The Cost of Level 2

Ok, first off understand where I was at when I decided to go for my Level 2 certification.

I had completed my Level 1 certification last year with a 4" BSD Horizon. I had done so on the cheap side by only buying the rocket and motor, and borrowing casings and anything else that was needed for the flight. I even got lucky with someone else catching the flight on video for me.

With that being said, around December of 2003 I decided I wanted to certify level 2 during the next flying season. So what was I going to need this time?  I wanted to do it out right as much on my own with as little borrowed equipment as possible.

So first off deciding what rocket to use. Now granted my 4" Horizon would be able to make the certification flight, and I may have considered just that had I not damaged it during my first Level 1 cert attempt with it.

So with prior experience and confidence in the BSD line and a little pushing from some certain un-named internet buddies (CP) I decided on the 4" BSD THOR.

The plan was this, build the rocket and fly a test flight or two before the certification flight. Also do as much as possible with my own components and hardware this time and try to get away from borrowing things.

Rocketry is great in that most every rocketeer is more than willing to assist in helping with information or techniques, and also in lending casings and other items needed for flights. Some can become a little too dependant on the borrowing and I didn't want to go that route.

So what what I going to need to do it right. The rocket, an altimeter for dual deploy, an upgraded parachute, motor adapter for the flight from 54mm to 38mm, motor hardware, motors for test flights, cert motor, Smokin Rockets altimeter bay, black powder, and ematches.

Now this is mainly because of my plan on how I wanted to do things that I would need all these items. Here's a breakdown of the costs of the items and what I actually ended up purchasing for this flight.

Now again this is because of the way I wanted to do things, I figured a pretty high flight on a J350 and wanted the option of dual recovery to make it easier to locate the rocket after flight.

The 38mm motor system and I211's weren't a necessity as I would end up borrowing a 720 casing for the cert flight, but they were necessary for test flights if I went as planned.

So to start from scratch, and do it up right what is the grand total for my Level 2 project?

$581.68

Now that was the grand total should everything go as planned, did they go as planned?

I attempted my cert flight in March of 2004, I ended up not trying test flights first and went for it on the maiden flight, weather conditions somewhat dictated this due to wind the rocket needed to go up with a good strong motor to make it stable in the wind as soon as possible.

So in actuality I didn't need the I211's. However....

The motor adapter let go and the motor went up through the rocket. Cert Attempt.

So the flight was not successful and I still want to cert, so back to the check book.

Rocket was destroyed, 720 casing was destroyed and needed to be replaced, so add to the above figure another BSD Thor, (THOR 2) $110 plus $45 dollars to replace the destroyed casing, plus another $45 dollars to get my own 720 casing so I don't risk anybody else's again, and my forward closure and seal disk were destroyed and needed replacing, $35.

Now are grand total is...  $816.68

OUCH.. adds up doesn't it...

Now it can be done cheaper and allot of the parts and components are reusable in the Thor as well as other rockets, so you can disperse the costs that way, but would I have purchased them if I hadn't planned on starting to fly Level 2 motors????

This should just give you an idea of what High Power Rocketry can cost. All though I can tell you about others that have done Level 2 cert flights for under $200 easily, I can also tell you that even most of the very frugal types can't get a Level 3 flight done for much under $1,000.

One of the most common phrases following the welcome to High Power Rocketry phrase is, "now open your checkbook"   There's obviously a reason for that......

Now hopefully the next attempt will go as planned.. hmm I forgot to add the cost of another J350 cert motor, nevermind I don't want to know.

***Update***

Well the next attempt went almost as planned but it took two J350's, I don't even want to add anymore to the total though, I think you get the point. :-)

On the other hand, like I said it could have been down much cheaper, I've ended up building an 18" payload bay for the 4" Horizon to make it dual deployment capable and it's flown several times without a hitch on AT J350's now, any of which would have been a successful Level 2 flight.

Back to Articles

Back to Main