There was no doubt that Team X-30 would be flying at LDRS 22 in Argonia, Kansas. With all of the research we had done, and the completion of the successful flight at North Texas High Power (NTHP) the previous year, our project had matured. The only changes we were planning would be using a Hypertek L970 hybrid motor, which would actually simplify the C/G shift from the fuel burn. Additionally, going from 3500ns to 5000ns would give us a nice increase in altitude. We were ready.

Early in June, I received an e-mail from the Kloud Busters, inquiring if I would mind if they gave out my phone number to the Discovery Channel. "Sure, no problem," I responded. This was the first time that I learned that DSC would be coming to LDRS. About a week later, I got a call from Karen from DSC and we visited on the phone for about an hour, on all aspects of the X-30, as well as some personal information on the team members. "Wow, this is cool, we’re going to be on TV!" Over the next few weeks I got several more calls from DSC. They needed more information and more video. At my suggestion, I had them contact Tony Huet to film the things they wanted.

America never got an X-30 on the pad, but that didn't stop this group from Texas.

While Bryan Nelson and I were concentrating on getting the X-30 ready to fly, Phil Eaton, Russell Blink and Tommy Bishop worked hard on getting the launch pad ready. Getting the pad properly set up for the X-30 with the hybrid motor was no simple task.

Phil’s wife Robin was busy making all the arrangements for the team to stay right in Argonia. She did an amazing job at securing our accommodations with some absolutely delightful folks right in town. Robin took great care of the group during the launch. In addition to providing us with our accommodations, Robin handled all of the meals and set up our social engagements as well. This allowed the team to concentrate on the upcoming flight. We could not have pulled this off without all her help!

While Tim Sapp generously donated the Hypertek motor that we would be using, none of us had ever flown the Hypertek hybrid before. So I put a call for help out on the email list server used by the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) L3 certification committee to enlist some help. Fortunately, I got lots of offers from some very experienced Hypertek flyers, so I was satisfied that we had the motor issues covered.

Just two days before leaving for Argonia, I got another call from DSC. They wanted to know what day we were going to fly and what time we had in mind for the launch of our project, as they were trying to put together their schedule for filming. I explained to them that we would need to go up late in the day, as this would put the sun behind the flight line and out of my eyes. They requested that we delay our flight until Saturday afternoon, which was fine with us. I cautioned them, that while our team had our act together and would fly on time, most of the other groups would run notoriously behind schedule. Putting together a tight filming schedule during a launch would be a joke.

On Wednesday, July 16th, Bryan and I loaded up my car and headed up to Argonia to set up camp. With all of the people in our group we would need a sizable area to set up. Arriving at the launch site, we discovered that our idea of setting up the night before the launch certainly was not an original one — all of the good spots were taken. To make matters worse, the dry, rough, plowed field did not offer a decent place to land the X-30. The large clods of dirt looked like the boulders on Mars. We would get some damage on touchdown for sure.

Kloud Busters had left Rick VanVoorhis in charge and Rick went all out, getting us what I would consider the best spot on the field! I know he took some heat for this — thank you, Rick. Unfortunately, we would spend the next day and a half defending our turf, as we had roped off a lot of space for the entire group who had not yet arrived and would not show up until Friday morning. Aside from that we spent most of Thursday just enjoying the launch.

I doubt NASA would have launched this way, but then again, they never DID launch one.

Thursday was slow as many of the really cool stuff were waiting for the film crews to show up. The 108-degree heat and the wind keep the lines at the pads pretty short. On Friday, the rest of our team arrived and we started to be interviewed by DSC. They came by several times to do numerous interviews with the team during the course of the day and then they talked me and Bryan into putting up a flight on my SR-71.

It was quite windy on Friday afternoon as Bryan and I started to set up the Blackbird for the flight with our entourage of cameramen from DSC in tow. Bryan was being very creative in using some smaller launch rods under the wings to keep my rocket from spinning around in the gusts. This is when the hot glue that Hobby Labs used to glue on the launch lug decided to let loose. Apparently, the glue was no match for the wind and the heat. Nice timing. I have flown this model for over two years and now, with the producers watching and cameras running this thing decides to let loose. How embarrassing! Man, I hope they don’t show this on TV!

