November early recap

From Brad's entry on the Rocketry Planet blog.... "This was one of the best turn outs we have had in a long long time. The weather was perfect - we had only a couple of rockets eaten by trees and one rocketeer got his revenge by cutting down one to get his rocket back. We had flight after flight from LPR to HPR with smiles all around. Jim Scarpine came from just north of Raleigh as promised and brought his 4.15x Explorer Aquarius and flew it on a K1275-R Aerotech motor. The flight went just before dark and the brilliant red plume of the monster flame was like a laser it was so bright. The flight was picture perfect with a drogue at apogee and a big white (military?) chute at around 500-600'. Jim couldn't have asked for a better flight and it was the highlight of the launch. We had multiple L1 cert flights - and I think all were successful. Several folks who got out of HPR when regulation monkeys climbed on their backs came out of the woodwork - some kept their certs the whole dark time and others recertified this weekend. My favorite cert flight was an H180 flown a few minutes before Jim's K powered Aquarius. The H180 flame was a brilliant white in the fading light and the rocket shot off to what looked like about 2500-3000' then the light winds took it and blew it gently but persistently across the field and over the woods into the next field. We all wrote it off but told the flyer how to get to the next field (you can't get there direct due to a deep stream). We tore down the equipment and packed it in and as we were finishing with the last load who should turn up with his intact rocket but the flyer. I didn't catch his name but lucky for him two of his observers were with us and able to sign his form for his L1. Several AMW Pro-X sparkys flew including one cert flight on a 4" to 3" design that took off like a scolded dog on an H123 Sparky. The prefect who had known this was a AMW Pro-X when he checked the rocket had forgotten that by the time the rocket was announced. He was expecting a gentle roar of an H123 Aerotech motor and the sparks and the deep growl surprised him! This one ended up in the trees but was rescued and a TRA L1 was earned. A TON of observers came to the launch including 4-6 dirt bike riders from the neighborhood. They liked it so much that they watched for an hour went away and came back for another view. We had great participation with setup, LCO duty, RSO duty and tear down. We had collaboration, cooperation, sharing, fund raising, food on site (thanks Ralph!), vendor on site (thanks Ken!), and just a pile of happiness and joy. All in all this had to be the best launch on the Williams Farm I have attended in my short years flying. And it was certainly the best way to open the rocket season that I can think of. Thanks to everyone who attended."

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November 2009 Sunday update - Today is SCRUBBED

November 21st from 11:00 to 5:00 ***Update*** Sunday weather predictions look very bad, Sunday's launch window is SCRUBBED but a huge THANK YOU to all who came out on Saturday, the crowd was HUGE! (I'm already thinking about how to solve our away cell issue, but if you have any spare parts that might be useful like a battery, etc., then send a note along... DR) Weather Outlook for Sunday is bad. Try to come Saturday as the winds will be very favorable and that it may be the only day we fly. We will make a late day decision on Saturday for Sunday. I would not get your hopes up though. Farm Crops are out! Kip came through - the crops are out and we are go for liftoff on Saturday the 21st. As always keep watching the sites and email in case of any last minute changes. BEST OF ALL THIS YEAR, WE WON OUR CASE!!! NO ATF REGULATION ON MOTORS!!! FLY ANYTHING IN YOUR CERT LEVEL WITH NO REGULATION!! Note: Ralph will have his grill for Hot Dogs and other tasty delights. Porta John Service has been ordered so the facilities will be ready! Performance Hobbies on Site Ken Allen has said he will be on site both days of our launch. It's been a long dry spell so if you have any of those special projects planned now's the time to contact Ken and make sure he brings you the goods. NAR HPR Competition Rules Any interest in running something like this in January? This is officially announced now. The official (provisional) rules are located here. It would be nice to have a HPR contest on tap for one of our winter launches. Pick out your favorites and discuss this. Golf Ball Loft - LPR Competition Paul Phillips has developed an idea that we tossed around into something workable. The complete discussion is located here. The basic idea is a fun reinvention of bowling ball lofting with LPR rockets and golf balls. The contest is planned for December but if you have time you should bring prototypes to the November launch to test. 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. 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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November Launch information as of 11/5/09

