9 Entries

9.1 Total Impulse Limit

No entry in sanctioned competition shall be powered by a motor or combination of motors with total impulse greater than 160.00 Newton-seconds.

 

9.2 Ejected Motors

No entry in sanctioned competition shall eject its motor or motors in flight in such a manner that the spent motor casing or casings fall freely apart from the model. Ejected motor casings must descend with an attached and fully deployed streamer or parachute. The streamer area must be no less than 10 square centimeters for each gram of jettisoned mass; the parachute area must be no less than 5 square centimeters per gram of jettisoned mass. See Rule 9.10.

 

9.3 Flight Characteristics

During the powered phase of flight, spinning of the entry is permitted only around the roll axis. Entries which spin or loop around the pitch axis or yaw axis under power shall be disqualified.

 

9.4 NAR Number

Each entry shall carry, legibly displayed upon its exterior surface as the model rocket appears in flight readiness, the contestant’s name or NAR license number. In the case of a team entry, the entry shall carry the team name or number.

 

9.5 Safety Check

Each entry shall pass a safety inspection given by the Safety Check Officer before each flight to ascertain that it meets the standards of this Sporting Code, and that it will be reasonably safe in its operation, in accordance with Rule 5.3. This inspection shall include any launching device and auxiliary equipment provided by the contestant to assist the launch.

The pre-flight safety inspection shall include a visual check of the markings on the motor(s) for proper impulse and delay. At the request of the contestant, the motor inspection may be postponed until after the flight. However, if it is postponed, the part of the model containing the motor must be returned and the motor class determined by visual inspection. Rule 10.4 shall not apply and if the motor type can not be determined, then the flight is not official.

 

9.6 Minimum Entries

At least two official entries in an event must be passed by the Safety Check Officer and must attempt to make official flights before points can be awarded in the event. This applies also where an event is flown in competition divisions; i.e., two entries for each division. If an event must be flown in combined competition divisions because of insufficient entries, only adjacently entered divisions may have their flight records combined. For this purpose, a Team shall compete in the division of its oldest member.

 

9.7 Substitution of Models

Substitution of models between official flights of an event is allowed, unless disallowed by the rules for a specific event. When the rules for a specific event disallow substitution between official flights, only recovery devices and minor lost or damaged parts necessary to make the model flight worthy may be changed for subsequent flights. In these circumstances, a replacement for a minor lost or damaged part shall be identical to the part that it replaces.

 

9.8 Simultaneous Events

Two or more competition events may not be flown simultaneously by the same model rocket on the same flight.

 

9.9 Construction

The RSO or his/her deputy shall make every reasonable effort to ensure that each contestant has completely constructed the model rocket(s) he/she uses in competition. Model rockets not requiring construction shall be excluded from competition. Materials and design may be obtained from any source, including kits.

 

9.10 Impound

The Contest Director or any of his/her appointed officials has the authority to require that any model having made an official flight be returned and impounded for a reasonable length of time for inspection if there is serious question regarding the adherence of the model to the Sporting Code. This must be stated during or immediately after the flight in question. When the model or part cannot be returned to the officials within a reasonable time, the officials may disqualify that flight.

 

9.11 Gross Launching Mass

All entries in model rocket competition shall not exceed a maximum GLM of 1,500 grams. Booster stage, single stage, and upper stage motors may be used in locations other than their primary intended stage.

 

9.12 Radio Control

Frequency control regulations must be obeyed if implemented on the flying site. Any contestant failing to do so will be considered in violation of safety rules under Rule 11.4 and may be disqualified from the event or meet. Radio Control safety is part of the Range Safety Officer’s responsibility. Radio Control of a model is not considered human intervention with regard to catching or cushioning of any model required to land naturally. Unless otherwise specified by the rules of that event, any model may be radio controlled. The contest director can prohibit the use of Radio Control in any event or for the entire meet, by so stating on the sanction form for the meet, and in all appropriate meet literature. Models that are to be radio controlled must be controlled or guided by the builder or a builder of the model.

 

9.13 FAI Events

Models flown in the FAI class of an event, except for Boost Glider (*), must comply with the following construction requirements of the FAI Sporting Code, Section 4, Volume SM Space Models for that event. First, the minimum length of the enclosed airframe of the model must be 500 millimeters and at least 50 percent of this airframe length must have a minimum diameter of 40 millimeters in the launch configuration. Second, in events where multi-staging is allowed the booster stage must deploy a recovery device, the upper stage must be at least 18 millimeters diameter over at least 75 percent of the upper stage length, and any boat tails on that stage must be at least 18 millimeters in diameter.
 
(*) “except for Boost Glider” was unintentionally omitted from the original RCP, and was added as a Rules Interpretation, by Rule F.8.B.

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