One good thing that did happen on Friday was that I met Oscar Valiant. Oscar was in charge of all the Hypertek hybrid operations at LDRS 22 and he was going to help us with the X-30. With Oscar's expertise, all of the hybrid flights at LDRS 22 went off very well, so I had nothing to worry about.

Saturday was a repeat of Friday. Hot and windy! The first project that DSC was to film was planning to fly at 9:00AM. However, it did not fly until 1:00PM, throwing the whole filming schedule into a tizzy. It was obvious that our 2:00PM launch of the X-30 would be pushed back. Oscar came by to check out our motor installation and corrected any minor deficiencies we had. Now all we had to do was to wait for the film crew. Finally at about 5:30PM, we had the film crew show up. It was now our turn to show the world the results of our research and demonstrate the professionalism and competency of Team X-30!

Well that was the plan anyway and we proudly marched off to the pads. In the waiting area we had one last big interview with DSC. When we got to the hybrid pad, I had expected to see Oscar. That’s when I found out that Oscar had succumbed to the heat and was at the emergency room. How inconsiderate! Couldn't he have waited until after our flight to pass out! This caught the Kloud Busters completely off guard. However, while they did provide a replacement for Oscar, he unfortunately did not have Oscar’s level of experience.

To further complicate things, the new hybrid pad manager did not have the FRS radio communications with the LCO table. "So this is why I hadn’t seen a hybrid fly in the last hour," I thought to myself. Then I saw someone running towards us. It was Rick Boyette from Tripoli Palm Beach. While Rick hadn't flown the larger Hyperteks, he had experience with the smaller ones so at that point he became our motor guru.

So we set the massive X-30 up on the pad, took some last minute pictures, and took our positions for the flight. The nitrous fill went well, from my perspective anyway, and just when it was time to fly the pad manager vented off all our N2O. "What’s going on?" I inquired to Rick. Rick, who was a little upset, told me just about the time we had a complete fill, the new pad manger saw a nitrous leak at the pad and signaled the vent. He added that the leak wouldn’t have affected the flight at all, and in his opinion, they should have flown it.

"No problem," I thought to myself, "we’ll just tighten up the nut on the pad and fill it again." So, again we started the fill process and then heard an unusual sound coming from the X-30. Once again, we had to abort the fill to see what was wrong. This was starting to get frustrating! The problem this time was that when all of the nitrous oxide was rapidly vented off last time, the rapid change in pressure made our small over-flow tube retract inside the motor mount. The only thing to do was to remove the X-30 from the pad, undo the motor mount and get the small overflow tube back in place.

Now we're cookin'... and with GAS! Err, Nitrous! 

This would take a little time during which some of the bowling ball lofters were flown. I kept a watchful eye on these, as the thought of being impaled by a bowling ball is not a pleasant one. Then I observed a bowling ball leaving the pad with a very high boost, and it arched right over our heads! "Heads up," I shouted and the group scattered in all directions. Fortunately, the chute came out, a little late but it all hung together, crisis over. As we regrouped, Karen from DSC was noticeably freaked out by this. Phil calmly explained to her that if she stays close to one of us, she would be OK. But then the whole team added, "however I wouldn't stand close to Dave!" Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys. I didn’t realize that I am still wearing the official DARS target on my back.

We fixed the tube problem and reloaded the X-30 back onto the pad. With the cameras rolling, for the third time, we started to fill the motor with nitrous again. Almost right away, we could see all of the N2O leak right out the nozzle of the motor. Major bummer! It would take over an hour to fix the bad "O" ring. When we had previously removed the X-30 from the pad, we damaged the "O" ring that accepts the fill stem. Venting the N20 froze this ring, making it susceptible to tears.

