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NAR High Power Technology Award
This year for the first time the NAR is offering a $500 award for the NAR member who has demonstrated the most outstanding innovation or accomplishment in a flight project (which flew during calendar year 2009) involving high power rocketry. Projects should involve innovation in airframe design or construction, payload, tracking, recovery system, or mission performance. The amount of rocket motor total impulse or number or types of motors will not be a factor in judging.
The award will be based on nomination packages submitted by the NAR member him/herself or by others. Details of the requirements for these packages are provided in this document. Nominations must be received at NAR HQ by February 1, 2010 or e-mailed by that date to the NAR Sport Services Committee Chair, Art Upton. |
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Alway R&D Award for B Division
Each year at NARAM the NAR gives cash prizes to the young members who win the top four places in the "B" age division of the "Research and Development" event held there. These prizes, which range from $1000 for first place to $200 for fourth, are funded by a grant made by long-time NAR member Robert Alway in honor of his late parents, Clayton and Ida Alway.
If you know a young person between the ages of 14 and 18 who is doing, is considering doing, or is capable of doing a research or science project involving model rockets, please encourage them to join the NAR, come to NARAM-52 in Colorado this summer, and compete in this event. |
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Expired Motor Testing Program
Do you have old rocket motors in good condition that are no longer on the list of certified motors because they have been out of production for a while? The NAR has a program called the "Expired Motor Testing Program" that can permit you to fly them under certain specific conditions and have their flight be within the NAR Safety Code and insurance.
This program only applies to motors that were previously NAR certified and whose certification was removed due to going out of production, not for safety reasons. It requires that you provide a list of the motors to be flown, with date codes, and with the date and place where they will be flown, in advance to NAR VP Ted Cochran. Ted will review the list to make sure the motors were previously certified and issue an approval with certain specific additional safety requirements. This constitutes temporary certification for that day (not for contest use). Post-launch, the flier must report back how the motor(s) performed so we can accumulate reliability data on old motors. | |
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Message from the NAR President
Greetings!
It is time for the NAR to grow. We won the battle with BATFE that held back our high-power activities for so many years; we're in the 8th year of our hugely successful Team America national student model rocket program; our membership includes a 60-page Member Guidebook plus the best magazine in the hobby. The list of reasons why we should grow is long and persuasive. But after a burst of membership last summer we are now stuck at about 4500 members, 700 below our peak size of 5200 in the late 1990's. It takes more members in the NAR to permit us to deliver more and better services. So we're going to do something we have never tried before, a membership drive.
Between January 1, 2010 and the first day of NARAM-52 (July 31) we are going to take some extraordinary new steps to encourage new members to join the NAR. I ask that every one of you who is a current NAR member contribute to this campaign by actively recruiting rocketeers of all ages and interests to join the NAR. Don't be afraid to ask. Keep NAR membership applications or our color recruiting brochures handy. If you need copies of these tri-fold NAR brochures to recruit with, just ask for some from NAR headquarters.
Here are the special benefits and incentives that will apply during the membership drive:
- New members will get a free kit from Semroc, one from Quest and a free hat from Aerotech, shipped directly to them (please thank these NAR-supporting companies!)
- Manufacturers will put ads for the NAR on their websites, and will get discounts on future Sport Rocketry ads for each new member we get from these
- Current NAR members will get get $5 cash bonus for each new member they recruit
- Sections will get a $5 cash bonus for each unit of growth in total NAR member count on their section's roster compared to this count in 2009
Our goal is to reach 5200 NAR members by NARAM-52, "52 by 52". It will take every one of us working together to get there and our NAR will be a far better organization with better services when we do. Let's go do it!
Be safe, have fun, and pay forward.
Trip Barber
NAR 4322
NAR President |
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Joint NAR/TRA Statement on Insurance
Over the years, a number of rocketry clubs with affiliations to TRA or NAR have become official prefectures and sections of both of these organizations. Accordingly, they may be considered "dual affiliation" clubs. Also, many flyers are current members in good standing of both TRA and NAR. While this situation is a positive one in most regards, and exhibits the mutual respect and cooperation both organizations have been able to build over the years, there is one important administrative problem that arises as a result of "dual-affiliation clubs/dual-affiliation members." This is the question of insurance coverage.
Both TRA and NAR extend coverage to their members at any event where mutually recognized safety codes are being observed. In the case of a claim for any mishap, the determination of coverage is straightforward in the case of single-affiliation members - TRA members are covered by the TRA policy, and NAR members by the NAR policy. It becomes more complex when dual affiliation members are involved. In such cases, the leadership of TRA and NAR have agreed that any dual TRA/NAR flyer who has a claim at a TRA-sanctioned event would be covered by TRA insurance, and conversely covered by NAR insurance if it is a NAR sanctioned event.
Obviously, there is a problem with this approach if the club is a dual TRA/NAR club, and the member is not a single-affiliation member, but a dual TRA/NAR member. In the case of a claim, who covers? The clear issue here is that there is a risk of two insurance policies being charged for one claim, and/or the possibility of controversy or claim denials by one or both carriers. As most of us are aware, controversies in insurance claims can get ugly, and could expose both the local club and national organizations to financial liability and possible legal actions. This is a situation that must be avoided.
TRA and NAR leadership have examined this issue at length, and it appears that the most practical, and administratively reasonable process to adopt - and which would also have no negative impact to either organization's insurance policy - is to require dual TRA/NAR clubs to declare in advance of any launch event which days of the event will be considered sanctioned by TRA or NAR. In this way. the "tie-breaker" of any claim by a dual TRA/NAR member can be determined, and there will be no opportunity for double claims, or double denials of claims.
To make this work, effective March 1, 2010 all dual affiliation TRA/NAR clubs will be required to send an e-mail message to BOTH TRA and NAR HQ (nar-hq@nar.org) a minimum of 24 hours in advance of any sanctioned event, providing the dates of launch events, and which organization, TRA or NAR, will be considered the sanctioning organization. Clubs are encouraged to supply this declaration as far in advance as is feasible to ensure it is not overlooked.
TRA and NAR leadership have also agreed to stress to dual clubs that failure to make this notification may result in denial of claims by both insurance carriers. Also, since it will not be truly possible to legitimately ascertain whose insurance policy should cover, neither TRA nor NAR will extend financial coverage of a portion of the insurance claim deductible, which both organizations have agreed to do by current policy. Thus, it is in everyone's best interest to ensure these declarations are made correctly, and any possibility of claims being questioned is eliminated.
Trip Barber Ken Good
NAR President TRA President |
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NARTREK Incentive Program
NARTREK is a skills building program that allows you to advance your rocketry skills at your own pace and get recognized for your achievements. For 2010, we want to "urge" you along with the following two promotions. More details are posted on the NAR website. Promotion Level I:Any existing or new NARTREK member who completes their Bronze level during 2010 will receive a $10 gift certificate good for NARTS (NAR Technical Services) merchandise. Promotion Level II:If you complete the Silver, Gold or any other advanced level, you will be able to participate in a quarterly drawing where you can win some great rocketry merchandise (to be determined). Even if you don't win in the quarter you entered, your name will be included in later drawings, so you can have more than one chance to win.
You are eligible to win both the Bronze gift certificate and an additional prize for an advanced level. | |
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National Association of Rocketry
