Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra

Flight 1

DAJAT flew for the first time at the regional Desert Heat launch in Tucson, AZ on January 28, 2006. Brad decided that the regular audience in Pheonix had seen enough terror inflicted on them from the skies, so he took his show on the road.

So what happened and why? The quick version is that Brad overestimated the drag characteristics of the outboard fin pods. He expected that the center of pressure (CP) would move aft as the velocity of the increased. This was not the case, and there is ongoing conjecture about airstream delamination and base cavitation cause by redirected airflow. There is also continued debate about whether the best wine to serve with poultry is red or blush, and cholesterol can be adequately controlled through exercise and diet. The bottom line, though, no matter which side you come in on regarding these questions, is that DAJAT crashed because it wasn't as stable as Brad had hoped.

All photos by Tsolo T. Tsolo at Rocketshots.

The ubiquitous Paul Holmes strolled out to lend a hand in the final prep at the pad.
Putzing	preparing the ignitor
DAJAT at the pad. The tail cone is for looks only and remains on the pad after ignition. It is held in place by magnets.	DAJAT is engulfed by smoke and flame. This phonomenon was caused by the end cone which redirected the flow upwards
The charred rocket emerges from the conflagration	The trajectory looks excellent. Initially....
This is the first sign of trouble	DAJAT cuts a sharp right angle
SERPENTINE, HAL!	DAJAT cuts left better than Barry Sanders ever did
Oh, yeah. It landed hard.

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