Friday, December 14, 2007 at 1:11PM Ralph called me to say that they are trying to beat the weather fron by moving up the start time for the launch. They will start field set-up at 9:00 AM, figuring that the weather will arrive about 3:00 PM. Come on out & fly early! Take care, we're in Maryland doing a show & hope to not get snowed in up here on Sunday! D&J
News Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 8:26AM Everyone: I spoke with Kip Tuesday night and he has cleared us to launch, however, with restricted rockets and power levels. He himself had a small fire just about get out of hand up at his other farm this week so extreme care must be taken. We still have the surrounding areas to worry about as far as fire threat. We have had almost zero rain since last launch so there is a lot of dry vegetation to worry about. You may or may not be aware that when we have "High Wind" days the wildfire danger alerts are posted up on weather.com as special weather statements due to all the dry brush and debris on the ground. Official launch announcement: Saturday and Sunday December 15th and 16th from 11:00 to 5:00 each day Click on READ MORE:
News Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 8:19AM Hello, Hello to all you Rocket Scientists, young and old, male and female, nerd and geek. It is good to be a Rocket Science Geek. Its about time I got this Post-Launch report out for our last launch, the 17th and 18th of November. We should have named it the �Great Turkey Launch�. We can�t complain about the weather. The wind and temperature were really good so the conditions were really great for both days. About the ROCC Club elections, Still Looking for nominations for ROCC President, has been suggested that with Brad Shea interested in helping, he run for Vice President and be in training for future President. ANY Other Nominations.?? Club Secretary/Treasure, it is said that Louise Ferrel MAY be interested. ANY other nominations???? Tripoli Secretary, John Hood has still got it with offered assistance from Doug Knight. ANY thing else? Click on "Read More" for the rest of the report:
News Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 11:22AM Haven't posted in a couple weeks, with the holiday and all, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I just had a personal note to pass on, when I got home yesterday there were 3 blue envelopes in the mail box... my LEUP got here! Why the 3 envelopes?... don't know. Maybe they come from different departments, but you'd think they'd just put 'em in one. Go figure. Now to try for L2 again...!
News Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 11:02AM Everyone: OK, I have confirmed with Kip the the field is cleared of Soybeans as of Tuesday and the Winter Wheat has been planted. So they are done with the field until Springtime. Yeah! The Porta-John has been ordered and will be delivered Friday. John Hood has the information to call the Waiver in. Now pray for rain to get it good and wet. Vendor changes: Brent Johnson from Hobbytown USA will be down Saturday with all rocket stock priced to sell. He is getting out of the rocket business. He should have some good prices. Ken Allen from Performance hobbies will only be down Sunday Nov 18th as he will be at the BayBoro, NC launch on Saturday out east. Thanks, Ralph Roberts ROCC President
News Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 1:33PM OK, everyone has been bugging me about flying at the Farm. Well, here is the current situation. I spoke to Kip Williams tonight (Nov. 7th) regarding the field status. The left hand side of the field has been harvested both of corn and soybeans. They have begun work in the back on the right hand side of the field to harvest it. He expects it to be done by next weekend. The farm received 4" of rain two weeks ago which has allowed them to plant the Barley for the winter crop. That is the good news.
News Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 6:52PM This just in from the "Beeb" Gen. Paul Tibbets, USAAF (Ret.), has passed away. Link
News Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 4:15PM I'm working through the process of getting my LEUP and had a very good meeting with one of our local ATF personnel, Inspector Nora Mace, the other day. A question came up that we had no answer for about the use of type 3 magazines, or "Day Boxes", and the labeling requirements of the magazine. She contacted the Charlotte Fire Inspector's office and made some inquiries on our behalf and I thought I'd share what we found. From the NFPA code, adopted by both North Carolina and Charlotte/Mecklenburg: Day Boxes National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 495 Above ground storage of Explosive Materials 9.6.3 Type 3 Magazines: A type 3 magazine shall be a "day box" or portable structure used for the temporary storage of explosive materials. 9.6.3.6 Type 3 magazines containing explosive materials shall be within line of site vision of a blaster. On the question of to mark or not mark a day box with the word �Explosives�: Deputy Fire Marshal Leonard stated there does not appear to be any requirement for labeling or marking. The local ATF office does support labeling of type 3 magazines as "good practice". So while it's not a MUST, it does seem like it might be appropriate. Our concern was one of calling attention to what the contents of the magazine might be to someone who would find it attractive to steal, vs. the need to alert personnel in the event of a fire or other emergency response situation.
News Monday, October 15, 2007 at 7:02PM I spoke with Ralph about the farm earlier this evening, about a conversation he had with Kip on Friday about this weekend's launch. Between the crops still being in the fields and the NC Governor's statewide burning ban imposed this afternoon we're in a holding pattern as far as a launch window. The feeling is that the risk of fire is just too great to go for a launch. If anything were to go wrong and a spark or burning ember end up in the wrong place we could have a very big problem in a very short time. Please understand that we want to launch as much as anybody else, but we're in a unique situation untill the region gets some water. Keep an eye on this spot for further information. We'll keep you posted as we get word on future developments.
News Friday, October 12, 2007 at 4:39AM I had a great opportunity to have lunch with Mark Canepa and Brad Shea yesterday in downtown Charlotte. Mark was telling tales about his trip out to the Black Rock dry lake for Balls 16, the experimental TRA launch. I went searching on Flickr for photos and found some, one of which was the full size Nike Smoke (19 feet tall, 4 N2700's and a central N2800). The Nike had a great launch, but came in ballistic and sank some 16 feet or so into the lake bed on impact. This was also the event celebrated on the cover of the New York Times with the high altitude shot from a rocket at apogee of 86,000 feet! Here's the link to the set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/1498564962/in/set-72157594310484478/ DR
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