HELP

Ralph sent me a note to follow up on the idea of signing up for launch duties, and I think it's a great idea. Thing is we're looking for a good way to have a sign-up sheet on the site that can be written to by our membership. It's a bit of a sticky one, but we'll get it. In the mean time PLEASE if you can help out on Set-up on Saturday morning, handling a couple of hours of launch duties firing off AP, or tear-down on Sunday send me an e-mail at: wireknot@gmail.com. Thanks!!

Click to read more ...

Rapid, Unscheduled Disassembly

Every now and then I go by Flickr.com and type "rocket" into the search bar. It's kind of interesting what pops up now and then. Here's one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/47154864/ It's called a land shark, and it's both cool and frightening at the same time! See ya on the field!

Click to read more ...

Change in Launch START TIME

Due to the fickle nature of the weather forecast for Sunday, we've moved up the start time for Sunday to 9:00 A.M. So get up early and, for goodness sake, somebody bring some coffee!!

Click to read more ...

Launch update for 1-20 1-21

Everyone: The January Launch is a go at Williams Farm this coming weekend Jan 20th and 21st. Also, the 2007 membership drive is continuing, please renew or join in. We will start the launch at 11:00AM to extend the day. So we will be running the launch from 11:00AM to 5:00PM each day. Setup is at 10:30AM. Vendors: Saturday : Ken Allen from Performance Hobbies ( CALL HIM ASAP FOR ORDERS), & Sunday Brent Johnson from Hobbytown, USA, (New shipment of Estes and Aerotech motors in stock) Tim Derbin from Giant Leap We will have the Porta-A-Jon at this launch, please come out to support the Porta-Jon. We need as many people as we can to make our flyer fee goal. Last month we had a lot of flyers and met our goal. We need everyone and their donations so please contribute if you fly. At least try to make it out for a little bit. Remember our recommended donation is $8.00-$10.00 per flyer per day, families with lots of young flyers maybe a $10.00 donation would be good. Again, these are recommendations not harden rule. The requested weekend land fee from the land owner is $250, so we need everyone to drop a little something in the jar. Anyone needing to certify, please contact me ahead of time. Todd Haring or Terry Baucom can arrange to have the Level 2 NAR test delivered to the field and we can have others administer the test. New Launch Duty Roster will be available for anyone wanting to pull duty this launch. Plus, we will have one for the Feb and March launches for folks to sign up. One Last call for nominations for club officers, we will have a 5-10 minute meeting at 12:00 Noon Saturday to call for nominations and if we have enough folks we will have an elections for 2007 ROCC and TRA Offices. Our by-laws state we must make it official, so we will do that Saturday. Anyone wanting to run for club officers please step up. Note: Bob B will be taking over NAR advisor for Steve Bumgarner. Everything else is up for grabs. Would there be any interest in having another NAR contest as early as the Feb launch, we need to finalize what contest we want. (Bob B, Doc R., Brad S., if you could make a recommended list, that maybe a good start.) We also need to discuss schedules and hopefully get started on a 2007 summer flying site. Weather looks to be cold as of Wednesday afternoon!! Saturday 49 sw winds at 9, calm at dusk Sunday 47 light nw winds at 5, calm at dusk, 30 % chance of a mix late Bring you big coat this time. If you have any questions please email me at ROCCPREZ@bellsouth.net or call me at 704-568-1070. Thanks, Ralph Roberts ROCC Prez

Click to read more ...

