Nike Smoking

My son and I have been flying our fiberglass Nike Smoke for 19 years now in the Black Rock Desert. This time, the motor did something we’ve never seen before: it roared off the pad with alternating white and black smoke, and then the thrust stopped. It coasted up for a bit, and then the motor kicked in again for a long burn. It was an Aerotech K375 dual thrust motor, with four White Lightning grains and one Warp 9, so I think the Warp 9 burned to completion before the other grains lit. Quite a crowd pleaser; even the LCO announced that he has never seen something like that before.

Here’s my video compilation including rocket-cam looking down at the flight line from above. And photo sequence below.