Flirtin' With Disaster K550 CATO

Original file is at here.

This flight occured at the RATS (Roar At the Shore) launch in April of 97.Thanks to the safe distances set up by Garden State Tripoli no one was hurt in this mishap. Besides the G10 fins, there was no piece left larger than your hand. Neon pink polkadots littered the field. The failure was not caused by blow-by, and aparently the foward closure was totaly blown off. (I thank Aerotech for promptly replacing the motor) The payload was safely recovered by the altimeter, and with a newly built booster,(98mm now) will live to see another day. The data gathered by the recording Adept RAS2 is interesting. Notice how the rocket slows down and decelerates when the cato occurs, then speeds up as the payload is blown off. Thanks to Jeff Davenport who took this great video footage. All video stills were captured by "Grabit"

My 7.5" x 8 1/2' "Flirtin With Disaster" ready for launch

Lift off of the 25 pound rocket on an Aeritech K550 white lightning

Good burn for about one second

At about 50 feet the foward closure let go

This is my favorite shot of the explosion

The booster is blown into many tiny pieces

Notice the motor still burning at both ends

Recorded data from the Adept RAS2 altimeter

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