Message from the President

Message from the NAR President (November 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

Our NAR Headquarters Manager, Marie Stumpe (shown at right, with her husband, Kevin) is heading to retirement. She has been our HQ Manager since 1985; that’s right, almost 40 years. Marie worked with 5 NAR presidents – Pat Miller, Mark Bundick, Trip Barber, Ted Cochran, and me. She started with a typewriter, paper records, and lots of stamps. Marie lived through several member data bases and conversions. She has seen our membership grow over time from the low thousands to our present membership of 9,569. The NAR and our members owe a debt of gratitude to Marie for the countless hours she spent keeping us organized, member cards and pins sent out, and answering so many questions from our members. Marie will continue part-time for several months to finish up a few last projects. You can send her a note of thanks via email at nar-hq2@nar.org.

Our new NAR HQ Manager is Mayra Marquez. Mayra started with us a few years ago to help process HPR certifications and has worked closely with Marie to learn our systems and processes. Moving our HQ presence from Iowa to Virgina is going smoothly and we should have most of the move complete for a transition in November. However, there are a few loose ends that will require a little patience. We are keeping the NAR HQ phone number (319-373-8910), but it may be a few days to get everything in place and the number transferred. Also, mail is being forwarded to our new NAR address (PO Box 260, Middletown VA 22645). If you experience a delay in a response to a letter or our phone is not working, please be patient. Mail being sent to the old address will take a few extra days to arrive in Virginia. The phone companies tell me it is easy to port the number from one company to another, and I am hoping that to be true. Regardless, we will do everything possible to keep our move seamless to the members.

I also want to let you know that we are experiencing a delay in sending out member cards. We had a glitch in the restocking of new blank cards from the printer to the fulfillment house that processes our cards. Please be patient, we are working with the fulfillment house to get cards out and back in sync with the normal process. Our website is set up to assist you with a temporary membership by going to this link. By the way, this link is available all of the time, so if you are waiting for a new or replacement card, an updated certification card, or left you card at home and need proof of membership/hpr certification, go to the link. I use it often when I attend a launch without my member card or have a question from launch organizers about a member’s certification level.

Don’t forget, NSL East is November 10-12, 2023, in Pence Indiana.

Until next month, fly safe, have fun, and pay it forward.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the NAR President (October 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

Summer is over, here in the mountains of Colorado the leaves are changing. But there are still many opportunities to get out and fly rockets! We have NSL East November 10-12, 2023, in Pence Indiana. I will be bringing a few rockets to fly. While I will not be testing the limits of their 17,999 ft waiver, I will certainly need the six square miles of recovery area.

It is a busy time at the NAR. We are preparing to move NAR Headquarters to Virginia over the course of the next month. Our long-term NAR HQ Manager, Marie Stumpe, is passing the baton to our HPR Certification Manager, Mayra Marquez. Mayra’s HPR certification duties will be picked up by Monica Rooker. If you follow us on social media, you are familiar with Monica’s work. Marie plans on spending time riding her new electric bike and enjoying some well-deserved free time with family and friends. I plan on sending out a special announcement later this month to give you a complete rundown of the changes. We have also begun our first round of an accounting audit, so our accountant is busy keeping me and a few other board members on our toes.

I hope you read your recent Sport Rocketry issue. Tom and Todd continue to excel in bringing us awesome content and photos. Please go to page 17 of the September/October issue for a timely and well thought out safety commentary from the Officers of NAR Section 774. There are a lot of great flight safety reminders and practices from our friends at San Luis Valley Rocketeers, the hosts of NSL West 2023-2025.

In September, the NAR and our insurance company settled a claim arising from a launch over the summer. I will not go into specific details, other than to note that one or two nominal flights that safely landed on the launch site were not well-received by cattle sharing the site with us. The result was several of the cattle ended up expiring; a significant loss to the farmer. We worked closely with the local Section leaders, the farmer, and our insurance agent to come to a mutual agreement of compensation for the losses. There will also be mitigating actions taken in the future to minimize the risk to livestock at this particular site. I urge all Sections and flyers to carefully consider where the rockets are landing. Rockets should not land among livestock on or adjacent to a launch site.

