New Launch Season! (Kinda long but please read...)
Monday, October 13, 2025 at 12:33PM Hello fellow ROCC'ers. Welcome to the 2025-2026 launch season! We're hoping to get started in November on our regular 3rd weekend, the 15th & 16th. This is of course if the field has been cleared and Kip gives the OK to start. Check out the proposed calendar to the left. As always, please keep up with this website and/or our FB page before driving out to get the latest launch information & weather updates. There's also a weather briefing down in the right corner!
As a reminder, suggested launch fees are $15/day/flyer, and if you're a first timer or a ROCC member then the fees are $10/day. These go to the land owner for allowing us to use his land. If you want to kick in some extra to keep the porta-john clean then everyone's greatful. Keeping that serviced costs us about $100/month in-season but we feel that the alternatives are worth the cost. (I updated the costs, forgot we upped the launch fees last season. I appologize.)
For our newer folks, you are not allowed to just go out to the farm on your own and fly. We are only allowed on the property on sanctioned launch weekends. This is a working farm and there are things going on during the off season that Kip doesn't want folks just showing up. Also, speaking of the working farm status, please don't allow kids to wander around in the buildings and equipment areas. Farm equipment can be dangerous and isn't a jungle jim or climbing sculpture. There's also a couple buildings near the storage shed that house hogs. They weigh upwards of 600 lbs and they aren't too particular about what they have for lunch. There's also a hog lagoon, and as picturesque as it sounds... it really isn't!
On field, please drive slowly down the edges of the runway to get down to the launch activities. (Yes, that long strip down the middle of the field is Kip's grass runway!) If we rut it up then it costs him $$ to fix it. That's one reason we're careful about rain and field drainage. It might seem like it's not a problem but we generally won't fly if there's buckets of rain the day before a launch day. The field needs to be able to support our traffic and firm back up.
Our cleared FAA altitude is 4,000 ft. We sit below a 5K' shelf of the Charlotte airspace so we're prety strict about folks busting that. If you have a project you're thinking about that is going to come close, then be prepared with your flight calculations when you get to the RSO table.
General flight operations go like this… when you get to the site, go to the sign-in table and log in with your name and the folks with you, kids, students, etc., and take care of any fees. This covers you under the NAR flight insurance for the day. Then check in with the Range Safety Officer (RSO) if you’ve got anything crazy you’re going to try that day. The RSO table is generally to the left of the flight line. We safety check anything with an "E" impulse or above, and if you’re a new flier we’d like to check over the first few flights of anything you fly so we can judge your build quality, etc. And of course anything that’s a first-flight rocket, scratch-built & the like, we want to get RSO eyeballs on it to check for flight stability. Please bring your flight card with you when getting your rocket checked over.
After your RSO visit then proceed to an appropriate pad if the range is open. If we're in the process of launching then wait until the range is open. Place your rocket, connect up and check continuity, then place your flight card at the firing table under the right pad slot so we know who belongs to what rocket. Once a rack is cleared then we reopen the range and you can go out into the fields and collect them. Lather, Rinse & Repeat... until you run out of engines or rockets.
Our on-site vendor is Ken Allen from Performance Hobbies. You can contact him at this LINK to arrange for on-field pickup of engines and other materials.
Speaking of links, please check out our LINKS page for all the area clubs and organizations that you might need to get in touch with.
That's about it for now, more as we get closer to the start date.
TB/dr