LOL! Some of the funniest experiences of my life have been at a high school rocket contest that I participated in for two years in a row. First off, people would try almost anything-including rockets made out of two-liter soda bottles,with added gunpowder to cause an explosion intentionally! I have a friend who used to use really cheap E engines in rockets designed for D engines. The engines often wouldn't ignite with the off-the-shelf ignitor,so he would add a little gunpowder to the engine to help it start . One time, the news people showed up to cover the event. When he launched his rocket, it started out fine, and the camera stayed on his face as he watched his rocket climb. At one point, he busts out in hysterical laughing,and the news people never explained to their audience why he did that. AS it turned out, his rocket had exploded spectacularly at about 400 feet! Another time, there was a groundskeeper doing something on the athletic field that the contest was held at. He was standing under a telephone pole at one end of the field. My friend once again took a rocket designed for a D engine (which had balsa fins which weren't glued on well) and loaded up his E engine. When he launched it, it lost its fins at about 20 feet, went horizontal, accelerated to probably >600 knots, and slammed straight into the telephone pole with a BANG that was loud even where we were 200 ft away. That groundskeeper probably needed an underwear change! Sean At 01:04 AM 10/14/99 -0500, you wrote: >> Can you immagine 30 or so POWERFUL rocket engines flying off with no >> stabilization!! > > >I've been there for a single M-motor loose. Actually they're not so bad, but >if it is on the ground, it's stable, at least in two dimensions.. >"LANDSHARK!!!" > | | Sean Breheny | Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM | Electrical Engineering Student \--------------=---------------- Save lives, please look at http://www.all.org Personal page: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/shb7 mailto:shb7@cornell.edu ICQ #: 3329174