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New FAA Rocketry Regulations Take Effect
The completely revised Federal Aviation Regulations covering rocketry went into effect February 2, 2009. The revisions permit model rockets up to 3.3 pounds to fly without FAA notification or waiver, and changed the information that must be provided to FAA when requesting a waiver to fly high-power rockets.
The revised procedures for filing for an FAA waiver, and the details on these new regulations, are posted on the NAR website. |
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Fly 50K Youth Outreach
Program
To commemorate our 50th anniversary, the NAR initiated a program in 2006 to try to get 50,000 young people age 16 or below to fly their first rocket with an NAR section or member. Each young flier is then awarded an NAR "First Rocket Flight" certificate after they fly.
This program has proved to be very popular with both kids and NAR sections, so we have extended it past our 50th anniversary, until we reach the 50K milestone. Read the complete details of the program on the NAR website and join this great outreach program. |
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NAR Technical Services (NARTS) has a wide range of NAR and technical products available for sale through their online store.
NARTS has restocked their very popular NAR logo "Desert Sun Block" hats with the flap in the back that protects your neck against sunburn. Only $27!
NARTS is selling the NAR reprint of Peter Alway's "Rockets of the World", a carefully-researched collection of dimensioned drawings, color patterns, and photos of 200 versions of 138 sounding rockets and space launch vehicles from around the world. This is the book that all scale model builders go to first for their data. Only $30! |
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NAR Scholarships
Each year the NAR funds 4 or 5 scholarships of $500 for NAR members between the ages of 17 and 22 who are planning to attend, or are enrolled in a college or technical school. Applications are due by May 1, and the winners will be announced at NARAM-51. Details and applications can be found on the NAR website. |
NAR Life Membership
Are you a rocketeer who plans to fly rockets for a lifetime and who likes being in the NAR? Are you tired of having to remember to renew your NAR membership every year? Then you should consider becoming a lifetime member of the NAR.
NAR lifetime membership costs $1000. If you expect to live at least 16 more years (and the actuarial tables say that if you are 66 or younger, your life expectancy is at least this much), then this is a good economic decision. If you'd like to join the 20 other NAR members who are in this elite category, then mail in your next renewal with a bigger check and a note that you're in it for a lifetime! | |
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Message from the NAR President
Greetings!
Your NAR is a full-spectrum rocketry organization, supporting every form of rocketry, from 1/4A competition flying to Level 3 high power, that is within the National Fire Protection Association's codes. About 60 percent of our adult members are high power certified, and we have about 80 young members who have formally demonstrated Level 1 high-power skill under adult supervision. One of my highest priorities as NAR President is to ensure that we pay as much attention to high power flying and fliers as we do to the model rockets that are where we started. They are all rockets, they are all fun, and they are all part of our NAR.
Former Sport Services Committee Chairman Carl Tulanko updated all of our high power certification procedures and documents as his last volunteer service before Art Upton replaced him last month. These updates have been posted on our website. There are now very few differences between the technical requirements of our procedures for Level 1 through Level 3 high power certification and those of Tripoli Rocketry Association. Both associations made changes to reach this common point: for example, TRA added a dual-altimeter requirement for L3 cert flights and we removed the "6-switch" or "shunt" requirement for how to disarm pyrotechnics for L3 cert flights.
You will soon be seeing an expansion of our coverage of the technology and techniques of high power building and flying in Sport Rocketry, and in the next edition of our Member Guidebook. We are also working on developing high power competition and record-setting programs to parallel our model rocket programs.
Now all we need is a favorable decision on our lawsuit against BATFE for their excessive regulation of access to high power motors! Unfortunately, we are still awaiting the court's long-overdue decision on this, with no new information on when this may be issued.
Be safe, have fun, and pay forward.
Trip Barber, NAR 4322
NAR President
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NAR Convention 2009 Registration Open
The National Association of Rocketry's annual convention, NARCON, will be held from Friday evening, March 20, through mid-day Sunday, March 22, 2009 in Wethersfield, CT and hosted by CATO section (#581) with Al Gloer as Director.
