December ROCC Launch Postoned till Jan 2nd,3rd

Everyone: Update - Saturday Night 6:20PM Rain totals in Charlotte reached at least 1", no Snow or Ice at Williams Farm. Kip said this morning they had a lot, Terry Baucom who live just South of the Farm got a lot as well. He had to dig trenches to drain his driveway. Upon inspection of the grass strip this afternoon at 5:00PM from the gate to the Windsock, it is still very wet, I could feel my tires slipping and sinking while driving and the water pools around your shoes when walking around on the runway. There are also puddles along the righthand side that normally drains well. At this point Sunday is cancelled as well. We expect that that water will freeze tonight the ground will begin thawing Sunday morning and becoming soggy again on top. Driving even on the edges of the runway will create tracks and mess up Kip's Runway. Not good! What Next: We are rescheduling for Jan 2nd and 3rd? Several officers have said this is doable for them. Thanks, Ralph Roberts ROCC/Tripoli Charlotte Prefect

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Rockin Xmas Launch

December 2009 - Golf Ball Loft - LPR Competition Paul Phillips has developed an idea that we tossed around into something workable. The complete discussion is located here. The basic idea is a fun reinvention of bowling ball lofting with LPR rockets and golf balls. The contest is planned for December but if you have time you should bring prototypes to the November launch to test. Key aspects: B motor, Must keep the ball on the field - no off field recovery, ball can recover by itself - only the ball is timed, "booster" must recover safely but need not be on field or returned, ball must stay with the booster even if turned upside down until the rocket is launched. Certify and FLY Remember that APCP is no longer regulated as an explosive so you are free to certify and fly up to your certification level with only minimal regulations (FAA, DOT, etc.). Remember that our field does not support motors over K. Performance Hobbies on Site Ken Allen is expected to be onsite for the launch. If you have any of those special projects planned now's the time to contact Ken and make sure he brings you the goods. January 2010 - NAR HPR H Eggloft Wayne has suggested "H" eggloft which I am comfortable with. See discussion here. Someone will need to step up and be contest director and file for this contest with NAR - any takers? The official (provisional) rules are located here. Thanks Thanks to all who help make this a great club. We have had good participation with setup and tear down and plenty of additional help in other areas. Pat yourselves on the back - you make this club a great place to have fun. Sincerely, Brad Shea ROCC President roccprez@rocketrycarolina.org

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A Serious Issue....

This all started with a phone call from Kip.... Apparently, during our November launch, some of our flyers got a bit bored, or curious, or just didn't think about the consequences of their actions, we don't really know. What we do know is that there was some serious vandalism to Kip's property while we were there. It might have been folks that were there to watch and just took the opportunity, it might have been after we left, but on that Sunday there was a call from Kip that was a very serious ultimatum... if anything else happens on our watch we're off his property for good. I'll put Ralph's note that went to the officers group in the "Read More" link with the details of what we know, but PLEASE, if you saw or heard anything about it let one of us know. We've reviewed and revised our Range Safety and Use rules page and there is a link to it on the left pane of this page. Read it and abide by it or we're toast. I can't make it any plainer than that.

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November "Turkey Shoot" launch report

I hope everyone had a great time at the Turkey Launch, Well, for a whole heck of a lot of us, it has been way too long since our last launch out at the Williams farm. Saturday the 21st was a great day for flying, and for our first launch since the Farms Crop Season. We had one heck of a large crowd. Just too bad that Sunday couldn�t be counted on. It started a drizzle and light rain by 1:00 in the Charlotte area just when most of the after church fliers would have started showing up. Besides our regular fliers, a Boy Scout group from Troop 91 and Prof Knights collage students, we had a number of fliers we haven�t seen for awhile and newcomers. It was really great to see everyone come out. Read More......