It was late in the day and the entire team was hot and tired. So, we aborted any more attempts to fly on Saturday. It is safe to say that we were not in the best of moods at that point. Our hosts Jerry and Debbie Kiser had arranged for kind of a celebration dinner for the group of us that night. I really was not in a partying mood. This event was the best thing that could have happened to us! Good food combined with the friendship of the team and our new friends in Argonia made for a most enjoyable evening that for me was certainly the highlight of the trip! That evening we removed and disassembled the motor and Phil skillfully replaced the damaged "O" ring.

Sunday morning started with overcast skies. This would be great for us, as no way could I end up with the sun in my face. Additionally, a morning flight would give us the rest of the day to sort out any problems that might arise. With the perfect weather, we showed up at the field ready to go, and rejuvenated by the camaraderie from the night before, our spirits were high.

Once again, we proudly marched off towards the pads. Bryan went off to find the DSC people to let them know we are getting ready to launch. Arriving at the pad, we were told that Oscar did indeed recover from his collapse. He came out that night collected all of his ground support equipment and went home. So there was NO HYPERTEK EQUIPMENT AT THE PADS! This was not how I had planned for the morning to go. The Kloud Busters once again demonstrated their resourcefulness by having one of their club members bring from home his personal equipment. Unfortunately, this equipment was for I and J motors, but because of their great effort, it would work in a pinch.

The range was slow, as the overcast skies prevented most of the flights that morning. This worked to our advantage, as both range and film crews were freed up to work with us. As the ground support was being set up, we had the full complement of DSC people show up at the pad. More interviews and I worked out the flight plan with the pilot of the R/C helicopter, who would be filming from the air. Bob Wilson and Tommy Bishop were busy getting the pad ready. Phil Eaton and Russell Blink had the X-30 upside down on the stands and were getting all the equipment armed for the flight. They installed a new recording deck just handed to them from the DSC. I radioed Bryan that the DSC people were already at the pad. He was back in the spectator area, trying to find them. It was all coming together and it looked like we would finally get to fly this thing soon.

I was visiting with Karen from DSC, explaining what everyone was doing and trying to relax and focus on the flight, when I heard a big BOOM followed by "FUDGE." Well, that’s not exactly what I heard but you get the picture anyway. As I turned around, smoke was coming up from underneath the X-30. The chute bag and upper hatch was lying on the ground and Phil and Russell had "deer in the headlights" expressions on their faces.

Karen inquired, "Dave, what just happened?" My initial thought was to say, "Well, Curly and Mo over there just blew up the X-30!" But, I paused for a moment, looked at her and said, "Well Karen, we just had a successful deployment test of the emergency parachute back-up system. Excuse me for a moment." I walked over to Phil and Russell to see what went wrong.

Quick check for post-flight damage. Damn, those DO look like boulders from Mars.

They still had kind of a dazed look about them. "Gentlemen, would you be kind enough to explain to me why the chute is lying on the ground?" I asked. At that point, we entered into a lengthy discussion, and I won’t bore you with the details. We turned the X-30 upright and the damage was not as bad as I thought. The back-up parachute system, by design would shred the covering on the top to pieces. Phil and Russell did figure out what went wrong and we still had a second 3-gram ejection device in the X-30. The top would need some repair.

Russell inquired if I would need more cover material and the proper tools to fix the damage. I told him that my roll of wide masking tape would do the trick. I then radioed to Bryan to see were he was and would he get my tape out of the range box and bring it to the pad. Please keep in mind that the DSC camera crews are getting all this on video! Just then someone behind me said they had a roll of duct tape and handed it to me. Russell and Phil reinstalled the chute and I did the repairs.

While I was making the repair, I looked at Phil and said "Tom Ridge was right. Every family needs a roll of duct tape for emergencies." The dark tape did not match the white top of the X-30, and when I was done with the repair, it looked like a smiley face on the top of the space plane. With our disasters behind us, we loaded the X-30 onto the pad.

