Draco High Power Rocket

Back in the late 1990's, my hobby of choice was high power rocketry. This video was from March of 1999 at a friend's farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This rocket, called the Draco, is 16 feet tall, 12 inches in diameter, and weighs 70 pounds. On this flight, it went a little over 5,000 feet high using an M2100 size motor developing about 500 pounds of thrust for 6 seconds. The main parachutes are 15 feet in diameter.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• High
• Power
• Model
• Rocket
• Draco

[vahpr]

Wow - a blast from the past indeed. Were have you been Joe Dimaggio? :))

[JetPropellerLabs]

Hey Jerry! Moved on to other hobbies. Check some of my other videos here. :) I sometimes miss seeing those military parachutes blossom. I don't miss the atf inspections, applying for waivers, and last but not least the club politics. All the best! Joe

[JetPropellerLabs]

Yes, an FAA waiver was required for the launches. I was the leader of a rocket club in Delaware and put on monthly club launches for which I'd get the proper FAA permission. The chutes were deployed using an electronic altimeter/computer which used barometric pressure to record maximum altitude, fire an ejection charge to deploy the small drogue parachutes at max altitude, and then pop another ejection charge to deploy the main parachutes at 750 feet.

[avalanchewholesaleco]

Very cool. I live next to Estes Rocketry in Colorado and I know they has some new ones that are rather large and high flying also. Did you need to get FAA permission to launch? How did you deploy the smaller chutes? Thanks for sharing this video. Cool!!

[JetPropellerLabs]

Yes, an FAA waiver was required for the launches. I was the leader of a rocket club in Delaware and put on monthly club launches for which I'd get the proper FAA permission. The chutes were deployed using an electronic altimeter/computer which used barometric pressure to record maximum altitude, fire an ejection charge to deploy the small drogue parachutes at max altitude, and then pop another ejection charge to deploy the main parachutes at 750 feet.

[nattsurfaren]

How good is sodium perchlorate sugar versus rcandy?

[kerbizetimus]

that's a lot of parachutes!

[WaterDonkey1000]

That was freakin sick

[Angola6]

Now THAT'S a rocket! Awesome burn time

[Omnigeek6]

I liked all the small parachutes