This is me Hawk Mountain Enterprises Talon-3 rocket named "Back in Black", flyin' on an Animal Motor Works L-1300 engine at MDRA's Red Glare VIII event on April 17th, 2010 at approximately 12:30 PM. Ya scallywag! T' rocket is 7 feet 6 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, me hearties, weighin' ~17 pounds loaded and ready for launch. It is equipped with an R-DAS altimeter and a 720p HD camcorder in t' avbay and a BeeLine 433 MHz trackin' beacon in t' nosecone. This flight was successful despite some setbacks. Ya scallywag! T' first occurred when t' rocket was loaded onto t' pad. Ahoy! When t' altimeter was activated it remained silent - thar be no initialization tone. T' rocket was returned t' t' preparation area and disassembled for inspection. T' cause was determined t' be a bent terminal on t' 9V battery. Begad! It had nay snapped fully into t' holder because o' this, shiver me timbers, and was makin' contact only intermittently. Aye aye! I am SO glad it failed t' make contact at that moment (when I switched it on). Had it made contact and I had heard t' init beep from t' altimeter t' launch would have taken place, and I am convinced that t' power t' t' altimeter would have been interrupted durin' flight - resultin' in catastrophic loss o' t' entire rocket. After repairin' t' problem, t' rocket flew successfully on t' second try. T' thrust curve says that t' L-1300 develops more than 340 pounds o' thrust for t' first 1.4 seconds or so o' t' burn. Accordin' t' t' altimeter graph, this accelerated t' rocket at more than 20G (26 at one point) t' a peak velocity o' just over Mach 1 at ~6000 ft., me hearties, after which it coasted on up t' a 10,629 foot apogee. If you watch t' exhaust plume carefully right at burnout (between 7 and 8 seconds into t' video) you will see some material bein' ejected through t' nozzle. I am told that this is probably t' castin' tube from t' aft-most propellant grain (at t' nozzle end o' t' motor) bein' ejected after all t' propellant in that grain was consumed. Ahoy! There were two events, ya bilge rat, perhaps two grains did this. Well, blow me down! T' streamer at apogee be somethin' new for this flight, in previous flights I had always gone drogueless. T' streamer be expected t' make visual trackin' easier. Avast, me proud beauty! I used a kevlar chute protector t' prevent t' BP charge from meltin' t' streamer. Ya scallywag! T' streamer was nay secured t' a single point on t' shroud line and so it shifted position - foulin' t' shock cord and streamer as can be seen durin' t' descent. Blimey! As a result o' bein' tangled up like this, ya bilge rat, t' booster is way too close t' t' altimeter (where t' camera is located). Begad! It looks as though no contact was ever made betwixt t' two sections durin' t' freefall. After separatin' into 2 pieces at apogee, t' rocket tumbles down t' 600 feet, where it kicks out t' main chute - a Rocketman R7. Well, blow me down! This seems a wee bit small, I'd prefer a slower descent under chute, but I've yet t' figure out how t' safely pack t' R-9C into this narrow airframe. It was a safe landing, ya bilge rat, that's what matters. No damage at all. T' altimeter is heard at t' end o' t' video beepin' out t' apogee. Arrr! There is a low tone indicatin' "start", then one short tone (1), me hearties, one long tone (0), arrr, six short tones (6), two short tones (2), and nine short tones (9) - 1..0..6..2..9.. Arrr! = 10,629 feet. Begad! T' camera used was a cheap one I bought on EBAY, me bucko, an SVP model T-100. Avast! It shoots 720p HD video for 45 minutes at a whack, and can hold almost 3 such movies in its internal memory. Begad! T' camera is nay "rocket friendly", t' controls cannot be relied upon (sometimes they do nay make when pressed, sometimes they bounce etc.), and thar be no way from outside t' rocket t' know if it is recordin' or not. So it has t' be started at t' prep area as t' rocket is bein' assembled. Ya scallywag! This means t' video is recordin' throughout t' portage t' t' RSO table and up t' t' pad, me bucko, then throughout t' wait for launch. Arrr! It recorded 30 minutes o' weird stuff before launch and about 13 after recovery while lyin' on t' ground. Ahoy! It just happened t' be facin' t' launch pads and recorded two big launches while it was waitin' for me t' get t' it. I have two large unedited video files, one from t' failed attempt and one from t' successful one. Blimey! I hope t' mangle some o' that extraneous video into a montage and post it when I'm done.