February Rocket Valentines

Happy Valentines Day. Well�.We didn�t actually declare this to be the February Valentines Launch, but for most of us it was, because we love it, otherwise we wouldn�t be doing it. (and yes, that means there are a few Rocket Widows out there while we are off) Weather wise, we really missed the bullet. After weeks of mixed weekends of mismatched weather, we lucked out with two perfect days of flying weather. Monday it rained. Both days were clear with warm temperatures, light shirts or �T� shirts in the afternoons and only 5mph predicted winds. There were some higher winds on and off but overall good. Thanks to those who are providing us with photos of our launch�s. If you have any and would like to get them posted on the web site for our entertainment contact Doc Russell at rocketrycarolina@gmail.com or wireknot@gmail.com. or as some have done, pass on a disk or flash drive. We can always get it back to you. Full flight-by-flight report follows the "Read More" link:

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February Launch - IS ON (This Weekend)

February Launch Saturday and Sunday Jan 20th, 21st 11:00AM till 6:00PM The runway is dry,NO RAIN, and the FAA Waiver is approved !!!!!! Winds will be great, out of the West at 2mph Sat, out of the SW Sunday 5-10mph The Golf Ball loft contest. This is a contest to see who can loft a standard, regulation-weight golf ball and clock the longest flight on a B-impulse engine. Go to Our Planet ROCC Rocket site for details. No Food Vendor, however The Oginos may be doing a bake Sale for their fund raiser. Ken from Performance Hobbies will be there both days. Ralph will be there for Tripoli Certs HELP NEEDED Due to availability of several officers and other regular crew we need volunteers to step up this weekend. Several different jobs are available and I will try to place a sign up sheet out early in the day or you can email me or comment in the RSO thread above. Jobs are listed below: Setup - 2-3 people to help carry gear and setup pads. May need someone with a truck to help haul equipment back and forth. Tear Down - 4+ people to help tear down the gear, move it and stow it. May need someone with a truck again. RSO/LCO - We need people 3 people each day to sign up for 2 hour shifts at LCO. Additionally we need 2-3 people each day to sign up as RSO. LCO's can be any L1 or higher member of NAR or Tripoli. RSO requires L2 or higher. LCO's need to be aware of the rules including verifying the skies are clear and avoiding launching at an angle that brings rockets back over the crowd during recovery. RSO - New "Test" Rules Due to some recent issues at other clubs and our own we are testing new rules this time around. More details and discussion can be found here. Rockets below the certification level of the flier do not require RSO sign off. All rockets require an RSO signature for anything equal to the flier's level of certification. A flier who demonstrates carelessness or otherwise fails to self-police will lose this option. Any rocket that crashes requires RSO approval before making any new flights regardless of who flies it. As a practical guide: L3 - fly L2 and under - MAX J - without RSO approval required. L2 - fly L1 and under without RSO approval required. L1 - fly MPR and LPR without RSO approval required L0 - All rockets require approval. Rockets that crash require approval before flying again. Fliers that abuse this system will be required to get approval on all rockets. RSO can step in and check on any flight if they deem it necessary. All fliers are encouraged to bring any rocket to the RSO that they need an opinion on. Anyone noticing unsafe conditions or concerned over a specific flight - notify RSO!

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January 2010 Launch Report

(ETA -- Thanks to Heidi Casey we have pictures on the photo page.) Happy New Years, and I hope everyone had a great time at our "ROCC'n", New Years" monthly launch for January. Of course it could have better, while Saturday the 16th was really great, low to no winds and easily tolerable weather, with food, drinks and the fire pit, it made it a great day to fly. The only rockets that made it to the treeline were the ones that flew there. Little drift. Sunday on the other hand, was too wet and soggy after Saturday nights rain. But because Monday was a Holiday, and ground conditions were just good enough, we had a rare Monday flight day. Keep in mind of the "Golf Ball" duration contest. It is pretty easy, just fly a rocket with any legal "B" engine up with a real golf ball and time its flight from takeoff to landing. Golf Ball can come down on it's own chute. Ball must stay on rocket prior to flight if turned over. We will be running it through the next few launches. We need to get our club memberships up. Though not required to attend and fly at the farm, it provides the funds to maintain the club equipment, TRA and NAR association fees and insurance. The flight donation jar at the launch table goes to the land owner in appreciation for the use of his land and providing a storage shed for out equipment. We have a lot of good photographers out at the launches and we would like to post your photos, the good, the bad and the ugly on our club web site so contact Doc Russell at DOCR@wireknot.com or wireknot@gmail.com to see how to get your shots posted. we love the photos that many of you have shown us on your cameras display screens. Sometimes they are probably the only shots ever taken before the rockets are no more. or we could use them to send to Aerotech if we have a claim to make.