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Get ready for the December and January contests

December 2009 - Golf Ball Loft - LPR Competition Paul Phillips has developed an idea that we tossed around into something workable. The complete discussion is located on the ROCC Rocketry Planet blog. The basic idea is a fun reinvention of bowling ball lofting with LPR rockets and golf balls. The contest is planned for December. Key aspects: B motor, Must keep the ball on the field - no off field recovery, ball can recover by itself - only the ball is timed, "booster" must recover safely but need not be on field or returned, ball must stay with the booster even if turned upside down until the rocket is launched. "Read More" for the details: January 2010 - NAR HPR Competition - H Eggloft Any interest in running something like this in the near future? Maybe January 2010? The official (provisional) rules are located on the NAR website under HPR sport rules. Wayne has suggested "H" eggloft which I am comfortable with. See discussion on the ROCC blog.

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November ROCC Launch lost and found

Everyone: Someone left a Orange and White soccer ball under my tent (The Hog Dog tent) near the front. Please contact Ralph and I'll either bring it next launch or can return it before then. Thanks, Ralph (rocketralph at bellsouth dot net)

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November early recap

From Brad's entry on the Rocketry Planet blog.... "This was one of the best turn outs we have had in a long long time. The weather was perfect - we had only a couple of rockets eaten by trees and one rocketeer got his revenge by cutting down one to get his rocket back. We had flight after flight from LPR to HPR with smiles all around. Jim Scarpine came from just north of Raleigh as promised and brought his 4.15x Explorer Aquarius and flew it on a K1275-R Aerotech motor. The flight went just before dark and the brilliant red plume of the monster flame was like a laser it was so bright. The flight was picture perfect with a drogue at apogee and a big white (military?) chute at around 500-600'. Jim couldn't have asked for a better flight and it was the highlight of the launch. We had multiple L1 cert flights - and I think all were successful. Several folks who got out of HPR when regulation monkeys climbed on their backs came out of the woodwork - some kept their certs the whole dark time and others recertified this weekend. My favorite cert flight was an H180 flown a few minutes before Jim's K powered Aquarius. The H180 flame was a brilliant white in the fading light and the rocket shot off to what looked like about 2500-3000' then the light winds took it and blew it gently but persistently across the field and over the woods into the next field. We all wrote it off but told the flyer how to get to the next field (you can't get there direct due to a deep stream). We tore down the equipment and packed it in and as we were finishing with the last load who should turn up with his intact rocket but the flyer. I didn't catch his name but lucky for him two of his observers were with us and able to sign his form for his L1. Several AMW Pro-X sparkys flew including one cert flight on a 4" to 3" design that took off like a scolded dog on an H123 Sparky. The prefect who had known this was a AMW Pro-X when he checked the rocket had forgotten that by the time the rocket was announced. He was expecting a gentle roar of an H123 Aerotech motor and the sparks and the deep growl surprised him! This one ended up in the trees but was rescued and a TRA L1 was earned. A TON of observers came to the launch including 4-6 dirt bike riders from the neighborhood. They liked it so much that they watched for an hour went away and came back for another view. We had great participation with setup, LCO duty, RSO duty and tear down. We had collaboration, cooperation, sharing, fund raising, food on site (thanks Ralph!), vendor on site (thanks Ken!), and just a pile of happiness and joy. All in all this had to be the best launch on the Williams Farm I have attended in my short years flying. And it was certainly the best way to open the rocket season that I can think of. Thanks to everyone who attended."

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November 2009 Sunday update - Today is SCRUBBED

