"Make-up" Launch this Saturday, January 28th

Ralph has looked into having a "spur of the moment" make-up launch this Saturday the 28th. Ralph has gotten a lot of positive response and it's good with Kip Williams, so we want to go ahead and do a one day, Saturday only launch. Kind of to make up for last Sunday. Regular schedule. Set-up from 10:30 to 11:00 with launchs to start as soon as set-up is complete and go to aprox 5:00 so we can take down the site while it's still light. Weather looks good, chilly maybe, but mostly sunny which works well out there on the farm field that works like a solar collector. I will also have the fire pit to keep your hands warm and hot water for coffee, tea or hot coca, and the port-a-john will still be there. If you can come out, especially if you missed last Saturday, come on out and launch a few. Keep those exhaust nozzles clear and fly high. Roy

Click to read more ...

Sunday launch cancelled, Performance Hobbies still in town.

From Ralph and Roy: This is based on the best weather forcast information on hand at this time, so we've cancelled Sundays launch. The overcast which was Ok this afternoon, is supposed to continue through tonight into late tomorrow morning, and then right when we would be setup to start Sundays launch, it's supposed to go worse from then on for the rest of Sunday through Monday. Wish we had better control of the weather, but his being an outdoor activity, we are at the whim of mother nature. We did have a pretty good launch for Saturday afternoon, pretty moist but OK up till dark. A regular post launch report will follow soon. Ken, from Performance Hobbies, will still be around if you want to get something contact him at 202-723-8257. Try to contact him to order your stuff. He may can leave it here with a club member or bring it next month. We wanted to make sure to give Ken the business while he is in town. Thanks. PS Thanks to all who came out today. You all are some real troopers. Those diehards who stuck it out really saw some great flights.

Click to read more ...

Weather Update for Launch

Per WSOC-TV this am. The rain is supposed to move out after launch then we should see some posible partly cloudy skies this afternoon with a in the 60s. Will will still plan for a 11:00 start time. We may have to dodge a few showers.

Click to read more ...

January Launch is still a go

Everyone: The Launch is still on for this weekend 11:00 - 5:00 each day. Ken Allen will be at the launch so please come out and support him. Tomorrow should start dry with maybe a chance of a shower. No wash out. Sunday is harder to predict right now, hopefully, the showers will hold . For weather updates contact me on the field with my cell - 704-560-0147 after 10:30 am Saturday. Thanks, Ralph

Click to read more ...

January 2006 Launch is Go

Everyone: The January Launch is a GO at Williams Farm this coming weekend Jan 21st and 22nd. Saturday The temperature is suppost to be in the high 50's/low 60's, depending on which report you listen too, a 30/40% chance of scatered rain and little wind. Which is 70/60% chance of NO rain. So come prepaired to enjoy the weekend flying rockets. Sunday is scheduled to just be a great day to fly.Ken Allen, of Performance hobbies will be on site Saturday and Sunday, if there's something special you want, contact him before the launch. www.performancehobbies.com. Brent Johnson from Hobbytown USA in Mooresville, NC may also attend one day and bring some items. I need to confirm what he may bring. The 2006 membership drive has begun, please renew or join at this launch. We will also have the T-Shirts for sale. Sizes from Youth Med to Adult 2XL (we have bills to pay) We will start the launch at 11:00AM to extend the day. We will be running the launch from 11:00AM to 5:00PM each day. Setup is at 10:30AM.

Click to read more ...

