Comments
I was flying my X-Wing fighter from the Estes #1801 starter set. It was the second flight of the day and the motor performed properly during boost and coasting. When the ejection charge fired, it was very loud and the rocket separated into several pieces. The BT20 stuffer tube split along the tube spiral and the engine hook pulled out of the tube. The plastic piece in the rear of the rocket separated and came down as a loose assembly with the engine and engine hook. The BT20 tube also came out of the plastic rocket body and fell separately. The sewing elastic type shock cord broke near the location where it passed through a hole in the stuffer tube and was secured by a knot and ring on the outside. The unattached nosecone descended by parachute. The plastic main body of the rocket fell free and one plastic fin broke off when it hit the ground tail first. After flight, an examination of the plastic body of the X-Wing fighter showed a crack at the corner along the canopy and nose. This could have been caused on impact but the location of the crack and the fact that the rocket landed tail first leads me to believe that the crack may have been caused by the ejection charge.
I have one more engine from the package. The first engine worked perfectly on the first flight of the X-Wing fighter, the failure occurred on the second flight with the second engine from the package.
