Two badly twisted rubber chickens (one with pink parachute).

Two parachutes that appeared to have been turned into swiss cheese by rabid moths.

One badly damaged motor casing and forward closure.

One undamaged rear closure.

Two of Ron McGough's plastic launch lugs. (complete with bent screws).

All four ejection canisters with 4 grams of black powder and one Davey fire electric match each (unfired).

Post flight analysis of the disaster has revealed that the ALTS II altimeters did not provide sufficient current to fire the two Davey fire electric matches that were connected to each altimeter during the flight in question. The previous flight of the Big Stick utilized flash bulbs as the initiator for the black powder ejection charges. Flash bulbs require very low current to fire.

Apparently, Electric matches require substantially more current to fire.

We recommend, thorough ground testing of all firing circuits using their planned configuration prior to actual flight testing. We learned the hardway so you don't have to.

Big Stick II is being designed with the following modifications:

Dual Adept altimeters will be replaced with one recording altimeter, either Olsen or Black Sky.

Redundancy will be provided by use of a Missile Works remote firing system.

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