Rocket Challenge on Discover

That's the last thing that should have been left out. IMHO, it was the best advertisement possible for us.

Every non-rocket person is going to be wondering, as they watch the show: what happens when something goes wrong?

Everyone speaks with Fear and Loathing about Catos. Did you see how far the debris from the cato spread, and how much much farther away the audience was? If you're trying to sell rocketry as a spectator hobby, that's a big negative point. People want to be lot's closer to the disaster. Just look at auto racing or Cub's baseball!

The big disaster on the third hour - the rocket ejection charge goes off. Was his face blown off? Intestines hanging out of his abdomen from a gaping wound? (Amazingly repulsive and smelly in real life, by the way). No. He fell down and hurt his neck. I don't think the ambulance crew even boarded the guy. (I did notice bystanders properly preventing movement while waiting for the ambulance - looked very good.) Please don't get me wrong - I'm not advocating that kind of failure, and I'm thankful the injury wasn't more serious. But the definition of "horribly wrong" would have a Pee Wee football coach screaming that the injured person was a pansy. Of course, I've had a football coach ask me when the kid who just broke his wrist can go back into the game....

Heck, the most impressive screw-up was in many ways the Snitch Girl's claim to fame. You have to admit, it looked cool. That was with Estes motors, and even it wasn't dangerous (as long as it wasn't in California).

The point that was driven home repeatedly:

We are overly cautious. We go out of our way to make sure nothing bad happens to people. Safety is our first and last thought, and most of the thoughts in between. We could get a lot closer and still not have anything bad happen - but we don't.

Personally, I think that's a good thing.

Zooty

Reply to
zoot
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I didn't have a problem with the failures; they're a fact of life in every hobby. If I could have edited out anything it would have been the mach busting rockets flying through clouds. Otherwise, I think it was a very good depiction of our hobby.

Mario Perdue NAR #22012 Sr. L2 for email drop the planet

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Reply to
Mario Perdue

Not so. There are often good reasons for posting anonymously.

One of the people who figured out my real name and e-mail also figured out why I post under the name "Zooty." It's not very hard to figure out, although figuring it out looks like more work than I'd be willing to put into it.

Zooty

Reply to
zoot

What about the guy smoking right where they were loading up the clusters? Think that was at the beginning of the first one.

Joel. phx

Reply to
Joel Corwith

Good demonstration of the "explosiveness" of APCP. ;-)

Reply to
Kurt Kesler

They would never do that!

In fact they keep records of the hundreds of "incidents" caused by "rocketry related" materials. It's just that they are Super Double secret records with all of the english words, dates/times, etc. blacked out.

But, lie? No never ...

Curtis

Reply to
Curtis Reynolds

NOT a coincidence.

Point. NO

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

Confirming what I have said about TRA and the appeasers hate being said, and some are foolish enough to deny it even happens alot.

At LDRS Lucerne a flight described as one of the higher flights of the day was flown as a commercial airliner was flying directly over at a lower altitude than I have ever seen there. FIRST HAND WITNESS ACCOUNT HERE. A bad confluence of events, which is precisely how accidents happen.

Easily avoidable by checking for aircraft and having ANY attendee at the launch having the authority and responsibility to call "AIRCRAFT!" and the RSO be compelled to STOP.

Fest launches were/are good for a reason. That policy is one of the many.

Jerry

Rag on me if you want but I am objectively right.

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

On the other hand, leave it to Tripoli to have the conditions for an accident, get it on TV and make us all look a little bad on a large scale.

In 30 years I have never had an ambulance at a rocket launch for any reason.

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

ROFL

And sadly 100% true.

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

Nice to see that FAA regulations and the safety code are being violated on national TV. Any coverage is good coverage? Well, at least it's realistic coverage of what usually goes on at high-power launches.

-John

Reply to
John DeMar

POINT!!

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

No, but they should obey the laws and safety codes.

Mario Perdue NAR #22012 Sr. L2 for email drop the planet

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Reply to
Mario Perdue

"shockwaveriderz" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

And, uhm, that would be why the shipping carton containing model rcoket motors is prominently labeled Toy Propellant Devices? Because the BATFE administers shipping regulations?

len.

Reply to
Leonard Fehskens

Tripoli LDRS-Lucerne RSO's should be jailed or fined. And a policy adopted as I posted. For the learning impaired I will repeat it here.

Easily avoidable by checking for aircraft and having ANY attendee at the launch having the authority and responsibility to call "AIRCRAFT!" and the RSO be compelled to STOP.

Fest launches were/are good for a reason. That policy is one of the many.

There.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

"Joel Corwith" wrote in news:gMLrb.8$ snipped-for-privacy@news.uswest.net:

The shows themselves had an awful lot of filler. The same shots were used repeatedly. I suspect the whole three hours could have been tightly edited down to a one hour segment without commercials.

len.

Reply to
Leonard Fehskens

So high power should be banned?

Joel. phx

Reply to
Joel Corwith

Well, that's not quite accurate. "Voyage to the Milky Way" on PBS (1999?) Had about 10 minutes of footage from NSL 1998 in Muncie, including a great sequence from Ray Halm's Arcon flight. And locally, we've got coverage on various Chicago news segments, and a couple years back a segment on Wild Chicago, and another on Up N Running. I've got bad copies of videotape from DC of coverage they've got as well.

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

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

There was a similar incident at NSL-1998 of an ejection charge going off while prepping that burned someone. Don't know if an ambulance was needed or not. It happened late in the day after I'd left for the motel and dinner.

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

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

I particularly enjoyed the comment "if it lawn-darted it probably came down on the other side of the crowd". Did it ever occur to anyone that this was, perhaps, an indication of a problem that needed to be solved?

The safety arrangements at this launch were laughable. Luck, and luck alone, is keeping people from getting killed by even "safe" recoveries. I guess I had heard about this sort of nonsense, and seen small snippets of it at local launches, but it took this to show to really bring it home. Just be glad I'm not a Kansas public safety official, of the whole Goddamn thing would have been shut down before it started.

I'm on the edge of calling my senators an *encouraging* some sort of safety regulations put placed on HPR. It's clear to me that no one is policing themselves.

Brett

Reply to
Brett Buck

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