National Association of Rocketry | Electronic Rocketeer May 2010

Electronic Rocketeer May 2010

National Association of Rocketry

The Electronic Rocketeer - Issue #23 - May 2010
An official journal of the NAR

NARAM-52

NARAM-52 is coming to Canon City, CO from July 30 through August 6. See the NARAM website for the outstanding array of flying and non-flying activities that Contest Director Mike Konshak and his team have planned for participants. These include a full range of model rocket and high power competition events. The deadline for registering for NARAM-52 without a paying a late fee is May 31.

NARAM B-Division Travel Grants

Travel funding grants of up to $800 each are available for up to three B Division (age 14-17) first-time fliers at NARAM-52. Young NAR members who want to attend under this program must apply by June 13. The application package is on the NAR website in the "Useful Documents" section.

- Rocket Info Links -

NAR Website

NAR Club List
NAR Launch Calendar

Previous E-Rocketeers

NAR Policies

Teacher Resources

NAR Bylaws

NAR Board of Trustees Meeting

The NAR Board of Trustees will hold its next semiannual meeting the Saturday before NARAM-52, July 31, in Canon City, CO. Members who have issues that they wish to bring to the attention of the Board may send them by July 1 to the NAR President. All NAR Board meetings are open to any NAR member who wishes to attend and watch.

NAR Ballots

All NAR members should by now have received a copy of the single annual printed edition of the "Model Rocketeer" newsletter, which was sent by first class mail in early May. This newsletter contains two separate ballots: one to vote on changes to the US Model Rocket Sporting Code (due back by June 15); and one for the Board of Trustees election (due back by July 23). Please vote!

Message from the NAR President

Greetings!

Last weekend I had the privilege of leading the team of 108 NAR volunteers that served as the range crew running the eighth annual Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) Finals outside Washington, DC. This event for 7th through 12th grade students is where the best 100 teams (about 550 students) of the 669 teams that entered TARC this year from across the US came to fly off head-to-head. This determines which ten teams get a share of the $60,000 in prize money and which one team get the free trip to the Farnborough Air Show in England as guests of Raytheon. Congratulations to the team from Penn Manor High School in Millersville, PA for winning TARC 2010. They will fly off against the winning teams from England and France at the Farnborough Air Show in July.

TARC is the biggest and most successful "pay forward" program the NAR has ever had, and your efforts all across the US are truly making a diference in inspiring young people toward careers in aerospace and toward rocketry as a hobby. TARC also results in tremendous and favorable public relations for the NAR for what we all do in promoting safe rocketry and helping young people participate in it. This year our guest of honor attending the TARC Finals was the Secretary of the Air Force and he spent two hours there talking to NAR members and student team members. He also provided a formation flyover of an F-22, F-16, and P-51 as part of our event. He sends his thanks to all of you for what you are doing. So do I!

Our "52 by 52" membership drive is working in getting us new members; we are up 200 from where we started on January 1 and are now at about 4700. But we all need to work harder at recruiting to reach our goal of 5200 by NARAM-52. This is only two months away, and we have 500 more to go! The NAR has a great value proposition to offer new members; please go review what we offer then go out and help us recruit. Each section should have received 10 NAR color recruiting fliers with their charter certificate; more (up to 100) are available from NAR HQ if you need them.

I will be attending the 2010 NAR National Sport Launch in Alamogordo, New Mexico next weekend and look forward to seeing many of you there. I will also be announcing the winner of the plaque and $500 prize for the NAR's first annual "High Power Technology Award" as part of NSL.

Be safe, have fun, and pay forward.

Trip Barber

NAR 4322

NAR President

NAR Section Safety Grants

The deadline for NAR sections to apply for cash grants of up to $250 to purchase equipment to enhance range safety at their flying fields is almost here. The document describing this program is posted on the NAR website. It includes a list of equipment items that we suggest for purchase as part of the grant application. Applications from sections under this program will be accepted by NAR Safety Committee Chairman Andy Eng through May 31 and will be considered on a first-come/first-served basis within the overall cap of $4000 available this year. Sections that received a grant last year under this program may not reapply.

Safety: Power Lines Kill

Both the Model Rocket and High Power Rocket Safety Codes of the NAR contain the rule "I will not attempt to recover my rocket from power lines, tall trees, or other dangerous places." The only fatalities that our hobby has ever experienced have been to fliers (none of them NAR members) who did not follow this rule. Sadly, the list of people who have died while trying to recover a rocket from a power line now has another entry. Ted Fewer of Calgary (Canada) died on May 4 from massive injuries suffered while standing on a ladder and using a launch rod to snag the shock cord of a rocket that he had landed on a power line. This is the fifth fatality that we know of to a person trying to remove a rocket from a power line.

If you see a rocket land on a power line, do NOT try to remove it yourself. Call the power company and let them know it is there; they probably need to remove it in order to prevent a service disruption and to prevent passers-by from trying to get it down as a souvenir, and they may charge you for coming out, but it is better that having someone get killed for a rocket.

Announce Your Rocket Launches

The NAR maintains an online calendar called "Launch Windows" that lists section-sponsored competition and sport launches across the U.S., by state. NAR volunteer Bruce Canino posts updates here regularly, based on what sections send him using the online submission form found on the NAR website. Be sure to keep Launch Windows up-to-date by sending in announcements of all your regular scheduled launches.