I will finish this month’s column with a plea to our members to support our educational program, scholarships, and grants to teachers. We have had several generous donations from members who have retirement funds that require disbursements and as a beneficiary from a member’s life insurance policy. Please consider donating to the NAR to help us build perpetual funding sources for scholarships and educational grants. For each $50,000 added to our investment endowment account, we can fund a $2,000 scholarship for the foreseeable future. Our goal is to obtain enough funds in an endowment account to fund all our scholarships and grants from the investment proceeds.

Until next month, fly safe, have fun, and pay it forward.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the NAR President (September 2023)

Change is good for an organization; every year we provide our members with a chance to shape the the NAR as you vote for Trustees to serve on the NAR Board. This year, we have a new Trustee joining the Board, Mr. Jasper Barnett. Jasper brings a fresh perspective to the Board, and I am looking forward to working with him. Steve Lubliner was not voted for another term on the Board, and we will miss Steve’s candor and participation at our meetings. Steve has agreed to stay on as our Safety Committee Chair, NFPA representative, and liaison to the Spaceport America Cup. I want to personally thank Steve for his continued support to the NAR on and off the Board.

Kevin Johnson and I were re-elected to the Board. Kevin continues as our Treasurer, and I remain President. There are a few financial and business tasks that we want to complete, like an audit of the finances of the NAR. Being re-elected will give us the opportunity to make these important business activities happen. Steve Kristal will continue to serve as our Vice President and Mark Wise as our Secretary. Thanks to Matt Johnson for running as a candidate for Trustee.

Another milestone change is with the NAR’s Education Committee. Vince Huegele recently completed 20 years of service as Chair of our Education Committee. He passed the baton to Robyn Jackson, who is coming on board with many great ideas and experience in rocketry education. Thanks, Vince, for the 20 years of dedicated service!

You can see all the changes and current Trustee and Committee Chair contact information on our website under the page of Organizational Contacts.

Changes to the NAR by-laws were also on the ballot this year. We updated throughout the by-laws references of Trustees as a male to a neutral reference to Trustees. The by-laws also were tidied up a bit to recognize how changes in technology enable us to use resources like virtual meetings and online voting. Most importantly, we changed our member class from Leader to Young Adult member and expanded the age from 16 to 24 years. We also added two board seats for Young Adult members that are filled by recommendation from our Nominating Committee and ratified by the Board. We are working on the implementation of this change now and hope to roll it out soon.

As I mentioned at the Town Hall, our finances are in great shape and we are benefitting from the steady membership growth we have seen over the past year. I was pleased to announce scholarship and educational grant winners at the Town Hall.

I hope that you are all enjoying these final days of summer and able to launch with family and friends. I am gearing up for my annual trek to Black Rock to support ARLISS and launch a few big rockets. Please remember to keep safety in mind with all your rocketry activities. Safety is everyone’s job.

Until next month, have fun, be safe, and pay it forward.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the NAR President (August 2023)

The 2023 US Spacemodeling team.
Photo by Jim Wilkerson.

The summer seems to be flying by (pun intended). I hope that all our members get a chance to fly your projects and enjoy the flying season. Remember, our summer Town Hall meeting will take place on August 9, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Register here to listen in. I will be announcing the results of the Trustee Elections and the fate of proposed by-law changes at that time. We will also open up the meeting for a business meeting following the State of the NAR report.

As I am writing this column of the newsletter, NARAM-64 is nearly complete, with all flying done. All that’s left is an award’s banquet, distribution of plaques for winners in the competition events, and bragging rights, as champion Section, for one NAR Section for the upcoming year. Although the competition group was small this year, competition among the individuals and teams was intense and camaraderie among the participants remains at a high level. If you have not tried our National Rocketry Competition (or NRC for short), or if you used to fly competition and have not done so recently, we have excellent resources available in the contest flying section on our website. Big shout out goes to Vern Richardson (Event and Contest Director), Thomas Kindig (Sport Range Director), and Ed LaCroix (National Events Chair).

Earlier in July, the NAR hosted the 2023 World Spacemodeling Championships in Austin, Texas. Congratulations to the US Team pictured above and everyone that supported the team There was an excellent showing for both junior and senior teams with numerous individual and team medals. Team USA was the overall event champion, a feat never accomplished in prior World Spacemodeling Championships. I also want to thank those of you who volunteered your time to support the event as organizers and range crew. This was an epic undertaking, and it took the dedication of many individuals to make it happen. James Duffy, our Event Director, organized an excellent group of volunteers to do the many tasks it took to host the championships. Job well done by all!