Welcome to 2006

Everyone: Happy New Year everybody. I hope everyone's Christmas was great and you received lots of goodies to fly for the upcoming launches. Our launch is set for Jan 21st and 22nd. Ken Allen from Performance hobbies is scheduled to be down plus we may have a gentlemen from the Mooresville Hobbytown USA down as well. Brent mentioned he may bring a few low and medium power rockets down on Sunday. I will confirm with these gentlemen prior to the official launch announcement this weekend. Just a few things we are working on : John Hood is busy getting the 2006 FAA waiver information together. I am working to get our 2006 Tripoli Charter association fee money ready to send in, it is $100 a year that helps cover our insurance and main launch site. I also need to get the Tripoli launch ad ready for 2006 and quickly. I know Steve takes care of the insurance certificate from the NAR side, I am sure he is working on that as well. Contact Roy for funds for the fees. Doc and Jean Russell have been working hard to get the ROCC Web site back on-line and they are almost there. They need content so please submit photos and information. Remember www.rocketrycarolina.org. We are trying to get the final NAR contest list together for the February launch, I need to get with Bob Bernatchez to finalize. I am working on new launch leads for this year. They were getting pretty bad at the Dec launch. Also, I am getting the Porta-John on order to be delivered in time for the launch. Just a reminder, it cost the club about $60.00 a month to have the Porta-John at the field. You may have noticed that we have several expenditures already pending this year already. We need everyone to renew there memberships these next couple of launches. Funds are down due to lack of T-shirt sales and low fall membership renewals. We need you all to attend launches! We had a very poor turnout for the November and December launches and we had perfect weather 3 out of the 4 days we were there. Needless to say we did not reach our Launch fee quota. Kip has been understanding and has not put any pressure on us to pay the exact $250.00. However, since these upcoming launches are usually our best attended. We need you all to come out and make your donations and fly, $8-$10 per person/family. That is 25-30 people per weekend that shouldn't be that hard, but it has been. If you are concerned about launch pad availability, don't be. We will be running Docs new 12 pad system along with our 12 pad system. We should have 12 pads of Estes rods and 6 or 7 High power Rods and Rails. Getting to the pads should not be a problem. I will be consulting with Kip on the crop schedule as well and figuring out what months we will be able to fly at the farm. We also need help locating a summer launch site. We have an opportunity up near Morganton,NC, however, will you drive that far for a local launch? We have pleaded with everyone at the last two launches to run for a club office. Currently: Ralph Roberts is Club President and Tripoli Prefect Roy Potter is Secretary and Treasurer John Hood is Tripoli Secretary Steve Bumgarner is NAR advisor. Bob Bernatchez is the unofficial NAR Contest Person, not really a club officer but has been a tremendous Volunteer (Opinion offered by the President) We have been serving in the positions for many years now and we have had a lot of new folks join and we have had tremendous volunteer help at our launches. However, to give some of these long time members a break I would encourage people to take an office for at least a year or so. (The old saying goes if you don't like how things are going, vote them out.) Problem is if we have no candidates we can't have a vote. If you are interested please email me at ROCCPREZ@bellsouth.net. At the next launch in January we will have a 3:00pm meeting on Saturday to take nominations and have a vote for offices. If we have no takers we will just keep the current officers for 2006. In summary, we are working hard to get this year cranking. We have a lot more news to come, stay tuned, this will probably be a very busy year for rocketry. We need you guys and gals at the launches. Our launches are our meetings and fun time, lets make the best of it. Sincerely, Ralph Roberts ROCC Prez and Prefect

Click to read more ...

December Post Launch Report

Happy Holidays and seasons greetings to everybody. And with the holidays now past, and the decorations taken down, lets take some time to get caught up on last Rocket Launch Meet. Any misspellings will caused by a recently acquired small kitten jumping across the keyboard. Seems that trying to catch my moving fingers is just too much of a temptation. The December Rocket Meet and Launch weather was actually much better than I was expecting and everybody who came out had good flying weather with little drift. It was more cold/chilly Saturday than Sunday, but when the sun was out it was comfortable. I had the fire pit set up with hot water for coffee, coco, tea and to warm the hands. Saturday the 17th of December, HO! HO! HOO! I even had a red and white �Santa Loves Me� hat. We didn�t expect a large crowd, after all it was the weekend before Christmas and we knew that a lot of members had family holiday activities or trips that weekend. We did have some drawings for rocket kits, we hope to see them fly in January.

Click to read more ...

Cool 'Cones

From Giant Leap, brand new large nose cones: http://www.giantleaprocketry.com/hpdefault.asp Look here, then send an e-mail to Ken at: http://www.performancehobbies.com/ Have Fun!

Click to read more ...

NAR safety report available.

There's a story on the NAR website that we should all read. The NAR has released its report on range safety and it's available for download. Link is here: http://nar.org/launchingsafely.html

Click to read more ...

F21W single use motors put on production hold.

From the Aerotech website 11/14/05: AeroTech's 24mm F21W single-use Econojet motors have been placed on production hold. AeroTech has been unable to obtain phenolic casing of sufficient quality and quantity to continue manufacturing them using the current design. As a result, F21Ws have been removed from all current in-house orders.

Click to read more ...