Bryan Nelson joined me and we took our positions for the launch. Pat Gordzelik was running the range from the LCO table and made the announcement that he would be starting the countdown shortly. Pat’s a great LCO and I was pleased he was handling our flight. As Pat did the introduction, I tried to put the entire crisis behind me and focus on the task at hand, piloting the X-30!

5-4-3-2-1 launch... and nothing happened! 20 seconds went by and the X-30 just sat there on the pad! Bryan said "Well Dave, I guess" and he was interrupted with the sound of the Hypertek L-970 coming up to power! This put our minds back into flight mode, like right now!

The massive X-30 left the rail smartly and looked great as it rocketed into the sky. While I was ready for the 7-second burn that would take the aircraft to 2500 feet, three seconds into the flight the motor quit, at about 600 feet. The 59 lbs X-30 would only coast upward for another 300 feet or so. This really caught me off guard. Decision time! Do I just fly straight ahead and land, or do I try and make a tight pattern and go for a landing in the touchdown zone.

It looks to me like the Discovery Channel crew is checking the X-30's gender?

Going straight ahead, we would have landed 500 yards away making the landing extremely difficult. So, I went for the latter, and rolled the huge glider into a tight turn to set up for landing. I did not have much altitude or airspeed to play with as the X-30 was descending rapidly. I stretched the glide to avoid some obstacles in front of the touch-down zone. Bryan noticed me slowing down and cautioned me not to get too slow. (Stretch the glide on a lifting body?)

All of this worked out quite well, however, it left me with little energy to flair and the X-30 touched down on the plowed field a little more firmly than I would have liked. It was down and in one piece. I had done my job, so I can officially collapse now. I then got up and joined my teammates as we walked over to recover our pride and joy.

The X-30 was in remarkably good shape considering the rough field. While we did have some damage on the bottom, we didn’t rip it to shreds like I had thought. Tommy noted that we could easily fix the bottom with more duct tape and fly it again. We did not get the altitude we wanted but the X-30 had put up a good flight. During the first two flights of the X-30, I had struggled to maintain control of it. This time the X-30 flew beautifully and responded very well to the controls.

We still had some unanswered questions. Why was the motor late in starting? And what happened to our almost "M", it didn’t make it out of the "K" range? Visiting with Rick Boyette, I discovered that with all the heat and confusion, the gentleman who was operating the launch controller did not keep the ignition button firmly depressed on the Hypertek launch controller, like the manufacturer recommends. It took Rick some time to notice this, as he was looking at the X-30 through the viewfinder of his camera, during the launch. I exchanged several e-mails with Anthony Cesaroni about our lack of impulse and he was kind enough to forward me a chart that shows the change in vapor pressure of nitrous oxide with a rise in temperature. There is a dramatic loss of volume at over 90 degrees Farenheit. Basically, we probably had less than half the N2O that we would have had at 70 degrees. Had we chilled the N2O tanks with ice, we would have had a considerably better fill, resulting in a lot more impulse.

The heat had taken its toll on everyone. During LDRS, we noticed that the number of failures climbed rapidly during the day along with the heat. But the rocketeers were not the only ones affected by the heat. The Discovery Channel had their share of problems as well. Many of the interviews they had done had no audio. Their entire filming schedule fell apart. Many of the onboard cameras did not work, including the one they gave us Sunday morning. And none of the special events they sponsored went off on time. These are just a few of the obstacles they had to overcome.

I blame our Hypertek problems on no one but ourselves. The Hypertek system is a wonderful product and Cesaroni supports it very well. But like anything worthwhile, it does have a learning curve. So, how will Team X-30 look on TV in November? I estimate that The Discovery Channel took about 9 hours of video of our team. That means that we will probably get about 90 seconds on national TV. Depending on which 90 seconds the producer picks we could come off looking good, or perhaps the piece will be titled "The Stooges in the Space Plane Adventure."

Copyright © 2003 — Shroudlines, a Newsletter of the Dallas Area Rocket Society.  Reprinted with permission.