I will conclude this column with a reminder about safety. We all continue to enjoy this great hobby, due in part to our excellent safety record. Please follow our safety codes, avoid flying when conditions could lead to fires, keep your rockets on flying fields, and consistently adjust launch angles to avoid overflying spectators and parking areas.

Until next month, have fun, be safe, and pay it forward.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the NAR President (July 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

Summer is here and hopefully lots of great flying where you are. After I write this column, I will be finishing up packing and heading out for the 2023 World Space Modeling Championships in Austin, Texas. Big shoutout to all the volunteers who have helped to plan this event, the Olympics of rocketry, and to those who are volunteering to serve as range crew for the next week.

I am also thankful to the volunteer mentors from the NAR who helped with the ESRA launch held this past weekend in New Mexico. Special thanks to Steve Lubliner, who serves as the NAR liaison to ESRA.

I do want to bring up some unsettling news that serves as a reminder about safety around the materials we use in rocketry. While the commercially manufactured rocket motors used by NAR members are safe to use and when stored properly, we need to remain vigilant about safety when handling and storing them.

Another incident was reported closer to home this week, involving persons making or altering fireworks in their home. Two family members are hospitalized and the house is potentially damaged to the point where it is not livable as a result of the explosion and fire. Why am I bringing this up? On my news feed, the alert was for 2 injured in an explosion involving model rockets. What? It turns out that was someone’s first impression and what they told authorities they thought happened. Yes, the model rocket part. It is irritating that the headlines still read model rocket, yet the accompanying text refers only to fireworks. I don’t think this will harm our hobby, by itself, it is not helpful either. Part of my job as president is to help temper these false impressions of the hobby. I do the best I can by example, pointing the media to educational and fun programs, and speaking up to correct the incorrect media reports. I reached out to some of the local media outlets to suggest that they make some corrections, but they have moved on to the next topic, as I suspect most others have too. I did get the chance to tell them about safety and fun aspects of the hobby. Please do safe and fun things as you enjoy flying and building rockets. If you get the chance to spread your enthusiasm, let others know.

Not much else on my plate for you now. Please stay safe, don’t get overheated with the summer heat, fly your rockets, and have fun.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the NAR President (June 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

I hope your Memorial Weekend was relaxing and, like me you spent some of that time at a rocket launch. I was at the National Sport Launch held near Alamosa Colorado at an excellent launch site. The event was sponsored by the San Luis Valley Rocketeers and hosted by Event Director, Matt Abbey. Matt was an excellent host, the range was awesomely huge, and the accommodations great. Thanks to all who volunteered to make this event successful and thanks to all who attended to fly. I am looking forward to next year!

Safety Minute:

I would like to bring up a safety issue that occurred over the weekend. This is intended to be a reminder to all about the importance of ensuring that onboard or component electronic systems should be operated and secured in a safe manner, on and off the flying field.

An incident happened at one of the hotels in town where some of the National Sport Launch attendees were staying. Please note, while the incident is still being investigated, I will not provide specific information about what happened. In brief, a high-power rocket motor accidently ignited in a hotel room. There were no serious injuries, but the room was damaged and guests at the hotel had to leave their rooms while the fire department controlled the situation and cleared the smoke. Let me remind all of important safety considerations:

• Please avoid bringing high-power motors into hotel rooms, especially with ignitors inserted into the motors.
• Do not assemble ejection charges in hotel rooms.
• Do not assemble complex rockets in hotel rooms.
• Treat assembled rocket motors, igniters, and ejection charges with care and high levels of safety.
• Please, make sure that all electronics are turned off and disconnected from any igniters or ejection charges when not in a safe location.
• Please understand the safe operation of all electronics you use.
• Please ensure there are no igniters in any rocket motors, particularly high-power motors, unless on the pad or otherwise deemed safe at an outdoor location.
• Please follow the NAR Model Rocket and High-Power Safety Codes on and off the flying field.

Let’s be safe out there!

Additionally, I am aware that there is some chatter on one or more of the rocketry forums about the use of rails for larger rockets. Apparently, the rumor is that the NAR Board of Trustees is secretly considering implementing a rule/policy change that would require all larger rockets to be launched by rails only. Although some NAR Sections have local range requirements that rockets above a certain size must be launched from a rail, there is not a NAR-wide requirement for requiring rails to be used for mid and high-power rockets. Our NAR Sections can implement launch requirements that are more stringent than the NAR safety codes; organizationally, we leave this to the discretion of the local club. The NAR encourages factual and open discussions about safety issues related to the hobby and discourages ill-informed discussions based on conjecture or rumor that is unfounded.

