Rocketry in Australia

Great stuff Paul!

Good to see another Aussie flying the flag......... I'm in NSW and I'll put my details down on your site soon.

Do you know if NSWRA have worked out a deal with the Gov. for a NSW Launch site??? Last I heard they had a few hurdles to clear.......

A few TRA Australia members have been travelling to Serpentine Vic. and launching which I was planning on doing for my cert flights.......Who knows...If I ever get over to WA again I'd love to go to one of your launches.. :-)

Cheers, Clint

snip

It's good to hear rocketry is picking up again in Australia.

Randy

That's not the message I got from the last couple posts.

G'day Clint,

Great! With luck we can get other aussies talking to each other and help increase the publics awareness of the hobby. I get a few emails from time to time from people asking if there is a club in their state, but most (all?) of the sites I visit are years out of date with no new info - so I email them and get no reply. Hence this post.

NSWRA is one of thoes sites I was refering to...there is no info on their site telling you what's happening, so I asumed the club was dead. Surely it doesn't take 5 years to find a new launch site?

I will try contacting them. If I could get a page up with club listings that would be great, but only if the club has an active website. The SA club doesnt even have any contact info!

Again, I will try and get in contact with TRA, but their web site is basicly just a link to the usa...I dunno...people make web sites without understanding what people are looking for.

We would love to see you there..except our club as a grand total of about 8 members, and I live 500kms away from the launch site (which is why I have my own) :-)

The lack of motors and support for mid/high power rocketry from hobby shops is causing a lot of problems I think. And Dawn trading have a knife to our throats. Apparently they are reluctant to place another order with Aerotech because the motors are slow movers.

Paul.

Thats true Jerry. I fear the hobby is in trouble over here. Our importer is reluctant to order more motors from aerotech and we have to buy all our kits and eveything else over the net (not a bad thing, but poeple dont see mid/hp rockets in the hobby stores - they think rocketry is just estes stuff.) I would love to see rocketry grow over here. It would be great to go to a launch where there are 20+ people. Maybe I'm asking for too much?

Paul.

These are some brief details of some enquiries I've made - ............ ............ I got no response from the NSWRA Site. Paul Kelly (Aust Hybrid Guru) on the ARocket list kindly provided me a contact to the NSWRA Secretary, Phillip Gilchrist.

In that reply he basically said that a few TRA Aust. guys (I'm now an official TRA Cert Level 0....heh heh heh :-) have been going to Vic. There may be a branch forming in NSW (PRETTY PLEASE) but have probs with political crap. ............ ............ An enquiry to David Boyd -

He said that TRA Aust. has been very quiet of late. They had an Annual Meeting not long ago. The Tripoli President who was the net contact is standing aside due to work load etc...and they were electing new committee members. ............ ............ An enquiry to TRA's David Wilkins -

Hard to get a response but the one I did get was reasonably helpful. Could not contact him directly so I went to TRA HQ USA. They passed on the message.

He offered to be one of my TAP members when I go L3....(Thanks David) and gave a few more details about the Serpentine site. 25000ft + ceiling etc...etc...

Haven't received a response in regard to my questions about getting H-M motors and igniters etc.... That's currently my biggest prob.....It's hard to find out about this stuff here? Should I risk ordering that gear over the net....if I could get a vendor to sell it that is! Me thinks not!

I have thought about manufacturing my own private use motors over the last

10+ yrs. Good old dad, now long retired, was an aircraft engineer in the RAAF and has his own fully equipped workshop up in QLD.

I think all the regs. pretty much count out everything but hybrids..... Paperwork sucks!

I think on the TRA Aust web site I read somewhere that they have a motor vendor on site? I doubt they'd carry around any of the bigger motors? I don't know? Special order?

There's only 3 or 4 hobby shops around here. All but 1 has ESTES / QUEST gear. And they only have Aerotech supplies most prob from DAWN and "SFA" of them!!!

I was suppose to be finished my L1 bird and do a cert flight at the June launch but I haven't received all the parts and won't be finished.......I buy thru the net aswell.

Got David's Mobile Ph# so I'll give him a call when I'm finished and ready to go.... ........... ...........

