Epic April Launch - Helicopter Rides Sunday 4/22

I’m happy to announce another exciting event for April’s launch. Weather permitting, Michael Hollowell is flying a helicopter down on Sunday, April 22. So for Aprils launch we have something for everyone!

Details

Helicopter Rides (all prices are per seat, up to 3 seats or max gross weight

per flight) :

While the racks are being loaded:

$40 around the Field

While the racks are being launched:

$125 Lowes MotorSpeed Way / Concord (min 2 booking)

March 17-18 PoLRep

Roy has taken all the launch slips from the March launch and run them through his massive mainframe computer, located in his secret underground lair, and spit out the new Launch Report! Remember folks, penmanship counts! Thanks Roy... click on the "Read More" link for the whole shootin' match. dr

Click to read more ...

Next Month... Contests! (from Sandy, NAR advisor)

In the coming year, we’d like to hold a few contests for members who might be interested. There is a ton of information about contests at www.nar.org and the rules are available for download or on-line viewing in ‘the pink book’ http://nar.org/pinkbook/index.html . It can be somewhat overwhelming at first, so to hopefully get a few people’s feet wet in the vein of NAR contest flying, we’re going to have an un-official contest following NAR rules to hopefully get a few kinks worked out.

The events to be held on the weekend of April 21 and 22 are as follows:
B-Altitude. Any rocket that can normally be flown by the safety rules is allowed to fly with a total of B impulse. This includes clusters and staged rockets. Scoring is based on the highest altitude.

C-Payload: Similar to B-Altitude, this competition is open to rockets using up to C impulse. A fixed payload must be installed in the rocket’s payload section and the rocket flown and recovered successfully. The standard payload is a cylinder that is nominally 19mm (3/4”) x 70mm (2 3/4 “) and weighs at least 28 grams (1 ounce). These will be provided and must be returned without modification. If you have a sport flier without a payload section, one can be fabricated quickly with spare parts body tube, tube couplers etc).

Set Duration: This contest allows any rocket that qualifies as a model rocket (under 3.3# up to G impulse 80Ns or less impulse) to fly. The goal is to meet the contest defined duration, which for this contest will be 55 seconds.

Spot Landing: This contest is open to any single staged model rocket (under 3.3# up to G impulse 80Ns or less impulse). The goal is to land the rocket as close to a spot picked the morning of the contest.

In years past, ROCC did not have the equipment available for optically judging altitude events, so they were rarely flown. In recent years, the NAR has allowed certain altimeters to be used for contests. A list of these altimeters is available in the back of the pink book. If you have one of these altimeters you can fly it in the contest. If not, 3 Jolly Logic Altimeter One’s will be available to use for the altitude events of the contest. Please make every effort to secure these altimeters well and recover your rocket!

The Altimeter One measures 0.47” x 0.64” x 1.93” and weighs 0.24 oz. It can be tied to the shock cord of the rocket and fits into BT-20 or larger body tubes. Three holes 1/16” in diameter need to be added to the bodytube/payload bay to sense altitude.

Hopefully the above has piqued your interest and you’d like to participate in the contest dry run. Check the website for anything that might come up or to ask questions. Lastly, for official NAR contests, you must be a NAR member, but since this is a dry run, any flier is welcome to join in. Hopefully you enjoy the challenge and choose to become a NAR member in the future.

Sandy H.

More information is included in the .pdf file in the "Contest Info" section to the right...

ADDITIONAL: We will be having a Night Launch on the 21st (Saturday) for about an hour. Rules are in the Contest Information section to the right. If you've never been to one of these they're really cool. Even a small rocket puts out a large exhaust plume, much larger than you'd think. Read the rules and get working!   Doc R.

NASA announces ATREX GO for 3/27

NASA has announced a go to start the count down for the ATREX mission to launch on 3/27 between 2 and 5 AM. Here's a LINK to more information.

dr

NC Science Festival... Astronomers & Mythbusters!

