I'm a BAR and have been flying again since 2003.
I'm a member of Tripoli Central Virginia #25. Our launch site is called BattlePark since it is located on the Cedar Mountain Battlefield near Culpeper Virginia.
I earned my Level 1 certification in 2008 with a scratch built, dual deployment rocket on an Loki I110 moonburner motor to and altitude of 4,200 ft.
My level 2 certification flight in 2009 was with a K695R to 6,828 ft. The nose cone was lost so I put one on from another rocket and flew it again an hour later to get the cert. As of 1/18/19 that rocket, called GrapeShot, has flown 46 times now, reached 9,559 ft and Mach 1.2. It's the workhorse of my fleet and has taken a lot of punishment over the years. It has been solid and never needed a repair, knock on wood! ;-) 12/8/12 zippered the payload tube on GrapeShot. Don't know how. The apogee deploy worked, it was falling and the main RC controlled chute deployed but never opened.
Had my first motor CATOs in January 2014. Both Hobbyline G64W-10 motors had blow-by past the delay grain and used the powder well as a second nozzle. The fwd closures were toast, as was the rocket DNA. I believe the delay insulator was too small, the delay grain would fall out of the fwd closure. Aerotech was great with quickly sending two new forward closures and replacement reloads.
I got my Level 3 certification on 3/29/2015 at BattlePark. I flew a Performance Hobbies Performer 150 kit on a Loki M1882LW motor. The rocket weighed 54.4 lbs at launch. Unfortunately it was the first rocket in 12 years that I landed on Cedar Mountain. It hung up in a pine tree about 90 ft up. I got my certification though. A Chainsaw recovery about 4 days later was successful. Flew it again at LDRS34 on my first EX motor. About a M1700 at 5,300 Ns and a White Lightning type mix.