8 members & you're 500km away.........heh heh heh... :-) I'm lucky enough to own a small 32 acre property whilst still being only 1hr at the most from Syd. and about 30mins. from Newcastle.

Still........I can only fire off Model Rockets and anything that goes higher than 1000ft has a 99% chance of being lost. There's a few nasty trees around. :-)

Oh...and I see that you want a PML Ultimate Endeavour? Nice hey.......looking at one right now! :-) Poor thing.....it's out under the carport with no motors to put in it and no where to fly it!

Well, what I got was someone's about to try and bring it back. That's a good thing, right? (half full) ; )

Most clubs start with 3-4, they have 8? It's a start. It takes some work and persistence. It sounds like Impakt can be the core of revival. Good luck to his group.

Impakt, if you think of a way we can help, let us know.

Randy

point

Hmmm. TRA and political crap.

I have a suggestion. Form a group not affiliated with TRA at all and deal ONLY with local issues. You are going to have enough difficulty with motor supply issues alone.

Which helps ONE guy and only when he has already arrived rocketry wise. What is needed is hundreds of NEW users.

Life is always easier without TRA and WITH an expanding group.

TRA is contracting.

Jerry

I made a fairly large effort to fix that. David Wilkins and certain Tripoli USA folks over here felt it was the right thing to do to try to frustrate my efforts.

It worked.

Destruction is so much easier than building.

You never know, I may regain interest in Australia. I like the place and I feel rockets belong everywhere.

But at this point for obvious reasons the only truly successful effort will NOT involve Tripoli at any level.

In the mean time you do have Dawn Trading. High prices, high minimums and long lead times. But it is your only real option today.

That is a common comment.

Have them contact me.

You never know.

Near as I can tell you have no better options.

Jerry

Have them contact me.

I can help.

MUST be TRA-free zone however.

Where I am (Philadelphia, PA, US) I very rarely see anything larger than Estes in hobby shops. Home improvement boat, and auto parts stores usually have more of the rocketry stuff I'm looking for than the hobby shops. Of course, I also rely on the internet for rocket stuff.

Hey Jerry - where are you storing those motors? In a magazine? Are you living the lifestyle?

In Australia?

So are users precluded from removing HPR motors from this particular site from on-site sales?

Jerry

Please do so.

Come on Jerry! Be nice.

Blackmail? :-) Jerry, I'd buy your entire line and "Live The Lifestyle" but I'd only sell what......2 motors? 3 small kits? every 2yrs....

The trouble down here is there just isn't the numbers of people wanting or even knowing about rocketry. As Paul said, most just think of Estes if that! In my opinion this stems from Aust. having virtually no space launch industry and the kids at school just don't learn about it as much as you guys in the States..

Stay cool Jerry :-)

Lucky I know you have a very bias opinion towards anything TRA :-) It was to do with Workcover, Not enough insurance & a launch site.

I joined TRA & NAR only recently because I thought it would be the easiest & most legal? way to attain larger motors and also learn from alot of experienced people! I've been fling MR for 18yrs and gave up last time because I didn't know we could cert down here And dang it......I want big motors! Including yours Jerry!!! :-) Yeah, you read correctly! Aust. does need all the help we can get!

I'm sure David would help anyone, not just me Jerry..... If I can get my L3 etc... maybe I can help other Aussies that want to do the same thing Or that can't find any info on doing so!

I was trained by them.

Did it prove true?

Because no National or state law or regulation in Australia requires it. It is yet another example of TRA adding restrictions where they do not previously exist.

I thought you said you needed MORE flying buddies, not less?

I appreciate the sentiment. Should it become a fact I look forward to seeing you fly alternate motors.

Almost anyone . . .

But "L3" is a USA construct and does not apply to AUS at all.

Jerry

That's funny. That was the condition in HPR before I spread it nationwide in the USA in 1978-84 and started hosting regular HPR launches in about 1986-92, resulting in vast club growth.

Perhaps you simply need a commercially viable product with a proven marketing plan. And deep availability.

Jerry

This made me wonder, if a person is certified in the U.S. by NAR / TRA, is it honored in other countries and vice versa?

Randy