Rocket Fleet - High Power Rocketry Photograph courtesy of Ben Jarvis Get Real - Get Real, the rocket which has earned me my lousy recovery system reputation, is a 4 inch diameter, 7 foot tall rocket, designed for use on motors of up to 1706 Newton seconds total impulse (K-class). Of all its flights, none of them has yet to recover without some form of mishap ! This photograph was of Get Real launching on an Aerotech I-211 relodable solid motor in November 1999. Onboard was an R-DAS altimeter/accelerometer, and a G-Whiz LC Deluxe altimeter/accelerometer. Recorded peak altitudes were only 1222 feet and 1242 feet respectively. When the rocket separated into 2 halves at apogee, the booster section managed to take a gouge out of the payload section, thus continuing my recovery record. For this launch, from private farmland near Heckington in Lincolnshire, the rocket was also filmed by a TV company for the Sky TV programme "Skyrocket". This rocket is now on its second rebuild, following the gouge from its last flight. The opportunity has been taken to revamp the upper section and bulkhead to accomodate 2 LES or SafeEject holders, along with terminal connections to reduce igniter prepping time, and an 8-pin XLR connector to enable communications with internal avionics such as the R-DAS flight computer. Details The rocket is constructed from phenolic tubing with fibreglass reinforcing on the fins and on the tube ends. It has 4 plywood clipped delta fins, with a slightly swept forward trailing edge. The rocket has a 54mm diameter motor mount to accomodate up to a 54/1706 casing (i.e. a K-550W, a K-1100T, and a K-185W), and a urethane boattail. The recovery system consists of a 4 foot diameter ex-military cargo parachute and shock cord of 5mm diameter kernmantle climbing cord. A flameshield is used for parachute protection rather than a piston or a baffle. The reason for this is because I feel happier using a simpler recovery system - less parts to go wrong.