Week 11

The weather was great and the planes were ready. For this week we were finally able to complete a mission with the Bramor. When I first entered the room I was tasked with packing the parachute. The parachute is the only way to land the Bramor so it is imperative that it is done with care. The parachute must be packed within 24 hours of the mission. This disrupts the operation because me and Ian must come in early to pack the chute. Me and Ian were tasked with packing two chutes. We had already packed parachutes before so we made quick work with it. While we packed the other groups went out to the test site to set up. As we arrived the groups were performing the pre-flight checklist. I took part in setting up the catapult and airframe since I am the lead flight engineer. Although I was helping, I did not take full control of it. I supervised it since I already knew the ins and outs of the setup. I wanted someone else to do it so they could gain some experience setting up. At this point in the set up, we were aiming the catapult so we could take off. One thing we could change about what we did was placement on setting up. The group that went out set up the catapult in a spot where we could only launch it North. This was highly problematic because we had a tail wind. At the time of setting up, wind speed was negligible, but once it got closer to launch the wind speed picked up. Me and Ian tried to move the catapult so instead of a tail wind it would be a crosswind. We couldn’t launch into a headwind due to obstacles. We set the Bramor onto the catapult with it ready to launch. After we winched the rubbers on the catapult, we were ready to launch. I was tasked with pulling the release pin. We set the aircraft into launch mode and I pulled the lever for release, and it took off.

The Bramor set up, catapult not armed. The catapult in this photo
is set up incorrectly. This is the set up with a tail wind.

The launch was rough, with the tail/cross wind that picked up, the Bramor also didn’t even take off. It was released off the catapult and immediately started sloping towards the ground. The motor eventually picked up the slack and took off. Me and Thomas were visual observers so we went to our spot in the parking lot. During the whole flight, my group and the launch group could see the aircraft. This could mean that we didn’t need the two other visual observing groups. After the mission was completed, it was time to land with the parachute. The Bramor rallied then started it descent to land. It popped the parachute and started descending. It was gliding very closely to the road, I am not sure what went wrong with the estimate slopes, but it was only about 50 feet from the road. We picked the Bramor up and recovered it safely with no mishaps for our first mission. Other than the parachute being tangled, it was a complete success.

Bramor set up, catapult armed. Catapult ready to launch
the catapult was moved from its last position to prevent a tail wind.
This position had a slight crosswind.