Flight of the Blue Ninja

For his birthday, I gave George a fully-assembled Estes Blue Ninja.  This big rocket (31 inches tall) flies on D12-3s.  These things provide four times the total impulse of the B's we used last time on the Rascal.

We decided to start the launches by using C6-7 motors in our smaller rockets.  That Rascal raced almost completely out of sight!  Unfortunately, the higher apogee combined with the light but consistent wind carried our beloved Rascal into the backyard of a nearby home.

Appropriately humbled, we turned to the Ninja.  After choosing a launch site further upwind, the Ninja flew!  What a sight.  This is no lightweight toy that disappears with a "Phhht!" and a puff of white smoke... the Blue Ninja's big D belched orange flames and roared into the heavens.  Well, sorta!

It was a joy to watch each time we launched it.  Recovery was a snap too-- it always landed within 100 feet of the pad.  It didn't fly as high as Rascal and Hi Jinks did riding those "C" motors, but it was a lot more dramatic to watch.

Here's the video of the first launch (I stopped the video when I lost sight of the rocket in my "viewfinder").