Some of us here in the east drive 2 hours or more, but its so worth it. The fields are unsurpassed...miles of flat turf. Only tough part is those hot dogs they sell there...seem to linger days after :-) Anyways its worth the drive to see someone like my son smile when the roar of a skidmark goes up,to when he's flyng his D's and E's. To the future (our children), an early morning drive is well worth it and even better when he sleeps on the way home. We had a good day flying then... Jim
This is illegal. They have NO jurisdiction over model rocket flights, regardless of the altitude. If they are telling any other agency that your activities are illegal they are WAY out of line. Go over their head. WAY over if necessary.
Feel free to email me offline and I'll give you my contacts at the O'Hare TRACON and Kankakee Flight Service Station. They've helped others to educate their local FAA folks.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!
$180 is WAY out of line. Do 3 kids throwing around a baseball or football have to pay that too? Do the soccer groups pay the $180 per day of practice?
One of the advantages of a large club is that you can share the cost. NIRA pays $35 to the Forest Preserve District for the permit for each of our launches. That's $280 a year, but less than $3 per member. We did a scout launch earlier this month. For $35 we had 3 cub packs flying all afternoon. That's only $12 per pack or less than 50 cents a kid.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!
Well it is simple. NAR=5000 members = pathetic joke. The core members do good work, but with the sales at Estes/Quest, that number should be much higher. But kids have almost been shut out because all of NAR's efforts have gone to promoting grossly over regulated solutions with a one size fits all approach.
Again, I will ask the simple question, where are the VLP pushes? Maybe if NAR did concentrate on 1/4A/Quest mini (not serious but) you might see the national organization grow and not turn into a moldy clump of pertrification. The hi power whiners can bitch all they want, but NAR at 5000 members is a joke, and the only way to solve it is to expand the base, and HP is not the base and will never BE the base.
So question: Is it better to attempt to cater to the hi power zealots like the previous poster, or should NAR actually attempt to get a bunch of members so it might be effective?
Well, Jerry did say that the Skidmark was a clone (aka copy) of the Firestarter motors, which were the first commercially available sparky motors. I'm not sure why he would bring it up though, since he didn't make the Firestarters anyway.
More motor homes & camper trailers than I've ever seen at a launch; I'd guess nearly 1/2 of all vehicles on-site. Several thousand people in total on Saturday, probably 1/3 of which were there all 3 days: Friday-Saturday-Sunday.
My personal thanks to the rest of the ROC Board members for putting on a great launch event, as usual. Also, many thanks to everyone who volunteered over the course of the weekend to help run things. An hour or two at the RSO, Pad Manager, Registration, or LCO tables is not that big of a job, but greatly appreciated by the people who are being relieved.
Also, my heartfelt thanks, as usual, to the Civil Air Patrol folks. These kids (and their leaders) never fail to stick around to help clean up after a launch, tearing down pads, loading the trailers, and even policing the playa for stray igniter wires and other debris, allowing us to leave the land cleaner than we found it. Your contribution is welcome, and heartily appreciated. Thanks, again!
Finally, congratulations are in order for Mark & Marian Hayes, who were married around 12:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, right in the middle of ROCStock. Best. Wedding. Ever.
- Rick "And thanks to Rick Dickert, too" Dickinson
Yes, they do pay. the area is a business for organized sports to play at. A business started with the suburban tax payers money.
in-duh-vid-uals do use the areas for sporting purposes on off evenings when no one is around, like flying an electric plane now and then, and the occasion rocket.
but bring on a group, a club etc, and your organized, pony up.
The reason for my post was to show that no matter how long the drive is, and no matter what is launched, it still makes for a fun day. As i also said, the FUTURE, OUR children. Isnt this supposed to be fun, and to let the kids come into the hobbie with a good feeling, no matter what motors are used? Who cares who made sparky motors first...does it really matter?And besides, no one else makes a sparky motor commercially, so to the eyes of a child, they are truly badass motors. This didnt have to turn into a "lets pick at eachother over nothing" post. This was meant to express what the hobbie is all about...to have FUN. Look past all the BS for once...do it for the kids, they deserve it. Jim
Bob, I believe to be compliant, one of the FAR 101 requirements that must be adhered to is "to operate a model rocket in a way that does not pose danger to people, airplanes", etc. If the AHJ determines that using a rocket in this area cannot be done safely, then the fat lady has spoken.
DARS was the 2003 NAR Section of the Year largely because of its outreach efforts. George Sprague and Buzz McDermott alone probably do as many outreaches as the next 5 clubs combined. And these are all done for the "Esteser/Questers".
Look, we'd all like there to be a rocket range on every corner in every subdivision. But that aint' the way it is. And you can sit here and complain all you want, but nobody is gonna bring the rocket range to you. On the other hand, you can drive only 3-4 miles south of Allen to Bob Woodruff park.
There, 1/4 mile east of Shiloh on 18th street you'll find a small range, open to all. MMaxx to D motors. I fly there as often as I can.
One hour to your northeast is Windom, one of the best rocket ranges in North America. People drive from all over Texas - Houston, San Antonio, Midland, Amarillo - as well as OK, LA and AR to fly there. And the most common motors? C's and G's.
You have lots of rocket resources at your disposal. These are the best of times for the hobby, and you're in one of the best places. You need to take advantage of it.
So you're saying thathe local FAA office has absolute power, with no recourse from those affected, to make anything "officially Dangerous To Aviation" merely by saying so?
Yes, we discussed this quite a bit when SCRA first started using the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area as a launch site. Do a Google search since I don't have time to type it all again.
Bottom line:
Airport manager considered all ModRocs to be a "hazard to aircraft and persons" and called county park officials to have our park use permit revoked.
FAA officials called him and park officials to state that the FAA *DOES NOT* consider ModRocs dangerous and that NAR launches are extremely safe (with examples of launch procedure described in FAA literature - spotters, holding when aircraft in area, resuming when aircraft leave...).
We agreed to stay under 1 pound until resolved by higher-ups. Meetings were held. After several months of safe launches, we were 'allowed' to resume normal launching following FAA regs for notifying for LMRs.
No problems since then. It's been years.
Huge launch site in Los Angeles basin accommodating up to a single G motor (or equivalent cluster/staged).
Other folks could get launch sites at smaller locations (school yards, local city parks, private schools) if they would simply recognize the fact that they need permits, insurance and will have to follow the NAR MRSC limits for the field AND probably limit flights by altitude to prevent models from ballistically crashing outside the flying field onto busy streets or residential neighborhoods.
Having 20 launch sites with an A or B motor limit would accommodate thousands of scouts and school kids. (Actually, LA County Fire makes it easy for schools to get a permit for school program launches. They simply go through their office of the LA County Fire School Inspection Unit. And they have to prove they have a clue about power level and delay time...)
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