Rocketry Planet

POTTER, New York USA — After a frustrating first day at LDRS 28 in upstate New York, the rocket gods decided to smile on the assembled fliers from all across the country and from around the world.  Thursday saw almost one hundred flights made after an extremely slow start, almost all of them in the afternoon.

Flying picked up on Friday as more fliers showed up, the rains held off and the sun started drying out the road into the field, allowing most vehicles to get to the flight line.  Everything from A's to N's were flown and the flights ranged from great successes to tremendous failures.

A first glimpse of blue sky through the clouds - later in the day the weather cleared up quite a bit.

A scary moment for all - a flier was prepping a rocket with air-starts on the C rack (J's and up) when a sparky motor air-start went off on the launch pad, enveloping the person the flier in its smoke. Luckily no one was hurt.

The Gates Brothers had several massive rockets on display, including their Jayhawk and Porthos, pictured here. Everyone's hoping they'll fly!

An M-powered rocket takes off from the away cell against the contrast of a dark cloud - the rest of the sky didn't look that imposing, but it sure makes for a nice picture.

The vehicles coming into the site first thing in the morning had the hardest time, acquiring layers of mud like in this photo. However, throughout the day the sun (and some road work done by tractors) made the road more drivable.

A gorgeous rocket called Matthew on the away cell. Friday saw several flights on M's and at least two N's.

One of a pair of UFO/saucer rocket flies on a smoky motor, beating its twin in a drag race.

The UFO gets even more of a head start before the second UFO's motor kicked in.

Ken Zeuner with his upscale Chinese bottle rocket - to fly on a 98mm motor on Saturday. The rocket has no fins - just a long wooden dowel trailing behind it.

Another view of Ken Zeuner's fantastic Chinese bottle rocket. Note the rope "attaching" the dowel to the body.

Brett Keller contributed to this story.