Spokane Area Rocket Club

In attendance;
Mark Howe
Lee Mceuen
Dave Glass
Harold Kellams
Dave Luders
Krys Davidson
Charla Davidson
Ray Stoner

Kind of light in the attendance department. Marty, Bob, Terry Moore Read,Jim Kurilich and Lou Bragg all notified me prior to the meeting that they would not be able to make it.

Raffle update-
Jim Kurilich sent me an email with updates to the raffle for the club project. Quest Aerospace has donated 4 kits to the effort, they are 2 X-15's and 2 Full Moons. Mark Howe also has a Estes Broadsword he has donated, and Dave Stubbs has donated 5 hours of Metal lathe time. I know that Puget Sound Propulsion has also donated a motor case, but I can't find the email describing which one. The raffle doesn't seem to support the purchase of the motors for the club project for LDRS and Mansfield. Cash or motor donations will be accepted. I am bringing the club project to the May launch as a show piece. There is still hope that we will fly the sustainer at SPARC in May.

Club project-
There is still a lot of work to do on the club project. Final weights will determine the size 'chutes we need, but we are going to need 2 large 'chutes for main recovery, and one drogue too. Shock cord and 'chute protectors are needed. Wiring of electronics and more electronics are needed too. If you have any of the above items, let Ray Stoner know. They don't have to be gifts to the project, loans for the flights are OK.

Treasury report-
Balance on 3/31/05 was $805.80
April launch generated $20 in membership fees and $63.00 from the raffle.
Expenses were $19.80 for the port-a-potty
Current balance is $869
Club project balance is $85.16
Available in the general fund is $783.34

Out Reach report-
Marty hosted a TARC qualifying attempt, we don't think they made the cut
John Hearn, Bob Yanecek and Mark Howe hosted a session with a cub scout den at Michaels Craft store for about 10 kids. They say it went well and the ~10 kids that were there ask a lot of questions. The Den should be attending the May launch.
Mark Howe will begin to work with Moran Prairie in early June
Bob continues to work with Midway Elementary School
Buck and John Hearn continue to work with the Garfield 4H group.

LDRS 24-
Dave Luders has volunteered to carry motors for the club to LDRS in Canada. See the email I sent previously for details on what Dave needs by May 7th so he can include your motors in his magazine.
Wildman and other vendors will be onsite in Canada with motors, so you'll be able to purchase on site. Prior arrangements with the vendor will be required to ensure they have the motors you want. Make the arrangements early to make sure they have the motors and the time to do the paper work.
You are required to pre-register for the event if you plan on flying Experimental motors. If you plan to fly commercial motors you can register onsite, but it costs more. Registration closes on June 15. Spectators and juniors flying models are not requried to pay launch fees or register. More information on LDRS can be found here.

Sky Fest-
The group at the meeting have decided not to participate in SkyFest this year. It follows very closely on the heals of LDRS in Canada. LDRS ends on the 19th, and SkyFest is on 23-24th...
We would like to participate in SkyFest 2006.

Landowner Issue-
With the landowner restrictions of "walk straight to the rocket and straight back, but only if you know exactly where its at" and no grid searches on planted land the group decided that a couple things are in order to prevent losing the recovery area to the south of the launch site.
1. Announce at the flyers meeting and every round of rockets the rule of one person one rocket in planted fields.
2. Make a special announcement if a rocket is seen to drift into planted area to remind the rocketeer of the recovery restrictions.
3. All members pay attention to recoveries in planted land, try to prevent folks from taking more than one person into a planted field for recovery.
4. Have extra observers tracking rockets that recover in planted fields so we have the best chance of walking directly to the rocket.
5. Suspend launching until a rocket recovering in a planted field is down to allow the rocketeer and others to get a good recovery line on it.
6. Put a sign (or 2 or 10) at the planted areas letting people know of the new recovery rule.
7. If people are warned (via flyers meeting, announcements at the beginning of each round, when the rocket is seen to land on planted land and shouting to let them know the rule) and insist on recovering the rocket with more than one person, they will be asked to leave the site for the remainder of the launch. This is a last resort.

No open fires will be allowed, except in the 1/2 barrel designated for burning. No fires at all during county burn bans.

We must seek permission from the land owner to the south for launches in July, August and September. If he feels the fire danger is too high, we will suspend launch for that month. This won't affect us this year for July and August, we won't be launching anyway, but could impact us for our 2 day launch in Septemeber.

Its time that SPARC seek another launch site, several areas were brought up a potential sites. Harold of BAR said there might be a possiblily of launching at the Telford site, but we need to do some research on that front. SPARC is looking for a site that will support a minimum of a 7000ft waiver and up to K motors (1 mile square). If you are aware of a place that might be suitable, please contact one of the officers of the club.

Glider build-
There wasn't really enough time to build the gliders during the meeting, but Mark distributed gliders to all present with verbal instructions on how to build them. Those that were present are going to build them and have them ready for the May launch. This should be a lot of fun. To those that got gliders, don't forget to put your name on them to make sure you get them back.

All in all a good meeting, even if we did talk too much and couldn't build the gliders ;-).

Ray Stoner
SPARC president