Message from the New NAR President
Message from the New NAR President
Trip Barber, NAR 4322
I am honored and humbled to be the eighth President of the organization that has been such an important part of my life for so long. I have been a member of the National Association of Rocketry and an active rocket flier continuously for over 45 years and I count among its members many of my closest friends. My NAR experiences have given me skills that have served me well in my professional career with the U.S. Navy, and they have taken me to places and events that are among my best memories. I feel a deep obligation to this organization to take my turn doing the work of “paying forward” to ensure this kind of opportunity remains available to all of you and to future members of the NAR. I will always give the NAR and its members my best effort.
My years in the NAR and especially my last 14 years as its Vice President have made me appreciate how diverse the interests and personalities of its members really are. They range from youth group leaders and members to hard-core model rocket competitors to Level 3 high-power fliers. It’s all good, and it all belongs in our NAR. As NAR members, we share a fascination with all things that fly vertically on a roaring rocket motor. Regardless of the size or power of the rocket, every flight fascinates us. We are all rocketeers together, and proud of it.
As the NAR President I will be guided, and will lead the organization, by three principles that I believe represent the core of what the world’s first and best sport rocketry organization is all about.
First, BE SAFE. Our hobby is inaccurately perceived by the public as “dangerous” despite over 500 million flights that have proved exactly the opposite. We battle this perception almost every time we try to get a new launch site or start a new youth rocketry activity. The NAR’s superb 50-year safety-leadership reputation with public safety officials is the most powerful single tool we have for sustaining the hobby’s future. One bad accident or irresponsible action could reverse the hard work of generations of NAR volunteers and jeopardize the reputation and insurance that is critical to our launch site access. Our Safety Codes are based on excellent engineering analysis and lots of experience. We must all live by them, every flight. We must simply not fly any rocket whose flight might present a safety hazard to people or property. The desire to fly must never supersede the obligation to do so safely.
Second, HAVE FUN. This is a hobby, a discretionary activity that we pursue for recreation and friendship. If you let a difference of opinion about some aspect of this fun activity become a basis for anger directed at a fellow rocketeer in person or online, lighten up! If you cannot, you should think about finding another hobby so the rest of us can enjoy this one. And if you see a fellow NAR member doing all the hard work in running a section or a launch and not having the opportunity to fly, lend him (or her) a hand so they can have a chance to have some of the fun that sustains us all in this hobby.
Third, PAY FORWARD. This is what our late founder, G. Harry Stine, used to tell those of us who asked how we could ever repay him for all he had done to make such a difference in our lives. Rocketry is a craftsmanship hobby in a society where such hobbies are increasingly rare. Yet as every public launch we do demonstrates, our hobby still has magical appeal to those who experience it. Each of us should feel an obligation to spread the word about the rewards of rocketry and the benefits and camaraderie of the NAR, and to spend at least a little of our rocketry time helping or teaching others who want to try the hobby. If we do not do this, where will the next generation of rocketeers and NAR members come from?
I will do my best to ensure that this Association effectively and efficiently delivers the services that its members most value, within these guiding principles and within the limits of the resources of the dues and volunteer labor that our members provide. I value suggestions on what we should do in the future and your feedback on how we are doing in the present. Please contact me at president@nar.org if you have either.
Finally, I want to recognize and thank Mark Bundick for his extraordinary service and contributions to the NAR. Mark has spent a record 32 years as a member of the NAR Board of Trustees, including 14 years as your President. With his business management skill he has built a fully solvent and soundly managed organization, and the hobby’s best magazine. He has been the driving force in our hobby’s long legal battle against the unjust regulation of the BATFE. Service to the NAR and to its members has been his passion for his whole adult life. Next time you see him at an NAR event, please shake his hand and thank him for what he has done for all of us.