Thanks, and now back to fun things.

In case you missed it, the American Rocketry Challenge (ARC) finals were held on May 20 at Great Meadow Foundation. This year’s event was fun and well-run, as usual. The winning team, Hardin Valley Academy from Knoxville, Tennessee, were a first year Rocketry Challenge team and are looking forward to going to Paris in a few weeks to fly against teams from France, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all the NAR volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to make the American Rocketry Challenge a success. Your commitment to inspiring the next generation of rocket scientists and engineers is truly commendable. Without your hard work, we would not have been able to provide such a valuable experience to the participants. We appreciate your contributions and hope to continue working with you in the future. Thank you once again for your support!

Until next month, be safe, have fun and pay it forward.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the President, (May 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

I want to start out this month’s column with a sincere thank you to Trip Barber for pulling together content for the many issues of the eRocketeer over the past 5 years. Trip has been dedicated to making the NAR the best we can be and has spent a lifetime giving back to the community and pitches in when he sees a need. I am sure he will find something to fill the time he spent corralling articles and content from our contributors. Thanks Trip!

In case it is not obvious, we have changed the format of the eRocketeer. Todd Schweim, our Director of Communications developed this new look for our monthly newsletter, and I am excited to hear how our members feel about it. Please go to our Members Forum to let us know your thoughts.

ARC – American Rocketry Challenge – has a new brand identity. So, drop the “The” and the “T” moving forward, as we will now refer to the world’s largest rocket contest as ARC or the American Rocketry Contest. I like the change and hope to get TARC out of my vocabulary and replace it with ARC.

Speaking of ARC, I know there are 100 teams practicing, getting their rockets and gear ready for a trip to the finals, raising money for travel expenses, and bragging to friends about their accomplishments. Thanks to all of the volunteers who help students to build and fly rockets as a part of ARC. And a big thanks to the range crew who will gather on May 19-20 for the 2023 ARC finals.

Have you signed up for and are you planning on attending the National Sport Launch West? I’ll be there and hope to get some of my rockets out from being packed for moving and ready to fly. As your flying season gears up, please inspect them to make sure they are in top shape and ready to fly. Look at things like parachutes, shock cords, glue and epoxy joints, and electronics before you head out to a flying site.

Another safety reminder – let’s continue to be vigilant about fire safety. Make sure your fire equipment is in good shape and ready for action. Clear areas around launch pads of combustible materials. Keep an eye out for potential problems when rockets eject on or near the ground; don’t assume that nothing is burning, go inspect and make sure everything is safe.

Board elections are open for voting; please vote. Also, we have changes to our bylaws that require a member vote to ratify. Voting is easy and can be done in person, by mail, or electronically.

Until next month, be safe, have fun and pay it forward.

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the President, (April 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

The NAR volunteer community has lost a key and dedicated volunteer. Our NARTS manager, Brad Cline, passed away unexpectedly. Brad served as the NARTS manager for about 15 years. He did an excellent job of updating our store offerings and was praised by our customers for his attention to detail and timely fulfillment of orders. We will miss Brad and our prayers are with his family.

Due to the passing of our NARTS manager, we will temporarily close the NARTS store until we can get a new manager in place and everything back up and running. We will post notices on the NAR website to inform our members of changes.

Don’t forget to update and discuss your safety plans and actions with your Sections. Now is a great time to update and clean safety equipment, replenish the first aid kit, and make sure all emergency contact lists are up to date.

At our January Board meeting, we made the following actions:

• Audit of NAR Finances – the Board is working with our accountant to pursue an audit of our financial practices. This is being done to ensure we are following the best possible financial controls.
• Pursue 501(c)3 group/subordinate affiliation – this status will allow NAR Sections to be recognized in the same IRS status as the NAR. It is a procedural action and the Board will work with our accountant to determine the best course of action. Once granted, our Sections will be able to have donations recognized in the same manner as they would be if someone or organization donated to our parent organization, the NAR.
• Periodic review of dues structure – the Board agreed that it would be a good practice to periodically (at least every 2 years) to review our dues structure. This does not necessarily mean increases every 2 years, rather that the Board will make a deliberate effort to ensure that our dues reflects current financial needs of the organization.

