NAR Approves New Safety Code March 16, 2006 Web posted at: 5:57 PM EST
(ROL Newswire) -- The Board of Trustees of the National Association of Rocketry approved a new safety code at its March meeting last week. The safety code was revised to simplify the wording, remove inconsistencies with existing NFPA codes, and to reflect the changes to the NFPA that were approved in February by the Pyrotechnics committee, and which we expect to be routinely adopted by the NFPA as a whole.
The biggest change is the removal of the alternate launch site dimension table, which required very large launch sites (e.g., three x three miles for an M motor). Instead, the requirement is that the minimum dimension of the launch site be half as large as the expected altitude of the rockets, or 1500 feet, whichever is greater. This will allow smaller fields to be used for relatively low-flying high-power rockets. In addition, the requirement that the launch pad be 1/2 the minimum launch site dimension from the edge of the field has been changed; the launch pad must now must be the minimum personnel distance from the edge of the field. This will allow launch pad placement to be better optimized with respect to the site and the weather conditions at the time of launch.
Other changes include prohibition against launching high power rockets on a trajectory over the heads of spectators or beyond the boundaries of the launch site, prohibitions against flying rockets of undetermined stability, changes to the minimum distance around the pad cleared of combustibles, recognition of the need to consider wind speed in achieving safe launch velocity, and requiring that pyrotechnic charges and igniters have a means of disconnection from their power source until the rocket is at the pad. Many of these changes, including the field size change, were supported by studies carried out by the NAR Special Committee on Range Operation and Procedure, chaired by NAR Trustee and former astronaut Dr. Jay Apt, approved by the Trustees last July and presented to the NFPA in February.
The new safety code is available for download on the NAR web site:
Additional information about safety will appear in the future issues of Sport Rocketry and on the NAR web site.
Any feedback or questions can be sent to me at snipped-for-privacy@nar.org.
Ted Cochran Chair, NAR Safety Committee
Source: NAR Safety Committee