On the NC Science Festival website ar 2 events that might interest you... First, April 26th in Chapel Hill, an evening with Neil deGrasse Tyson, head of the Hayden Planetarium. Next, right here in Charlotte, Jamie & Adam from the Mythbusters on April 29th!  Details & ticket info are HERE.

(We're going to Jamie & Adam... dr)

Theme - Clusters

Don't forget about the theme for this weekend, clusters. So if you have a clustered rocket bring it out.

March 17 – 18. Pre- Launch announcement.

When : Sat and Sun, 17 – 18 March.

Where :   The Williams Farm. See Web Site for directions if you are new.

Set Up :   Volunteers show up at 0930 to help setup.

Launch Start :   As soon as set-up is complete.

Launch ends :   Approximatly around 6:00 PM so we have some light to close up by.

Weather at this time :  Cloudy with a chance of light scattered rain. Mild temperatures.

Check the Web Site for any possible last minute changes.

Ken Allen, Performance Hobbies, is expected to out there SUNDAY only.

Hopefully Rocket Ralph will have his Grill out serving drinks, dog’s and wurst’s.

Remember that this is a working farm and it is still just March, so dress accordingly, sturdy  shoes and suggest you dress in layers so you can take layers off and on as the temperature changes.

When the sun is shining at the farm it is like a solar collector out there with the open field so it can be 10 degrees warmer when the sun is clear than in the city.

We are continuing the “BIG BOYS” Rocket Raffle.

Aerotech “Arreaux”,  LOC “NORAD”,  Estes “Executioner”,  FlisKit “NOMAD” 2-stage, and a 4 ft “Long Sword”.

Tickets $1, with a separate ticket box for each rocket you want to draw for.

Two will be drawn at the March launch, the remaining three at the April Camp-out Launch.

We always want to thank those who have provided us with photos of our launches in the past.

WE Still Want More.

Any pictures you have taken from this or from a recent launch that you would like to get posted on the web site for our embarrassment and your entertainment, just contact Doc Russell at rocketrycarolina atgmail dot com, or as some have done, pass it on a disk or flash drive. We can always get it back to you.

We are continuing with our Range Safety standards by making specific assignments of a :

 RSO=, Range Safety Officer to pre-inspect rockets before flights.

 LCO=, Launch Control Officer to check range conditions and control the launch’s in a timely and efficient manner.

So far this has worked fine with little to no effect on launch flow.

Check both the WEB site and at the launch’s for info on volunteering for RSO (Cert Lv-2 required) and LCO (Cert Lv-1 preferred, but any responsible and experienced adult can apply).

It’s great for anybody who isn’t flying that day but wants to take part anyway.

And it’s fun to push the little red button.

Hope to see you on the pads and remember to keep those exhaust nozzles clear.

Roy, ROCC Sec.

Update on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 10:38PM by John Bergsmith

Because of a family obligation, Ralph will not be at the field tomorrow. So don't forget to bring your own lunch.

February 2012 post-launch report from Roy

EXTRY, EXTRY, READ ALL ABOUT IT... Rocket Roy puts out new launch report... scales up new information! Click the "Read More" link... Thanks Roy. dr

Click to read more ...

Sounding Rockets... they're still useful!

This from NASA: 5 sounding rockets are going to be launched from Wallops Island to study winds in the jet stream above 100 km. LINK to article on Arstechnica

From THIS article on the NASA web site it looks like you'd need to be east of Raliegh to see them.

I just think that it's cool that after all this time they still launch from that facility and still use one of the things that got me interested in the hobby back in '66... sounding rockets.

dr

Theme for March - Clusters Last Stand/It's a Cluster!

I wanted to make sure I gave you enough time to ready, or build a clustered rocket. Clustered Rocket, two or more engines ignited simultaneously. I've seen a lot of clustered models the past few months, so we should get some great involvement with this theme. Plus it should be good for Ken's business as well.

See you at the field where the sun will be out, and the winds light!

John