________________________
Certification flights:
With immediate effect the United Kingdom Rocketry Association are amending the rules relating to certification flights.
The amendment is as follows: _________________________________________ "A Certification flight will only be considered if the certifying vehicle employs a parachute as the primary means of recovery." _________________________________________
As a result, certifying flights that use aerodynamic drag as the prime recovery method will not be permitted in the future. In that: A main parachute must be employed to safely recover a certifying flyers airframe to earth.
UKRA should make it clear that this does not impact flyers wishing to safely fly airframes using drag recovery after they have successfully certified.
UKRA will honour any certification flights that have taken place, prior to today's amendment, from flyers that have gained their certification using aerodynamic drag as their main means of recovery.
UKRA Safety and Technical Committee are of the view that flyers should demonstrate a degree of competence with conventional recovery methods in order to gain access to insurance cover at higher power levels. We feel that this is in the best interests of the UK rocketry community as a whole.
Kind Regards
Damian Hall, on behalf of UKRA Safety and Technical Committee.
19 September 2005