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February preview

February 20th & 21st is the next launch weekend so here's a preview of a few things that'll be going on. First, the Golf Ball loft contest. This is a contest to see who can loft a standard, regulation-weight golf ball and clock the longest flight on a B-impulse engine. The rules are located on Rocketry Planet, but the basics are that the ball is timed, must be recovered on the field, and the ball can't fall off the rocket before it's launched if you turn it upside down. I think I'm the only one who has flown one so far, and I got an unofficial time of 44.25 seconds. We'll be extending it into March but we want to show enough results to the folks at NAR so that they might want to add this to the roster of sanctioned events. Looking ahead to April's launch we're organizing the H-power egg loft. Bob's sending in the paper work so that we'll be sanctioned for it. Check out the regulations on the NAR website under the high power rules. More details later, but start building! DR

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Launching this weekend is a GO

Rocket Dudes and Dudettes, Rejoice, for we have Rocket Launch this Saturday and Monday. UPDATE for MONDAY, 1-18 Setup at 10:30AM Monday start Flying at 11:00 till 5:00PM This will be a restricted FAR 101 Launch, meaning no rockets over 3.3 lbs and power limited to G and under power. Ralph has spoken with Kip and they have determined that the field is marginable, but playable, if we're CAREFUL. Here's the skinny.... after the rain on Saturday eve. (they got close to 2 inches out at the farm) a lot of creeks have jumped their banks, but were receding nicely. The field is muddy, but if we park on the sides up near the house, and set up near the first ridge, we should be alright. Take your "Wellies", in that you will be dealing with mud. As always, take care and follow the safety guidelines. As this is a pick-up launch, without a waiver in place, you'll be limited to the 3lb rule, and no more than a G in impulse. The house is unoccupied right now, so that should help out with the logistics. By the way, we'll be running the Golf Ball competition into the next 2 launch slots but I flew mine Saturday on a B6 and got an unofficial duration of 44.25 seconds. Not bad for a model that I put together in an afternoon! Anyway, that'll give you something to shoot for in your duration numbers. As Roy would say at this point... Keep your nozzles clear! DR

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January 16th and 17th (and maybe 18th?)

January Launch Our next scheduled launch is set for 1/16 & 1/17. There is some interest in stretching this to 3 days for folks who have Martin Luther King Jr. Day (1/18) as a holiday. Weather concerns make it necessary to consider options. Please check ROCC's blog on Rocketry Planet for more info on this next launch. Weather update: Thursday @ 5:30 pm... Winds for Saturday are currently predicted from the ENE, shifting to E during the day, ranging in speed from 1 to 8 MPH. This puts recovery into the south field and down the runway for most of the day. Weather predictions for Sunday are looking very "iffy", with up to 2" of rain predicted currently. January 2010 - Golf Ball Loft - LPR Competition The complete discussion is located here. The basic idea is a fun reinvention of bowling ball lofting with LPR rockets and golf balls. 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 ? Ken Allen plans to be on site. You should contact Ken ahead of time and verify that he will have what you need. NAR HPR H Eggloft - Postponed. We have not contacted NAR and scheduled this provisional contest. This is something we will discuss and set a date for at the next launch. We need a NAR member to volunteer to be Contest Director. 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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NO Emergency launch for Sunday Jan 10th, tomorrow.

Everyone: We attempted to pole the masses to see if there was interest to fly Sunday Jan 10th. There was really poor reponse to our request. Probably due to the cold and other previously schedule activities. We will attempt possibly a three day event next weekend. Please follow the annoucements this week closely. Thanks, Ralph Sorry to the diehards, we tried....

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Happy Little Christmas

OK, I have found that a lot of folks around these parts don't know about "Little Christmas"... go ahead, go to Wikipedia and check it out. Anyway, here's a little present for you all... take care, see you next weekend. Doc

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Make-up launch scrubbed

Black smoke has given way to white smoke... We have a decision. This weekend is scrubbed. Despite all good intentions... our makeup launch scheduled for this weekend (Jan 2nd and 3rd) is scrubbed. I'm sorry to report that's twice we have had late scrubs due to field conditions. In this case our field is too soggy. The runway where we launch and park is a mess - even as careful as the landowner is he has done some minor trenching just with routine driving in and out of the field. We cannot risk having a large group trying to drive on this soggy spongy ground and potentially damaging our relationship with our only field's owner. On top of this the wind was projected to be 15mph+ with gusts greater than 20mph which would have meant no HPR. My thinking is that we can hope that the generally dry and cold conditions predicted for next week will continue and that by the 16th & 17th (Our normal 3rd weekend launch date) we can fly again.

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Jan 2nd 3rd ROCC Launch weather conditions - Update

Just a heads up we are in discussions now about the field conditions and Wind forecast for this weekend's launch. Please keep checking back as we may be making changes to this weekend's launch. Thanks, Ralph

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