When : Sat and Sun, 25 – 26 February.

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 5:00 PM so we have some light to close up by.

Weather at this time :  Mostly clear and sunny, 30’s in the early morning and mid/upper 50’s in the afternoon.

Check the Web Site for any possible last minute changes.

Ken Allen, Performance Hobbies, is expected to out there both days.

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 February, so dress accordingly, warm sturdy  shoes and suggest you dress in layers so you can take a layer off when it warms up, and so you can add a layer when it gets cool later on.

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 will have the ever popular fire pit out to keep your hands warm just in case.

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 at gmail 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.

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.

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

Roy, ROCC Sec.

 So we'll reset the calendar and go for next weekend.

 Addendum, Saturday, 8:15 am: Well, as predicted, today's a gorgeous day, sun shining and sky clear... as of even Friday morning it was supposed to be raining by noon and puppys and kittens were to be falling by the bucket load. Ah, such is the lot of the weather forecaster... I wonder, sometimes, if they still use chicken bones....

dr

First, from Roy...

Sorry the voting form didn't work out, but we can't do that at our level of service with Square Space.

dr

Ralph should be at the site by noon.

Ken is coming today.

dr

This will be a straight-up FAR 101 launch.

Nothing above a "G", nothing above 3 lbs basically. Sorry folks, I was really hoping it would be here in time.

Ralph spoke to Ken who was planning to come out on Sunday. He's going to give us a call tomorrow and see what kind of crowd we have. If you were counting on getting something on Sunday let Ken know on your own and that may sway his decision.

Ralph also has some other comitments tomorrow so Che' Roberts' will likely not be open on Saturday, plan accordingly.

dr

We've rescheduled our January launch to the weekend of the 28th & 29th, set up time of 9:30, flights to commence as soon as the field is ready. The weather for Saturday looks foggy to start so we will need to have that burn off a bit. Sunday looks fairly decent, but the whole weekend looks breezy.

Friday looks like rain, so "squishy" rules apply, ie drive carefully down the sides of the runway, and check the site before leaving for the field just in case it's too wet to park on the field.

Elections we are going to try to do through the website. I am working on a ballot form that you can send back to the site instead of trying to take time out of the weekend and get every one together at one time.

We met as a board over last weekend and cleared up some issues as to insurance. We will be flying under NAR sanctions from now on unless there is a compelling reason to run a launch under TRA regulations, but from 2 hours of discussion it doesn't seem likely. For our field and the cross section we have it makes better sense and we're better protected going under NAR. There will be a release form for folks to sign who aren't NAR or TRA members however. This was one of the main problems that started the whole insurance mess, a spectator who got injured by being where he shouldn't have been.

Non-NAR &/or non-TRA flyers will be limited to "C" engine flights.

Remember that all memberships for ROCC expired at the end of 2011, if you haven't renewed then you need to do so, and there will be a compelling reason to do it....

We have reviewed our policy on flyer's fees and have made a decision that we hope will benefit everyone. We have always used the model of a voluntary fee, trusting to folks to pay what they could when reminded. That has not worked as well as we would have liked, with some folks putting in a lot, essentially subsidizing the launch heavily, and some none at all. Where that leaves us at the end of a weekend is sometimes scrambling to get our minimum field rental made.

We are going to move to a mandatory flight fee of $5.00 for ROCC members and $10.00 for non-members per flight day. For parents with children under 12 the kids will fly for free, and the parent, if flying, would pay their own flight fee. We hope that this evens out the burden of making our field rental fees, we think that it will. We are going to try it for a few months and see how it works and, if it's not working, we'll try another approach.

There will be a flyer's meeting before the flight line opens and reminders throughout the day of a lot of things, but we are striving to make the event as enjoyable as we always have. We want you to have a good time and be safe while doing it.

As Roy says, "See you all on the flight line..."

dr

Right now it looks like next weekend, the 28th/29th, would work, even with Ken being free on the 29th.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

We will postpone untill the 28th & 29th. Reset your clocks... unload your ignigters...  see you next weekend....

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings... pass the word to folks

Doc R.

Thanks!