+
+At this point, a lot of time passed, detailed note-taking more or less
+stopped, and the airframe wasn't completed until early 2018!
+
+
+## Photos
+
+All the photos and video I've collected associated with this project can
+be found [here](https://thor.gag.com/index.php?/category/MehGaNuke).
+
+Kent Burnett's drone video hightlights reel from Airfest 2018 includes
+[video of the launch](https://vimeo.com/295459157#t=636s) starting at
+about 10:36 in.
+
+## Flight Log
+
+### First Flight
+
+The first flight of this airframe was at the
+[Kloudbusters](http://kloudbusters.org/)
+[Airfest 24](http://kloudbusters.org/airfest/) in Argonia, Kansas, USA,
+on Saturday, 1 September 2018. The motor was a 6-inch "O" built by James
+Russell using his well-known "Russell Red" formula. The total launch mass
+was about 205 pounds on the rail. Due to a slightly larger than optimal
+nozzle throat, the motor burn at 7.7 seconds was a bit longer than expected,
+pushing the airframe with an average acceleration of only 2.89 G to a
+maximum speed of Mach 0.6 on the way to 8068 feet above ground.
+
+Weather-cocking due to wind caused the airframe to have a residual speed at
+apogee of nearly 60 meters per second, so not surprisingly there was zippering
+of the top of the main airframe tube. It also seems clear that the ARRD
+failed to retain the deployment bag, as the main chute deployed a few seconds
+after apogee. We had some difficulty with the ARRD during assembly on the
+rail, so this wasn't terribly surprising. Recovery was completely safe with
+the nose descending under 2 5-foot mil-surplus chutes, and the bulk of the
+airframe descending under a 28-foot mil-surplus chute.
+
+The stress at deployment tore the strap off the deployment bag, and the
+deployment bag was not recovered. After studying the zipper and thinking
+about the main deployment sequence, several changes will be made before the
+next flight:
+
+ - The main airframe tube will be replaced with a tube that's a bit longer
+ (for greater stability), and has an internal 7.5-8" diameter tube instead
+ of the flat baffle to ease main chute deployment.
+
+ - Switch from the ARRD to the largest [Tender Descender](http://www.tinderrocketry.com/l13-tender-descender-tether) for main deployment.
+
+ - Add a TeleGPS to the nose assembly so it can be tracked independently, and let
+ it come down by itself under the 2 existing 5-foot chutes. Add a third 5-foot
+ chute to be a dedicated pilot for the 28-foot main chute.
+
+These changes should reduce the chance of another zipper, and reduce the amount
+of strap we need to stuff into the bay.
+
+All in all, this first flight was an outstanding group effort, a lovely
+flight, and a huge crowd-pleaser!
+
+### Second Flight
+
+In 2021, the NAR National Sport Launch was held near Alamosa, CO. Doug
+Gerrard planned to be there with his camera-laden launch pad so there was
+the possibility of a highly-documented launch. Since I
+really wanted to fly this project in Colorado and that was a national-scale
+event, plans were made. As a NAR sanctioned event, the motor needed to be
+commercial and not research. Simulations led to the choice of a CTI N3301
+White Thunder which would fit case hardware already on hand. This would
+require fabricating an adapter from the 6" motor mount to the 98mm
+motor, but that seemed easy enough. My thanks to the good folks at
+[Moto-Joe Rocketry](http://moto-joe.com/) for helping me obtain the reload.
+
+Unfortunately, logistics issues prevented flying at the NSL. The second
+flight ended up happening on Sunday, 19 September 2021, at the
+[Tripoli Colorado](https://www.tripolicolorado.org/) Fall Frenzy launch.
+
+In addition to the rebuilt main airframe section and motor adapter, a
+TeleGPS was added to the nose bay. Then, at the last minute, Meh-ga Nuke
+was equipped with two keychain cameras mounted looking up and down.
+
+The rocket was about 145 pounds on the rail of Terry Lee's launch trailer,
+and was flowing with 2 e-matches and a pinch of Pyrodex P in the Tender
+Descender, and apogee charges of 6g primary and "fill the cup"
+secondary. The rocket departed the rail with about 5.5g max acceleration
+on the way to Mach 0.7 and an apogee altitude of 9183 feet. The dual
+deployment process worked as designed, but unfortunately the shround on
+the main tangled, probably due to a hasty repacking of the deployment bag
+during assembly on the rail. Wind pushed the airframe ENE out of the
+optimal landing area and into a "field of rocks", where the higher than
+expected landing velocity of the main airframe and fin can assembly and
+wind drag resulted in cosmetic damage to the fin can and more significant
+damage to the main airframe tube. The nose cone also suffered damage as
+a result of the wind causing the chutes to pull it across rocks.
+
+Both TeleMega boards returned good data logs. The TeleGPS in the nose
+cone wasn't heard during launch and flight (it turns out the unsupported
+antenna wire broke off sometime before landing, perhaps even before
+launch?), but the data recovered from the board shows a clean trace of
+the nose cone's path during flight. Good thing we didn't need the
+GPS to locate and recover the nose cone!
+
+The video from the up-looking camera worked great through apogee, but
+unfortunately the video froze before the main deployed so only audio was
+recorded for the rest of the flight. The down-looking camera video came
+out very well, though! It shows only a couple rotations of the airframe
+during ascent with some great view of the flight line, etc. It also
+captured the nose cone and two 5 foot surplus military parachutes deployed
+at apogee travelling past the main airframe rapidly at apogee. The
+shadow of the nose cone and associated chutes descending independently can
+be seen in the video before landing... and the very violent landing of
+the fin can and main airframe can be clearly seen.
+
+All in all, this second flight was another huge crowd-pleaser and very
+satisfying overall. Particular thanks to Terry Lee for his help
+rebuilding the main airframe and the use of his launch trailer, George
+Barnes IV for his outstanding photos on launch day, and my wife Karen who
+attended the launch with great enthusiasm despite being only a few weeks
+into the recovery from major surgery.
+
+I think the primary lesson learned from this flight is that the design
+of the airframe pretty much guarantees the main airframe tube is going
+to be damaged in each flight. The video proof of what we already
+understood intellectually about the dramatic reversal of direction the
+airframe
+undergoes at apogee when the nose comes off and the drogue chutes deploy
+alone is enough to rip the leading edge of the airframe apart back to the
+first centering ring below the nose shoulder. So, even without landing
+in rocks and being dragged due to high winds by the main chute, we
+probably just need to acknowledge the main airframe is in some ways a
+"single use" design.
+