an idea for a NAR T shirt...

He who must not be named will be happy to take your money for it.

Bill Sullivan

"The Bermuda Triangle got tired of warm weather. It moved to Alaska. Now Santa Claus is missing." - Steven Wright

Very little of what I see on the flying field isn't rocket science.

Very little of it is engineeering, either.

When I see people drooling over sparky motors where the materials used to make the sparks cause the motor to operate less efficiently, I think "fireworks".

There is no doubt there are a lot of pure pyros in the hobby. These are probably the same people who like trying to shove a motor up whatever strikes their fancy. While there is rocket science involved in figuring out how much nose weight to add to make a 55 gallon drum fly, I wouldn't call it a pure science. You don't see NASA or other aerospace companies trying to fly the most un-aerodynamic shapes they can find, but then again, those aren't hobbies either. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, and if people get your jollies watching a roast turkey fly, who am I to fault that?

For me I think fun, LOUD fun :)

Hell, if rocketry wasn't fun then I wouldn't be doing it.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

I second that. It's a hobby.

Hi, Glen,

I disagree. There's lots of problem solving when I'm building rockets which amounts to engineering. I'm always looking for better ways of doing things whether it's figuring out how to turn centering rings on my lathe or how to build a swappable motor mount for the sustainer in a staged rocket.

I may not be pioneering new ground ala NASA in the 60s', but I'm doing engineering :)

Doug

It certainly flirts with the line that the hobby founders tried so hard to distance us from. But I tend to agree with Tweak - knob motors are kewl. As long as we, the users, aren't tampering with the certified product, I think we are in good standing. (IE, as long as we're not doctoring the fuel grain to make it sparkier.) But once it becomes EX...er, research, then it's much harder to draw a line between that and fireworks.

But let me throw this back at you: What do you think about the FX motors from back in the 70s/80s? (I think they were MPC, but can't recall for sure.) In that case, the rocketeer added a smoke effect by adding a separate smoke generator as opposed to having a smoky motor. Is that fireworks, too?

I've wondered about this. Maintaining that distance from pyro/fireworks is important in maintaining the public's acceptance of the hobby (IMO), but having some knob fun is important in maintaining my interest in the hobby :)

Doug

fireworks are kewl so why don't we just fly fireworks all year round, other than just around July 4?

And in some states, since EX doesn't meet the requirements in NFPA1127 it falls under the fireworks regs.

Yup.

(Hobby & Fun) != RocketScience

I'm fine with everyone having fun with the hobby. Just don't pretend it's rocket science.

I think we need to further subdivide rocketry, and have classifications for serious and non-serious rocketeers. Then the serious rocketeers can gather together to launch their toy rockets using only the most serious of "pure performance" motors.

Knob! Haven't thought of that in a LONG LONG time.

;-)

You just made me smile, which nowadays is a pretty infrequent event on this group. Thank you.

If we sub-divide any further, it will get awfully lonely in subdivisions all by ourselves, but, we are guaranteed a top finisher spot for the year!