November 21st from 11:00 to 5:00 ***Update*** Sunday weather predictions look very bad, Sunday's launch window is SCRUBBED but a huge THANK YOU to all who came out on Saturday, the crowd was HUGE! (I'm already thinking about how to solve our away cell issue, but if you have any spare parts that might be useful like a battery, etc., then send a note along... DR) Weather Outlook for Sunday is bad. Try to come Saturday as the winds will be very favorable and that it may be the only day we fly. We will make a late day decision on Saturday for Sunday. I would not get your hopes up though. Farm Crops are out! Kip came through - the crops are out and we are go for liftoff on Saturday the 21st. As always keep watching the sites and email in case of any last minute changes. BEST OF ALL THIS YEAR, WE WON OUR CASE!!! NO ATF REGULATION ON MOTORS!!! FLY ANYTHING IN YOUR CERT LEVEL WITH NO REGULATION!! Note: Ralph will have his grill for Hot Dogs and other tasty delights. Porta John Service has been ordered so the facilities will be ready! Performance Hobbies on Site Ken Allen has said he will be on site both days of our launch. It's been a long dry spell so if you have any of those special projects planned now's the time to contact Ken and make sure he brings you the goods. NAR HPR Competition Rules Any interest in running something like this in January? This is officially announced now. The official (provisional) rules are located here. It would be nice to have a HPR contest on tap for one of our winter launches. Pick out your favorites and discuss this. Golf Ball Loft - LPR Competition Paul Phillips has developed an idea that we tossed around into something workable. The complete discussion is located here. The basic idea is a fun reinvention of bowling ball lofting with LPR rockets and golf balls. The contest is planned for December but if you have time you should bring prototypes to the November launch to test. Key aspects: B motor, Must keep the ball on the field - no off field recovery, ball can recover by itself - only the ball is timed, "booster" must recover safely but need not be on field or returned, ball must stay with the booster even if turned upside down until the rocket is launched. Thanks Thanks to all who help make this a great club. We have had good participation with setup and tear down and plenty of additional help in other areas. Pat yourselves on the back - you make this club a great place to have fun. Sincerely, Brad Shea ROCC President roccprez@rocketrycarolina.org

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November Launch information as of 11/5/09

Farm Crops may be out of the Field = Tentative Launch If Kip sticks to the schedule he mentioned to Ralph we may have a launch this month on our normal 3rd weekend (21 - 22 Nov). Stay tuned to here for more info. Update (via Ralph): Spoke to Kip tonight (11/04/09). The front field, next to the house, was cleared today. He says the field next to the Wind Sock is still drying down. He thinks by early next week it will be ready. He feels we can go ahead and post the schedule for Nov. 21st, 22nd. Baring an equipment malfunction we should be ready to fly. He will contact us when the harvest is complete. Doug: please check on Waiver status, I believe we had to renew by December 31st last year. Let�s get that paper work in plenty of time for the renewal. Back to Brad's original note: Performance Hobbies on Site Ken Allen has said he will be on site assuming we have a launch. It's been a long dry spell so if you have any of those special projects planned now's the time to contact Ken and make sure he brings you the goods. Or, if you need to ask a question, call him at (202)723-8257. NAR HPR Competition Rules Any interest in running something like this in January? This is officially announced now. The official (provisional) rules are located here. It would be nice to have a HPR contest on tap for one of our winter launches. Pick out your favorites and discuss this. Thanks Thanks to all who help make this a great club. We have had good participation with setup and tear down and plenty of additional help in other areas. Pat yourselves on the back - you make this club a great place to have fun. Sincerely, Brad Shea ROCC President roccprez@rocketrycarolina.org

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THUNDERFLAME

OK Folks... I know most of us are suffering withdrawal. We're starting to look sideways at that big wheel just sitting there in the driveway thinking "Gosh, I'll bet I could strap a couple of J's to the side of that thing and get it going up the hill really good!" Well Brad got a note from Tom Henderson yesterday that peaked my interest even though I've got a previous engagement on that day. Tom's getting together a ThunderFlame class in Orangeburg, SC on December 12th. It's an all day affair, and you can work out the details with Tom if you're interested. He can be reached at trh@charter.net. Tom's website is at http://www.thunderflame.com/ It's usually about $200.00 I believe for a kit and the instructions, and after you pass the course Tom will sell you the kits directly. You can't buy the kit if you haven't passed the class. (It is, after all, some rather volitile metals and solvents that you need some comfort level with to be safe.) I watched Ralph mix a half a kit in his shop area about a month ago and it was great!

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