J powered rockets.  I also spent some time catching up with Duane, who I haven’t seen in some years (he has relocated back to PA from Iowa).
 
I saw several flights, all of which were really easy to track and recover due to the clear skies and almost nonexistent wind.  There were several mid and high power flights, with a modest number of  model rockets being flown while I was there.  PSC had all the launch pads well-separated to ensure appropriate social distancing.   Gary seemed to have had a busy and pretty successful day. 
 
I brought two rockets, my two-stage motor-feed staging rocket “Hotspur” which was loaded with a G80 to F101 motor configuration, and my newly built 4” KG-26C “Merlin.”  The Merlin is the third version of an older design, using Blue Tube for the airframe, and about 8 ft in overall length.  It was loaded with an Aerotech J-250 smoky motor.  I quickly determined that flying two rockets may be a bit ambitious with the limited time available.  Also I preferred to have more Tripoli Pittsburgh members present for the flight of the tricky Hotspur, so that rocket was held for next flying season. 
 
The Merlin was really ready to fly with minimal assembly, so with Gary’s help, one of the launch rails was swapped out for a 1515 size, and the Merlin was loaded for flight.  I deliberately angled a bit to recover in one of the more safe open areas.  The take-off was indeed nice and smoky, and the flight was beautiful with an absolutely perfect two stage recovery.  Due to the great conditions, it came down very much exactly where I intended it, a short walk out onto a clear field, well away from roads and farm buildings.   It flew somewhat under 2K ft, some of the potential apogee being lost due to the flight angle, but I was pleased with the result and the very stable flight characteristics of the rocket.  And again, I would treat high apogees with some reservation at this site anyway.
I stayed to the end to help the PSC guys break down the range, and enjoyed the company of the PSC team.  This was a really relaxing launch with such fine weather and good company – it was just a bit of a shame that Gary and I were the only two Tripoli Pittsburgh guys there.  But I am always impressed with the friendliness and cooperative attitudes of our PSC colleagues, and I believe we should continue at least one cooperative launch with PSC each flying season.