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TRIPOLI Pittsburgh

Launch Report

May 18, 2025

Page 6

Flyers: 12

Flights: 26

One of the more novel and creative rockets to fly at the TRIPOLI Pittsburgh Dragon's Fire Field was CMU student Derek Baiche's Flying Danebus constructed at the field.

Derek brought out a box of empty spools from 3D printer filament and along with a shipping tube from an old Aerotech motor, created the Danebus.

Derek Baiche - Flying Danebus

In addition to the spools and motor tube, Derek used some aluminum tape and a handful of zip ties to bring the Flying Danebus to life.

He even added a kevlar shock cord and a parachute from Ken Allen.

The Flying Danebus heads up on an H-219 motor off a rod at the high power pads.

The flight track of the Flying Danebus was straighter than half of the launches in May.

Derek Baiche seems quite pleased (as he should be) with the Flying Danebus. After a perfect flight, the Danebus landed neatly in the infield for an easy recovery.

Debate continued as to why spool type rockets are stable. Joe Pscolka said "It seems as if the thing should spin and spiral out of control but it doesn't". One theory is the the air swirls in between the sides of the spools and as the air moves back out of the spools interior it does so in a manner even enough to keep the spool in an upright orientation.

How exacly it works doesn't really matter. The thing works. And it looks pretty cool doing it too.

Nice job Derek!

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Photo: Dan Heinlen