My name is Al from the former "Blue Flame Rocket Club" in Kent , and I have an important message for all organizers of UK rocket clubs and hobby constructors.
In view of the recent terrorist events in London it is prudent , that you take a few important precautions.
A) Take a close look at your membership, and verify your members through driving licenses, take a pictures of everybody involved for your club records.
B) If you have club facilities and store explosive compounds, keep all compounds locked up in high security cabinets, and monitor who is using what, and what for. Consult you local police station if possible , they will happy give you assistance.
C) Monitor the rocket designs of your club members, making sure they stay within the UK law.
D) Look out for extra keen members, people with specific interest in remote controlled rockets, sophisticated serve controls, and electronic image recognition. Also look out for people which use encrypted command and control equipment, which is not permitted in the UK. They might not be interested in "Model rockets" after all. If you have any suspicion, please contact your local Police office immediately.
E) If you have a member on your team which travels often to Afghanistan, Agypt or Pakistan or has been in the past, please contact your Police office immediately.
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F) If you are an individual constructor, think has their been anybody in the past with an overkeen interest in models rocket, somebody who required some odd favours, like some fuses, chemical compounds, digital timer circuits. Even if you have build some things you should have not build - speak to your local Police office . They want to hear from you. You might save a live tomorrow.
If you have any questions, or wish to talk to me in confidence please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
If you ever meet a terrorist, you will not know until it's too late. These people's family and friends don't even know what they're planning until they do it.
Hmmm. You sound quite familiar with the inner workings of terrorist organizations. I find this to be disturbing. Where do you attend meetings and/or launch rockets?
Al, I've got to reply to your post - thanks for the thought, but what you're doing here can be construed as massive overreaction. My first reaction is that you're trolling, in the poorest possible taste. However, someone's going to come along, read your advice, and look a real noddy by following it.
First, you don't give a surname, and also namecheck a rocket club that is no longer in existence, is not UKRA affiliated, and for which Google doesn't turn up any hits. And you want us to abide by your advice. Alarm bells are ringing. Loudly.
You seem to forget that since the late 60's, we've also lived with the IRA's mainland terror campaign. We're used to it. The precautions you suggest smack more of scattergun paranoia than sensible advice. so far, rockets have not been used at all by the bombers, and given their MO, they are unlikely to be. It's been proven time & again that modrocs are unsuited to being terrorist weapons.
How about for minors? a) they don't drive, b) you need a disclaimer for taking photos of minors. Oh, and C, UKRA members all have a photo ID card. And how about just dropping the frenzied suspicion and talking to club members? It works well over here in the UK. And remember, the internet is a big, freely available resource. Why assume that a terrorist will be a member of an organised hobby activity that doesn't really offer him / her anything they can't get from the 'net without arousing suspicions if it's dubious?
Please don't presume to tell us where & how to keep our motors / BP. There are currently changes to the law ongoing in the UK, and the situation is already muddy enough as it is without having ill-informed advice thrown into the mix. As for usage, in the UK, we have to have an explosives license to own and use HPR motors or black powder. There's no scenario where someone without this paperwork will be able to legally access this material. As for the advice on consulting the local police, they are the body that oversees the licensing of explosives and the licensing of the storage of explosives. please do keep up at the back, they're already in charge of the process.
There is no UK law that specifies rocket design. UKRA has a set of guidelines in the safety code, which we abide by. Anything under 10240Ns is covered by the UKRA safety code. Anything above is covered by extra requirements from the CAA too.
So the guy we know who's ex-forces and experimented briefly with r/c controlled chutes and the guy who's built a stabilised rocket are both terror suspects now? Somehow, I think not. And as for encrypted control systems being illegal, just how do you think that remote central locking systems on cars work? And why do several mainstream electronics component retailers sell these kits?
Extra-keen members? When was the last time you met someone who wasn't extra-keen when just starting a new hobby? Go read TRF, you'll see what I mean. However, the type of questions someone asks will be more of a give-away.
You're right though - these guys may not be interested in model rockets
- it's generally HPR, and something you may have heard of called 'electronic engineering'. I believe that several well known hotbeds of future insurgency (aka 'universities') preach this evil. Perhaps you should start a campaign to have it banned? Mind you, it's a vaguely vocational skill, so the governemnt is already a couple of steps ahead of you on that, at a guess...
Ok, my neighbour who's a vicar has just come back from Egypt, where he spent a very pleasant fortnight in a hotel. I'll go let the local PC know. And I'm sure that the police will be *delighted* when I go tell them about the guy I was at school with who's just done his second tour in Afghanistan. The guy who runs the local curry house is a bit suspect though, I've always experienced 'explosive' aftereffects from his wares :-)
Pfft - bumming quickmatch makes me a terror suspect? Who hasn't run short at an event? Chemical compounds? I suggest you read the manufacture & Storage of Explosives Regulations or the 1875 explosives act - manufacture in the UK is illegal already, that's why we don't fly solid EX motors - 'cause we can't legally make them. Digital timer circuits? Why waste effort when you can buy reliable cheap ones over the 'net? And why on earth risk using a homebrew timer when commercial off the shelf ones will be much better and often smaller? You wouldn't even need to approach a rocketry dealer - most IED's are triggered by such things as timers from washing machines or other household devices. And you can buy those in bulk, no questions asked.
So with all the above spurious advice, and the UK police already investigating, we should go tell someone who doesn't give a surname, claims links to what could be taken as a non-existant rocket group, and who provides no credentials for their background?
And why, with your exhortations to call the police being frequently dropped into your 'advice', should we talk to you in confidence rather than the police? The police are much better placed to react quickly and calmly to this information, unless you happen to have your own anti-terror squad to hand?
Please don't take offence, but I think you need to get back in touch with reality and stop panicking. The points you raise may sound sensible, but with a little digging, show that you really do need to do some research before posting knee-jerk reactions clothed as advice.
The person's post suggested folks be vigilant and offered some way's to do it. Are you really unable to differentiate between the type of person he was talking about and the vicar living near you or are you just more interested in being a smart ass hiding behind a keyboard? Don't we already have enough of those worthless pieces of shit infecting this forum?
If you can't offer something reasonable as an alternative point of view then please crawl back under your rock and quit wasting bandwidth.
You really ought to consider changing your thought pattern and delivery, your peers will appreciate it.
Do you think he or any of the UKRA folks want to visit B'ham's name sake and fly in Alabama? I take it he gets abducted regularly. : )
Don't let him fool you, he's the most notorius serial chicken murderer in the U.S. You can find him lurking around a KFC or Popeye's, usually in the Southern States.
"Somone set us up the egg. All your nest are belong to us. Signed le Grand Poussin"
Lots. Praise be to the Vicar of St. Albions for passing on his writing style to the editor of a newsletter that occasionally appears in this parish ;-)
Coincidence? Had KFC on Saturday, and it was by FAR the greasiest chicken I have ever sampled. Think I will stick with Ms. Winners from now on. Wish there was a Bojangles close by.
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