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WORLD WIDE WEB — Curt von Delius, not to be denied, flew his carbon fiber flyweight 75mm minimum diameter rocket again August 1st at Black Rock's Aeronaut launch, clinching the Tripoli's M-class altitude record with a GPS-verified altitude of 37,762 feet, according to Erik Gates, TRA Ad Hoc Records Chair. Von Delius originally tried for the record on June 20th, 2008 at the Mudroc launch at Black Rock, claiming over 40,000 feet AGL using a Kosdon by AeroTech (KBA) Animal-Compatible M1450W rocket motor reload kit. That record application was denied by then TRA Records Chair Tom Rouse, which created a shroud of controversy and ultimately let to the reoganization of the Tripoli Records Committee following an attempt by Rouse to resign. This record annoucement is the new Ad Hoc Records Committee's first announcement, which also identified the new records committee's members as Chair Erik Gates, along with Tom Rouse, Ken Biba, Jim Wilkerson and Richard Hagensick comprising the rest of the committee. The committee announced that until the review process is complete, all records over 30,000 feet must use on-board GPS data. Von Delius' flight, also using a Kosdon by AeroTech Animal-Compatible M1450W, relied on a Beeline GPS to verify the altitude. The new record breaks the previous record of 35,300 feet set by Jim Wilkerson September 17th, 2005. Von Delius is also the holder of the Tripoli J-class record of 19,240 feet and the L-class record of 31,316 feet. The airframe of von Delius' was constructed with lightweight carbon fiber composites. The main body was built using aerospace grade, filament wound carbon fiber tube by Composite Solutions. High density carbon plate fins were attached with Cotronics high temperature epoxy and vacuum-bagged 10.9 oz. aerospace grade Amoco T-650 3K carbon fabric. The vehicle measures 68.4" in length and 3.13" in diameter and weighs 76 oz. without motor. Recovery was accomplished by deploying a highly modified SkyAngle 28" drogue at apogee, and a modified SkyAngle 52" main at 2,400', using black powder charges.
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