NEWS

THE JOHN MARK ROBBINS MEMORIAL FLIGHT,  NTBP 18

Flight 18 was a success. The launch went off without a hitch.
The flight and recovery was not quite so smooth.

Just a short report of the NTBP Flight 18 in memory of John Robbins,
SK NO5X, Oklahoma City, OK. The flight was launched on time at 8:32am
Saturday morning, 8.7.2010 from Hillsboro, Texas Municipal Airport.
The equipment was three packages; a gps with voice beacon, a
crossband repeater and a ten meter beacon. All worked for a short
time. The crossband repeater quit shortly after launch and we are
doing an examination to determine cause. The voice beacon on two
meters had some errors and was intermittent, going silent from time
to time. The ten meter went off without a hitch and we are looking
forward to reports. We hope some will show significant dx locations.

The project attained a height in access of 92.000 feet and lasted
just over two hours of flight time. The project ascended as planned
at 1,000 feet per minute. The new parachute worked as expected. This
was a refitted chute used to arrest aircraft. Our homemade chute was
lost on mission 17 and never recovered.

The lift off was to winds of less than three knots and picture
perfect. No line was needed and we could simply let go of each
package until all was vertical. The recovery was another matter. We
followed the project to landing near Walnut Springs, Texas, just
south of Glenrose. We drove around the property and knew it was
present on one of two ranches. Both were posted and one was a game
ranch. It took the better part of six hours to find the ranch
personnel and have them get permission to retrieve the project.

The packages had landed in a cedar break in trees 30 ft tall. No one
had been in the area for some years and the area was over grown by
cedar and brambles. The packages were obtained at much personal
discomfort and loss. We retreated to the Logan's Steakhouse in
Burleson, Texas to eat and salve our wounds.

We commend this launch to the memory of John "Rob" Robbins and hope
that his family will find God's Grace and Christ's Love to help them
through these difficult times.