Re: July 5th @ Metra

There's also a membership fee of $10/year, or non-members can pay a "one day walk-on" fee of $5/launch. (It's a bit of a cramped field - at least unless compared to BAYNAR - but it's less than 20 miles from where I live...)

-dave w

No reason that way of operation could not be translated to any field and a launch of any size. Very practical.

Jerry

Simple, but effective. I like that idea.

I was thinking the money is in the club giving away free pop. All the soda you can drink. If you need to use the porta-john, see the man with the key,....

Joel. phx

Comments interleaved...

I don't know if I was clear on this point. We do set up pad markers as Bob is describing. I was thinking more along the lines of we have circles of dirt where you setup. Kinda like crop circles only without the plants. ;) If you arrive before the pad markers are up, you setup on a cleared area.

They could be. But they'd be set back more from the flight line. If an appropriate distance is chosen, the pads will be past the safe zone of the Estes row.

I was just guessing that these commercial Estes pads were 10'. If they're

15', I stand corrected.

We have an excellent example of that at Rainbow Valley. There is a 50' diameter burned area off the East side of the range where (I was told) a launch occurred which the igniter, still burning, fell to the ground outside the cleared area. Since everyone was watching the rocket, they didn't see the fire until it was almost too late. In addition, the next field over is burned, but it happened in between the 2 club's launches, so I don't know the cause. If you've never seen a grass fire with a slight breeze, think about dropping a pebble in the lake and those ripples going out,.... only much faster. Pretty soon there's a huge fire line.

This is one of the items we cover in the flier's meeting. Let people know to clear their area and to grab fire extinguisher and charge if a rocket has a problem.

Oh, I see your question. If you're standing there with your Estes controller, how far are you away? 15'. If you're gonna build a rack system for a club that can fly up to G (or greater), how long are you going to make the cord? Much longer.

Rocket Safety Code: "Launch Safety. I will use a countdown before launch, and will ensure that everyone is paying attention and is a safe distance of at least 15 feet away when I launch rockets with D motors or smaller, and 30 feet when I launch larger rockets."

Announced flight - "everyone is paying attention" Pad 15' from flight line - "at least 15 feet away" Next row of pads at 50' - "and 30 feet"

Picture if you will a line of controllers,...

| - flight line (controllers laying on the ground) o - pads

w s --> N e A-D E-G H-J K L on up 15' 50' 100' 200' Wayoutthere > | 1 o o > | 2 o o > | 3 oo > | 4 o o o > | 5 o o > | 6 o o o > | 7 o o o > | 8 o o > | 9 o o LCO] > | 11 o o > | 12 o o > | 13 o > | 14 o o o o > | 15 o o > | 16 ooo > | 17 o oooo > | 18 > | 19

Does a picture help? The right is North (just for my sanity). The Parking and prep area are to the left (south). Not actual pad numbers nor scale distances. I can't remember if the 50' is 50 or 30. Assume 10' between numbers, but it might be 15'. You can have multiple launches at one pad space (ooo). Now for some examples. If Pad 1A-D is ready to launch, the rest of the pads out (to the North) are safe distance away. If Pad 2A-D is loading, he has to back up. The rest of the pads are safe distance away. Pad 3H-J has 1 flyer ready and one loading. If the ready card is called, the loading guy backs to safe distance and waits for the launch. After deploy, the loader goes back to work and the guy on pad 4A-D loads and launches, without interruption to 3H-J. The same for the E-G row, which is automatically safe distance from rows A-D and H-J. Anytime something happens at the 200' on out, everybody stops to watch anyway. I showed 16A-D and 17K just because we have had scouts on several launches on A-D and there seems to be a bunching of pads on the East end.

I like what Joe said about bad igniters. Rob, 3H-J just got announced, and his bud is working on the other pad. LCO announces flight, observes flightline and since bud hasn't looked up, says 'bud, we're launching that one'. bud yells 'hang on', clips the igniters and b-lines it to the flightline. LCO checks sky and gives countdown. Igniter poof. LCO says "come get your card wait 60 seconds before approaching rocket". bud has turned in his card but his flight isn't up. Other launches occur and Rob finds the igniter burned, but didn't light the motor. Fetches a new beefier igniter and before he can install it, bud's flight is announced. Once bud's flight is deployed, Rob heads out to replace the igniter, then turns his card back in. And has to wait for those flight cards turned in in the mean time (sometimes none).

With prep and reloading motors, the most I've gotten is 4 or 5 launches in under 4 hours. When I show up with rockets prepped (easier to fold chutes in a cool house) I can launch as fast as I can fill out a flight card, launch and retrieve the rocket.

Joel. phx

:)

A-D E-G H-J K L on up

Nice ascii art!

Jerry

Yours came through somewhat messed up. Perhaps tabs or variable fonts. Here's one of the concentric rings I posted a while back. Distances not exactly to scale.

N N

L

L J L

J G J

G G

J D J G D D G

D D

G D * D G

On a range like this, I'd probably make 2 of the D pads 3/16", and the rest

1/8". The G pads would all be 1/4", and the J and higher an assortment of 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, and rail.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

snip ascii.

web page :)

ROC should invest in a backhoe, along with GBR.

OK, that sounds better. So when one flys misfire alley you need to tell the LCO in advance the largest engine you will be flying that day so the min offset can be calculated when you initially setup. If you get a bunch of people flying H-Ks that day it seems you will be using alot of the field for the pads.

Could you explain "modal impact zone"?

Joe C.

Oh Jerry, quite being such an idiot. Once again your skitzophrenia has allowed you to turn fact into anti TRA fiction. The crowd at LDRS Lucerne was a half mile long and 100 feet deep! Of course a rocket was going to land amongst the cars. What, are you suggesting the pads be interplaced throughout the car line to make sure the modal impact zone was someplace else?

steve

If you get a 5 cluster O, you run a wire out farther if you want but 300 feet is safe for any APCP motor with a reasonable casing I have ever fired for blast distance. When firing KPCP motors 5" or larger in steel cases we often had offset distances of 1000 feet or more but the shrapnel (steel) didn't seem to go over 300 feet either. We could see the flights better at 1000 feet anyway in that case (asphalt perchlorate GALCIT).

Yep:

And bring your Visa, because they don't take AMEX. >;-)

Mark Simpson NAR 71503 Level II God Bless our peacekeepers

Bob, When I dip igniters, I make more than I'll use in two years at a time and bring all of them to launches. When I see someone struggling with a Crapperhead, I give them one of my Igniterman igniters. Like you said, the costs are essentially nil and a thanks is more than enough to satisfy me.

Mark Simpson NAR 71503 Level II God Bless our peacekeepers

And DON'T let that rocket land in the cotton field.

Nope. Popeye.

I don't know if the FTBOD would fit but we use a golf pull-cart.

Then can I pay you Tuesday for some chicken today?

Randy