I can only hope this guy had a snootful of cheap schnapps and a flaring hemorrhoid when wrote this pack of lies, distortions and flagrant self-serving drivel. Evil intentions my fat a%%...
Jim Rutkowski Executive Chef
This attitude is prevelent. The anecdotal evidence of it is "ATF overcompliance" by "all" HPR vendors, clubs and associations.
Jerry
That really is sad. "If you don't think aerodymanics is the most important about rocketry, you have evil intentions?" What kind of horsesh*t is that.
-Digger
I think Tim was having a REALLY bad day when he wrote that.
Aerodynamics may be a consideration in rocketry, but it's not the ONLY consideration. After all - without propulsion, all ANY airframe is is an expensive paperweight. :-)
"Rockets are a necessary evil." - Gary Rosenfield
One of the MANY things in the article that really chapped my keister was his gross over-statement of costs. I consider it a slap in the face of good old American ingenuity, nobody in the world is better than us at figuring out how to do things on-the-cheap. And without comprimising safety, not that amatuer motor making is as horribly dangerous as many would say.
I'm glad I never did any business with Apogee and sure the hell won't in the future.
Jim Rutkowski Executive Chef
Hmm, looks like someone needs to let him know it's not 1960 anymore.
Did Tim actually write RockSim or is his company just the distributor for it ?
What would I teach about rocketry? Since I DO teach rocketry in my science and math classes, I could give Tim an actual answer, but it would not apply to his newsletter diatribe, er, "article".
The article is laughable in terms of content, logic, and educational concepts. Were it not from an influential vendor, I wouldn't have believed a rocketeer even wrote it.
As a science teacher, its actually depressing to read things like Tim's newsletter. If you don't see aerodynamics as most important; you are evil or stupid? Don't do experiments, just read about them? Motor makers are followers, not leaders? What are kit builders? What can they learn by following "cake mix" kit construction recipes? Really, building an Apogee kit is no more educational than following a recipe.
Tim:
Curiosity is a virtue, not an indication of evil or stupidity. Curiosity is the fundamental, basic requirement of all science. You need to understand curiosity, and promote the means to pursue it in the curious, before you comment on educational value. Instead of promoting "why not", perhaps you should focus on the more productive endeavor of "how to" in a more safe and appropriate manner. Go ahead and dissuade the curious, or put them off to those who WILL give them "recipes" only. And keep wondering why you're fighting the same battle 40 years later.
Your article is not any solution, its part of the problem.
He's not the author.
Paul Fossey is the author. Apogee is the sole distributor.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!
Ironically, those little Apogee Micro Motors Tim used to sell were hand made by him...
This article is targetted to the educator market, Apogee's nitche. And it's a repeat of much of the safety material from Estes, where Tim worked for several years.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!
"If you don't see that aerodynamics is the more important aspect of rocketry to study, I can only assume you have evil intentions..." -T.V.M, Apogee Rockets
OK, let's take this at face value: he his announcing the limits of his mental capacity: if you don't see things his way, he lacks the ability to do anything except make paranoid assumptions. I don't know if this failure of imagination came naturally, or if he had to work at it, but I wish I knew why he expected us to care what he assumes: sounds like he's been in bed with a few too many JBGT's, in any case; his subtext seemed to be that if you _wanted_ to develop an effective home-made armed missile, that you must be some kind of "terrorist"... wouldn't that depend on your actual purposes? You might be Al Qaeda, bent on damage and disruption... or you might be the French Resistance to the German occupation in W.W.2...
-dave w (Vice-President, Experimental Rocket Propulsion Society)
He is "buddies" with the leaders and vendors of TRA and NAR. I wonder who rubbed off on who?
Jerry
Hint: there is no good answer.
I agree that the article is a self-serving, paranoid fabrication - BUT...
Don't most people suffer the same "if you don't think my way, you're stupid" attitude? Just look at party politics... every democrat thinks that every republican is stupid or evil (or both)...
That doesn't make it right; I just think we should do some soul searching every time we condemn other people.
Do not dismiss it. Criticize it. Make it public. Make suggestions for change. Make changes yourself by going to regulatory meetings as I did for many years (when rocketry was unlimited access).
Jerry
Sure they do, that's how this thread got started in the first place.
The guy sells rocket design software and slanted his newsletter towards his product. In the business world this is called "developing his market". If he sold motor design software he would have taken a diametrically opposite position. I read the newsletter when it was released and blew it off as a marketing ploy.
Does anyone really think Tim Van Milligan cares that he pissed off eight or nine people that frequent this newsgroup? I doubt it.
If he only makes one sale from that article then he's still laughing all the way to the bank and if he stops one kid from killing himself then he's gotten an even greater benefit.
EX'ers have their place and it's one of the most important in the hobby. It's their work that the rest of us benefit the most from when we head out to the fields to launch and most folks in this hobby with an above average interest probably know that.
Andrew
His only intention was profit, let's hope the average rocketeer has the brains to see thru his bull. I imagine his foot is pretty sore about now, God knows he pumped enough rounds into it.
Jim Rutkowski Executive Chef
Sadly that is unlikely. A large fraction of consumers have been enculturated into that line of thinking and are not inclined to rethink the issue. To some degree he is preaching to a choir.
One wonders if he cares.
He might even take pleasure in it.
Given the safety record of ALL forms of rocket users, it is wildly unlikely anything anybody does will effect the accident rate and even less likely it will be reduced further.
He should make a safety newsletter targeted exclusively toward his buddies Gary Rosenfield, Bill Stine, Dane Boles. There is BIG room for SAFETY improvement there.
Jerry
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