The NAR Board also performed a review of By-Laws:

• Cleaned up gender references
• Changed “model” rocketry to “sport” rocketry
• Explicitly refers to Voting by electronic means – this was done to reflect current practices in voting.
• Clarified Annual business meeting – previously, there was some ambiguity in language between Board meetings and the Annual meeting of the association. Changes clarify the differences.
• Participation on NAR communication platforms – the changes clarify that participation on NAR communication platforms (like the NAR Members Forum) are member benefits and there are policies of participant decorum that will be enforced. Non-compliance with the policies can result in privileges being revoked, which is not considered to be an official NAR discipline action subject to a tribunal review.
• Membership Classes: Changed Leader members (16-21 years) and Senior members (21-25 years) to Young Adult members (16-25 years)
• Board of Trustees: Board may have up to 2 Young Adult Trustees who are recommended by Nominating Committee and ratified by Board. Young Member Trustees will have the same privileges and responsibilities as Senior Trustees. They are eligible 18-24 years at nomination and the term is 1 year and can be renewed for 2 additional years
• Officers are Senior Trustees
• Board working sessions can be held at the discretion of the President
• All financial reporting will be in the form of the IRS 990

These changes were accepted by the Board by unanimous agreement and will be included in the voting package being sent to all members. Members will be asked for a yes or no vote on the collective changes as presented. A copy of the revisions can be viewed on our website as a part of the minutes of the January meeting. The changes will also be included as a part of the voting materials for the Trustees election. The Board recommends members accept these changes.

Registration is open for NSL-West. Join us for a National Sport Launch May 27-29 in Alamosa, Colorado. This is the place if you are interested in flying your high power rockets. Event Director, Matt Abbey has a 52,000′ Waiver in hand.

Please remember that your Members Forum is for all members and our expectation is that postings are done in a civil manner and follow the spirit of our safety codes and NAR policies. Please be courteous to each other.

Until next month, please be safe, pay it forward, and have fun!

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3

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Message from the President, (March 2023)

Fellow NAR Member,

Congratulations to NASA astronaut and fellow rocketeer Woody Hoburg, the pilot on the SpaceX Crew 6 mission to the International Space Station that launched on March 2, 2023. Woody flew rockets before he started riding them! He was a TARC competitor from North Allegheny High School in PA in the first year of the TARC program (2002-2003) and went on from there to larger high power rockets and to MIT, first as a student then as a professor, before his selection as an astronaut.

As an organization, the NAR is doing so much to help young rocketeers succeed in academics, go on to STEM careers, and now even go to space. That’s right, when you, our members, help a young child fly their first rocket, do build sessions with scout and school groups, volunteer to mentor TARC, NASA Student Launch, Spaceport America, and ARLISS teams, your contributions are enriching the lives of these children and young adults.

What else can you do to encourage rocketry? Did you know members ages 14-17 are eligible to participate in our Junior HPR Level 1 program. This program offers a great opportunity to mentor younger members who are interested in high power rocketry. When we start our younger members off on a path of good building skills and a solid understanding of the nuances of building rockets to withstand the power of more powerful motors, you are giving these rocketeers a solid base to grow. For more information, go to our website.

Our flying season is getting started for the year. I am looking for some free time to check out my fleet for safety and repair needs. You can make your first launch of the year a safe and successful one by checking out your rockets, cleaning them up, and making sure they are flight worthy. Pay extra attention to those rockets that have been retired for a while; some of our building materials don’t always age well.

NAR Sections should also remember to do an annual safety stand-down. Section leaders should take some time at the beginning of your next launch or during an upcoming meeting to review procedures, make improvements to outdated safety operations, and clean up that safety gear to be ready for the season.

I’ll conclude with a plea to all of our members to fly safely and ensure our excellent safety record remains intact. The NAR recently paid our annual insurance payment — $107,000 this year. A significant contributor to the premium is our membership numbers (not a bad problem). I can’t imagine what the bill would be if we did not have the excellent record of safety we have. I also want to remind all that our insurance is not an excuse to fly unsafely. Please follow the safety codes, use common sense, don’t fly under marginally safe conditions, and help us promote our safety culture. NAR insurance is a safety net for good safe culture, not risky behavior.

Until next month, please be safe, pay it forward, and have fun!

John N. Hochheimer
NAR President
NAR 74537 L3