Farm Crops may be out of the Field = Tentative Launch If Kip sticks to the schedule he mentioned to Ralph we may have a launch this month on our normal 3rd weekend (21 - 22 Nov). Stay tuned to here for more info. Update (via Ralph): Spoke to Kip tonight (11/04/09). The front field, next to the house, was cleared today. He says the field next to the Wind Sock is still drying down. He thinks by early next week it will be ready. He feels we can go ahead and post the schedule for Nov. 21st, 22nd. Baring an equipment malfunction we should be ready to fly. He will contact us when the harvest is complete. Doug: please check on Waiver status, I believe we had to renew by December 31st last year. Let�s get that paper work in plenty of time for the renewal. Back to Brad's original note: Performance Hobbies on Site Ken Allen has said he will be on site assuming we have a launch. It's been a long dry spell so if you have any of those special projects planned now's the time to contact Ken and make sure he brings you the goods. Or, if you need to ask a question, call him at (202)723-8257. NAR HPR Competition Rules Any interest in running something like this in January? This is officially announced now. The official (provisional) rules are located here. It would be nice to have a HPR contest on tap for one of our winter launches. Pick out your favorites and discuss this. 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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THUNDERFLAME

OK Folks... I know most of us are suffering withdrawal. We're starting to look sideways at that big wheel just sitting there in the driveway thinking "Gosh, I'll bet I could strap a couple of J's to the side of that thing and get it going up the hill really good!" Well Brad got a note from Tom Henderson yesterday that peaked my interest even though I've got a previous engagement on that day. Tom's getting together a ThunderFlame class in Orangeburg, SC on December 12th. It's an all day affair, and you can work out the details with Tom if you're interested. He can be reached at trh@charter.net. Tom's website is at http://www.thunderflame.com/ It's usually about $200.00 I believe for a kit and the instructions, and after you pass the course Tom will sell you the kits directly. You can't buy the kit if you haven't passed the class. (It is, after all, some rather volitile metals and solvents that you need some comfort level with to be safe.) I watched Ralph mix a half a kit in his shop area about a month ago and it was great!

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ROCC Activity Report

Hello and salutations to all those Rocket Jockie�s and Jockette�s who have dropped a line asking how the Orangeburg �Liberty Launch 2209� went. I should have gone around and gotten the names of everyone but I didn�t think of it so I can�t list all the attendees I saw, many I know by sight but not by name. I did recognize a lot of ROCC members and some who fly out at the Farm. I made planed arrangements to attend the whole 3 day event and though disappointed by the winds, had a good enough time to say that the trip was indeed worthwhile and enjoyed. If you want to see pictures of the event, �ROCKETS� magazine attended the 3 day event and took a lot of pictures. Besides those that will be included in the next issue of the magazine, you can go to the website. and select the Freedom Launch 2009 icon on the right, or the PHOTOS box on the left. Both will take you to a selection of shots from the launch and then you can select the �more photos for sale� on the magazines photo shop and look at 50 pages of 20 pictures per page. These are additional shots of attendees, rocket set ups, rockets in flight, and under chute that you can buy if you don�t have a good pro shot of your rocket in flight. Or sometimes in many, many tiny pieces. You can also go to the O�Burg club website and select the PHOTOS box on the top row and scroll down and select Freedom Launch 2009 and the 11 videos. You do need to see the video of the 400lb V-2 flight. Partial failure, partial success, fully impressive. The �M� engines looked to blow the exhaust nozzles just blowing out a blowtorch like flame while the single �O� engine labored to get the V-2 to a safe altitude for the chute recovery system to successfully return the V-2 safely with minor flame damage I understand. Other than the wind, the weather was great. It was probably the winds that kept the temperature and humidity within tolerable limits. But I was able to get in a few flights each day but kept everything at lower altitudes. The larger heavier flights were able to push through the winds and not drift all too far. The lighter weights had a lot more drift and wind cocking to cope with. Keep a look at the ROCC website for news about any chance of a spontaneous end of Oct launch and a more probable regular November launch. We expect the farm to be through with the crop harvest and weather providing, back to monthly launches by then. I hope David Tomkinson can come out, we are holding onto the Aerotech Barracuda that he won in the ROCC Raffle at the overnight campout launch. I believe a few of the ROCC members took part in a Scout launch last weekend out at that neat Scout Jamboree looking site. Hope it all went well and we might hear a short report about that on the web site soon. Any other activities you know of, get it onto the web site so anybody who is interested and available can take part in it. Till then, remember to keep those exhaust nozzles clear. Roy. ROCC Sec.