Registration is open (including online registration) and the schedule of exciting and informative sessions is filling up. These sessions will include tracks on high power rocketry, model rocketry, rocket science, and education. See the event website for details. As always at a NARCON you will have the opportunity to meet with many of your fellow flyers from around the region and will have an opportunity to discuss things with the NAR Board of Trustees, who will all be at NARCON for their semi-annual Board meeting and will be holding a Town Hall Meeting there with NARCON participants. This year the commemorative kit will be available from Fliskits, one of New England's premier vendors. So don't wait, register and come to one of the best events there is to learn more about every aspect of sport rocketry, and to learn how it can be a stepping stone to a career in the fields of science and technology. |
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NAR Section Renewal Process Underway
The NAR's annual process for section charter renewal and for renewal of any NAR insurance certificates held by each section is underway; all the renewal packets have been mailed from NAR HQ. This packet includes a form that you need to edit (if anything is incorrect) and send in to NAR HQ immediately with your renewal payment of $25. We have eliminated the fee for site owner insurance certificates.
The sections who have their renewals in to NAR HQ by March 6 will definitely have new insurance certificates in hand before the date that the current ones expire, which is April 4, 2009. If your section renewal is in NAR HQ after this, but by March 31 you will have your insurance certificates by mid-April.
After your section renews its section charter this year you will be sent a "bonus check" for $5 times the amount by which your section's total number of NAR members as of January 23, 2009 has grown compared to the total number you had as of section renewal time in 2008. The number you have this year is based on how many people our NAR HQ records say belong to your section, and it will be listed on the section renewal form that you will be receiving. Any edits or adds that you make at renewal time will be reflected in next year's bonus program. | |
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Nominations for NAR Board of Trustees
In accordance with the By-laws, the NAR conducts annual elections to fill three of the nine board positions. Balloting for this election will close at the NAR Annual Meeting to be held at NARAM-51, Monday, August 10, 2009. If you wish to run for the Board, or know someone you feel is qualified and will accept, the NAR is soliciting nominations. If you nominate someone other than yourself, you must include a letter from the nominee indicating his or her acceptance. Nominees themselves should provide a resume/statement no longer than 400 words to be published with the ballot material. Be sure to include name, address, and NAR # with this. This material will be distributed in paper form to all members with their ballots. By NAR policy, the NAR will not publish any other campaign-related material, either paid or unpaid. All nomination material (letters and resumes) must be received by the NAR Secretary no later than Wednesday, April 1, 2009 . Send this material to: George Rachor NAR Secretary 33380 NW Bagley Road Hillsboro, OR 97124 Nominations and resumes may be transmitted electronically with "NAR Nominations" in the subject line to the following mail address: george@rachors.com | |
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Range Safety: Sharing the Skies
Effective February 2, changes in Federal Aviation Regulations allow flying rockets below 3.3 pounds and no more than 125 grams of propellant without prior FAA notification or approval, any time, any place including within 5 miles of an airport, as long as you do not present any hazard to aircraft by their flight. Manned aircraft have absolute priority over our rockets in our shared use of the nation's airspace -- even if you are flying larger rockets with a waiver in effect. Be very careful not to frighten or annoy pilots or passengers, or we risk losing the privilege that we just gained. Use of a field near an airport obviously requires extra vigilance for aircraft, but an understanding of how aircraft use airports can go a long way to enhancing safety. Here are some tips on how to share the skies with airplanes:
1. Do not launch when you see or hear an aircraft approaching, at any altitude, and do not launch into a cloud which prevents you from seeing aircraft in or above it. Launch only when any aircraft in sight has flown well past and your flight will not be seen by anyone onboard.
2. Avoid fields under the extended centerline of any runway, even 5 miles out from an airport. Instrument landing systems guide aircraft down these centerlines, and they are used even in good weather.
3. Traffic patterns around airports are generally shaped like a rectangular racetrack, with the active runway as one of the long straight-aways. These traffic patterns extend about a mile out from the airport, so avoid using fields in these areas. This poses more of a problem at airports with multiple runways. You can often determine the active runway by calling the ASOS telephone number for the airport ( http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/weather/asos/ ), and aligning the reported wind direction with the closest runway (aircraft land and take off into the wind). 4. Try to be a good neighbor - if you are going to routinely launch around an without a control tower, consider posting a notice in the main office (if there is one) advising local pilots where and when you will be launching rockets. At airports with a control tower, consider calling them beforehand even though you technically do not have to for model rocket flights - they can then advise local aircraft of your operations. Phone numbers can be found at: http://flighttraining.aopa.org/members/flight_bag/pdfs/atc.pdf). | |
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