|
Last Call for NAR Membership Survey
The online survey of all NAR members that was initiated on July 30 is designed to inform the NAR Board of Trustees on the priorities and opinions of all of the Association's members. If you have not yet taken this survey, please go online and do so now: the survey will close out on November 1, 2008.
The NAR Board will be analyzing and reviewing the survey results from November 1 until their March 2009 meeting at NARCON 2009. During this period the NAR President will also follow up with those members who used the survey to express interest in volunteering to help the NAR in some capacity. |
NAR National Events for 2009
NAR Convention (NARCON 2009) - to be held March 20-22, 2009 in Wethersfield, CT, just south of Hartford, CT. Sponsored by CATO NAR Section, Event Director: Al Gloer. The event website is http://www.narcon2009.org
National Sport Launch (NSL 2009) - to be held Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25, 2009 at Richard Bong State Recreation Area, just west of Racine, WI. The event website is http://www.nsl2009.org.
Sponsored by WOOSH NAR Section, Event Director: Scott Goebel.
NAR Annual Meet (NARAM-51) - to be held August 8-14, 2009 near Johnstown, PA. Sponsored by Pittsburgh Space Command NAR Section, Contest Director Steve Foster. Events will be: 1/8A HD, A SD, 1/2A PD (mr), Random Alt, B R/G, B Altitude, D Dual Eggloft Dur, Peanut Scale, SciFi and Future Scale, R&D.
|
|
NAR Policies Online
Policies of the NAR are established by vote of the NAR Board of Trustees. They cover areas where the NAR Bylaws, Safety Codes, or other authoritative documents need amplification or do not address an issue. A summary of current NAR policies extracted from past Board of Trustees minutes is available at the NAR website, as are the NAR Bylaws. |
|
NAR Instructional Video
Two years ago the NAR and AIA produced a one-hour instructional video "How to Build and Fly a Model Rocket" in support of teaching student teams in TARC. Originally available only in DVD form, this useful resource is now available on YouTube. A copy of the DVD was mailed to all sections in 2006, but any section that needs one copy can request it from NAR headquarters. | |
|
|
A Joint Message from the NAR and TRA Presidents on the BATFE Lawsuit
Greetings!
On October 1, 2008 on instruction from the Presidents of NAR and TRA, our legal counsel filed a motion with the United States District Court of the District of Columbia, requesting a hearing on our civil action against BATFE concerning their regulation of high-power sport rocket motors. Our case has been before this Court or the Court of Appeals since February, 2000, and the last action on the case was Judge Walton's cancellation on July 26, 2007 of a hearing scheduled for July 27. Because of the amount of time that has passed since this last action, counsel for NAR and TRA has requested that a hearing be scheduled in order to permit the Court to obtain answers to any questions that may be impeding the Court's progress in issuing a decision on this long-standing case.
We will keep members of our associations informed as soon as the Court responds to this new filing, and we understand and share our members' concern with the amount of time that this issue of such importance to all of us has been in litigation.
Ken Good
President, Tripoli Rocketry Association
Trip Barber
President, National Association of Rocketry
|
Please help "launch" some 7th through 12th grade students' interest in rocketry as a hobby and in aerospace as a career by telling them about the Team America Rocketry Challenge competition that NAR co-sponsors. National prizes totaling $60,000 in cash are awarded to the top 10 teams and the 1st place team gets a free trip to the Paris Air Show. Registration information is available at the event website, and there is more information on TARC on the NAR website's Team America page. Registration for TARC 2009 closes on December 1. |
|
NAR Section Recognition Program
The 2008 NAR Section Recognition Awards have been awarded to the small, medium, and large-sized sections which documented the best achievements in each of three categories in 2007-2008: membership growth (especially growth in NAR members); service to current members through section activities; and outreach to promote sport rocketry to the community. Each of the three winning sections in each category will receive a $25 cash prize from the NAR Section Activities Committee in recognition for their achievement. The NAR Board of Trustees congratulates the winners and thanks them for their achievements.
Membership Growth
Small section: FLASH (#688), NM
Medium section: Central Illinois Aerospace (#527)
Large section: Monroe Astro. Rocket Soc. (#136), NY
Activities for Members:
Small: Launch Crue (#519), IN
Medium: Valley Aerospace Team (#687), VA
Large: Superstition Spacemodeling Soc. (#506), AZ
Outeach to Community:
Small: Launch Crue (#519), IN
Medium: Birmingham Rocket Boys (#665), AL
Large: SMASH (#500), MI | |
|
|
|
New Benefits for NAR Sections
The NAR is very interested in the success and growth of its most valuable resource, its local clubs or "sections". We find that NAR members who affiliate with and fly with sections stay with the NAR longer and enjoy the hobby more than those who do not. We want the number of NAR sections to increase, and we want the number of NAR members in each section to increase. If you are a leader in a local NAR section, thank you! If you would like to start one, please see the resource page on the NAR website. NAR members who want to start a section can request a list of the current NAR members in their state; just e-mail NAR headquarters. This member list is also sent to every section each year as part of their section charter renewal package, to help local recruitment.
As part of our next cycle of section charter renewals, sections will find two new benefits that have been approved by the NAR Board. First, you will get a "bounty" of $5 from the NAR for each unit of net growth in your section's number of current dues-paid NAR members compared to the number on your official roster at the time that you renewed last year. So go recruit members into the NAR (or remind current members to renew) and make sure that they have your section number recorded on their NAR membership cards -- they must personally send a note to NAR HQ to get this fixed, no one else can do it for them. And second, we have eliminated the $15 annual fee for launch site owner membership insurance certificates.
We will be doing more to help our sections, but this is a start. NAR sections are important!
|
|
Rocket Range Safety
Throughout its history, the NAR has taken a leadership role in the hobby in analyzing safety and in developing the Safety Codes and other procedures to help assure the safety of those who fly sport rockets of all types and sizes. The NAR's safety programs and resources are summarized in the Safety section of our website.
In 2005 the NAR responded to a string of rocket safety near-miss incidents by commisioning the most in-depth technical study ever done on sport rocket range operations and flight safety. Led by NAR Trustee (and former Space Shuttle astronaut) Dr. Jay Apt with Dr. Keith Florig and Dr. Ted Cochran, this study's comprehensive report provides a wealth of insight on how to manage range operations to minimize safety risks to people and property. Its recommendations on High Power Safety Code changes have already been adopted by the NAR and the NFPA, but it also contains good information on "best practices" for setting up and running a range safely. | |
|
|
|