State of the (Rocket) Union

Everyone: Well another year has flown by and we are part way through our 2006-2007 flying season. The 2005-2006 season was a great one, membership is trending up, slowly. Attendance is up. This hobby, through all the regulatory issues, is still hanging in there. We have a great group of folks who love to fly. Of course, all the buzz last year was Doug Knight's mentored TARC team winning the 'Nationals', that was truly the feel good story of the year. The guys gave their account of the contest last fall, it was truly a lesson in doing your homework, working hard, and having just a little "luck" along the way and you can succeed in what ever you put your mind to. I suspect we will have more folks attempting to qualify this year, will just have to wait and see. I want to thank Steve Bumgarner, Roy Potter, John Hood for being the ROCC officers for the year, again. You all do great work and are very appreciative. Again, the call to change leadership has not yielded any new candidates, unless I missed someone. However, a lot of support has been offered, to the point I am going to take people up on that. Colon, I be calling you. We did not have an official meeting for nominations last launch cause everyone wanted to fly, however, we had some discussions on moving some folks around. However, if you all would like to take 10 minutes at the start of the day, say around Noon Saturday Jan 20th to do the official "call to meeting" we will do so. Our by-laws do state we have an official nominating/elections for club offices each year. For the rest of you volunteers, here is my shout out to you guys and gals. You all make it easy at launches for setup and tear down, equipment clean up, etc. These launches can't be pulled off by just one person, it takes a village and we have a great one. Here's the list of current officers as of 1/1/07:

Click to read more ...

Soviet space pioneer Sergey Korolyov's 100th birthday

This, from the geek news site BoingBoing.net, posted by one of their regulars: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/13/soviet_space_pioneer.html Happy Birthday to the person who the Soviets thought so important that, if we had known his name, we'd have either killed or kidnapped him. They referred to him in the (few) press reports only as "the Chief Designer". There's a great Bio on his life by James Harford which provides some great insights into the USSR/USA race to the moon.

Click to read more ...

Twas the Day before Launching - Replay of my 2003 classic - I'll stick to day job, believe me.

Twas the Day before Launching Twas the day before Christmas and all through the launch site Everyone stayed busy prepping their flight. All of their rockets lay on the ground, As flyers stood wondering when and if all could be found. When suddenly at the pads there rose such a clatter As folks hooked up their rockets in hopes they would not splatter. As they stood quietly rocking in the breeze on the stands Everyone stood patiently, waiting, nervously rubbing their hands. When off in the distance the PA sprang to life with a screech When some 40's something fat dude started making a speech. Announcing each rocket as it was ready for flight On Warthorg, on Maniac, on Initiator, on Ultimate Endeavor As I count you down do us a favor Fly high and fast and as you reach your summit Please, oh please deploy your chute so we won't watch you plummet. Float gently, gently back to the ground so that we may fly you again, next round. I'll count you down with a Five, Four, Three, Two, One. May you belch fire and leap toward the sun. Making us jump with your extreme mighty power Leaving the ground on a white smoke tower. As you streak through the sky on that white hot flame I'll marvel that you can fly, as everyone else does the same. We'll await the pop to release your parachute. In the mean time, watch out for that old guy with a beard and red suit. As this is Christmas, and Santa will know Whose rockets are aglow. If you take out a reindeer you may hear him shout "I know where you live, and this year your OUT!" So, if you want Santy to fill your pockets with rockets Keep the noisy end down and the pointy end up. And don't glue your fins wrong on your new Bull Pup So be careful this Christmas and have some great flights Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Click to read more ...

Happy Christma-Hana-Kwanzi-Chauh

Here's wishing all of you the happiest of holidays and the best of New Years! May we all fly high, get our rockets back intact and have a safe and prosperous 2007.

Click to read more ...

Contest results

Well, the results are in and the winner is.... Random duration, a TIE between Ralp Roberts and Sandy Houston at the low score of 15.4, but they did it in opposite directions! Ralph went short, Sandy went long, but by the exact same amount! Bob "Mister Contest" Bernatchez smoked everybody on the other 2 however, racking up an impressive 72 second duration on the C-eggloft (160 points) and 130 points on the superoc duration! Way to go guys! I'll send the results into NAR for the official tally and let you know when I hear back, but at least we'll be in the book, not just a blank spot where section 608 is. Thanks to all who flew and lets do it again in the spring!

Click to read more ...

Rocket launch this Dec 16-17 2006, weekend

Everyone: The December Launch is a go at Williams Farm this coming weekend Dec 16th and 17th. We will be awarding Contest prizes at the launch, congrats to the winners, Doc should have the results posted shortly to the website. I know it is the holiday season and we are all very busy, however, give yourself a little break and come out if not for just a little bit.

Click to read more ...