The NYPower field in Geneseo NY is one of the nicest I've seen. It is huge, flat and mostly mowed grass. Given that I couldn't resist the urge to toss AYUCR higher than ever before. An I284 should put it over 3,000 feet and it did. t was way up there and on the twin chutes it drifted what I would guess was about a 1/2 mile. This was still well within the field. On recovery the new mirror assembly was a little cracked. Nothing a little epoxy couldn't fix later that night in the hotel room. Even with the slight damage I was very happy with the flight.
I was less than happy with the pictures though for a number of reasons. It was sunny but also a little hazy and that haze tended to wash out many of the pictures. This is especially noticable in the frst few shots from apogee. Also, due to the way the camera hangs during descent (with the mirror looking at a 20 degree down angle) there weren't any pictures of the launch site except under boost. Lastly, the Wegman's in Geneseo has a pretty lousy photo department. They overexposed most of the photo's and neglected to print the last three shots on the roll. I got the last three reprinted at my usual place and tried to clean up the photos as best I can in Paint Shop Pro but it can only do so much. Ted Apke had similar problems with the roll of film taken with his video/camera rocket.
What did I learn?
Before I forget I would like to thank MARS and Tripoli Western New York for organizing a great launch. I am looking forward to next year.
On to the pictures...
| Motor | I284-M |
| Altitude | 3,168' |
| Film Type | Kodak Gold Max 24 Exposure |
| Pictures Taken | 27 |
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Notes:
Missing photos were too boring to include here
1 - Notice the shadow of the smoke trail
2 - Parking area partially visible
10 - The red circle marks where my Dad's successful Level 2
flight landed on Sunday