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A trip down memory lane...

I've been flying model rockets a long time now, and every now and then I'm reminded just how long. I ran across this PAGE with the original "Model Rocketry" magazine, starting with volume 1 number 1, from back in October of 1968. They're in .pdf format, so you'll need Foxit Reader or Adobe reader to open them. I remember having some of these as a kid.... man I wish I'd saved 'em! DR

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October Launch Prospects

I heard from Brad that it's highly unlikely we'll able to get into the field due to the length of the crop season this month, considering our scheduled launch is in 2 weeks. On the bright side, this month in O'burg it's a ROSCO launch, so standard NAR sport rules apply. It's a bit of a hike, but it's an option... Their launch schedule is HERE Doc R.

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How much ejection charge?

I recently had to try and answer that question on a new rocket. 5.5 inches in diameter and almost 36" of essentially empty space to fill with pressure at apogee. How much powder to put in? Well, I found this page and it gives a handy table as well as a good explanation of the math behind it... very handy!

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TARC sign-up is OPEN

Team America Rocketry Challenge 2010

 

Registration of 7th-12th grade student teams for the TARC 2010 national rocketry competition opened on September 2 and will remain open until November 30.  This competition, now entering its 8th year with the NAR and the Aerospace Industries Association as co-sponsors, has enrolled over 50,000 students over this period and got them excited about rocketry and about an aerosapce career -- which is why we do it.  The $60,000 in prizes for the top 10 teams and the free trip to the Paris or Farnborough European Air Show for the winning team help with the excitement, too!

 

This is the most effective youth outreach and national publicity program that the NAR has ever had.  Please help get the word out to students and teachers about this opportunity using our publicity handout, and reach out to help "mentor" these teams on basic rocket skills and welcome them to your launches to do their test and qualification flights.  See the event website www.rocketcontest.org for application forms, and see the NAR website's Team America page for more details. 

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Freedom Launch 2009

OK Folks... Freedom Launch is our next regularly scheduled event, over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5th, 6th & 7th. Saturday & Sunday are standard sport rules, Monday is operating under Tripoli EX rules. I've been trying to find the updated EX rules on the Tripoli web site and haven't found them yet, so if someone knows them and can e-mail me i'll add them here. I know that there is a 450lb-plus V-2 that's about 12 feet tall to be launched around Noon on Monday, so if you needed a reason to just hang & watch for at least the morning... there you go! Roy sent out a great e-mail that i'll post on the "read more" link. So, in short, it's a really great time, I believe the waiver is around 12,000 ft., and they can easily handle up to an "M" motor. Ken will be there as a vendor, and he'll be loaded for bear, and I believe Chris Stockhart will also be there as a vendor. Some of you might might remember Chris from NSL last year. Here's a LINK to the SC ICBM site with more info. If you want to volunteer for range duties, 2 hour shift on either RSO or LCO, please drop a line to: William Daugherty at his address, wdaugherty2-at-sc.rr.com and let him know. (note... replace the "-at-" with the usual sign, didn't want the bots to scrape his name on our site) <UPDATE>If you still needed a reason to drive down to Orangeburg for the Freedom Launch, Burl Finkelstein sent me these two photos of what he will be launching Monday: Click on either for a (much) bigger version. </UPDATE> And now, please read Roy's e-mail below:

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