Spokane Area Rocket Club

June 05 meeting minutes

June 29, 2005

Attendees:
Ray Stoner
Krys Davidson & daughter
Mark Howe
Bob Yanacek
Dave Glass
Greg Allen
The Phillips family (Mr. Mrs. & Joel)
Harold and Donna Kellams

Topics discussed:
1) Porta-Potty: Arrange to have it picked up since we will not need one
until the September launch. We will plan on purchasing a unit at the
beginning of next years flying season. (That will give the supplier
approx 9 months to locate one that is nice, [but not "too" nice] for us,
at a reduced cost).

2) Discussed the recent Wheat-Chex launch, the article in the Spokesman
Review, and our unfriendly neighbor, Janice.

3) Raffles: It was decided to continue the raffles, although not on the
scale of what we put together for the Nike project. One or two items to
be raffled per launch, using either donated or club purchased items.
Rocket kits, Motors, and even "non" rocketry related items (such as
chocolate) was mentioned as possible items.

4) GSE/Trailer Maintenance Event: We bantered around the idea of holding
a maintenance party in August. It seems to make sense to hold it the
2nd (or 3rd) Saturday of the month since we will not be launching due to
fire danger. Items mentioned that are in need of repair: Low Power
Pads, (Clips, Swivels, Rods), General Trailer Maintenance (including
resealing the roof).

5) LDRS: What's it all about, whose is going and when, how to get there.
Basically for the benefit of the Phillips family, who showed interest in
making the trip. Please remember that I am trying to keep a spreadsheet
listing all of the SPARC members going and the timeframe they will be
on-site at LDRS. If you plan on going and have not supplied me with
that information, please take the time to do so.

6) Nike Herc: Looks like we will have the funding for 5 K motors at
LDRS. Repair work needed to be done includes the re-attachment of the
two booster fins, and finding a suitable chute for the booster. The
plan is to prep the rocket on Thursday/Friday at LDRS, and have it ready
to go Saturday morning. Following the successful flight in Canada at LDRS, the Nike will be displayed at HobbyTown.

7) Treasury report was given...can't remember the figures. Red wrist
bands arrived and were given to Krys.

Posted by ray at 4:41 PM | Comments (0)

June 05 Launch report (Wheatchex)

Story of the weekend was the weather. Saturday was "unsettled", sunshine, downpours that had everybody running for cover and some thunder. It didn't stop us from flying though. We had a good crowd on hand when I arrived, but nobody seemed to want to set up the GSE. It took a bit before people started moving toward the setup, but once started many hands made short work of getting it set up. I called in the waiver and rockets started to fly, naturally, Mark Howe had the first flight of the day (both Saturday and Sunday). There were a number of people from the west side of the state that got us off to a nice start on the high power pads. The guys from PSP let us know we should get the SPARC team flying.

In spite of the weather on Saturday, there were a large number of people out to observe and fly. The wheat ate a number of rockets, but it didn't stop many from flying. The motors were smaller and you noticed a distinct tilt of the launch rods away from the wheat.

There were three vendors on site peddling their wears, Puget Sound Propulsion was there with Motors, Greg Allen with Kits, and Tsolo taking pictures for Rocketshots. Its sure nice to have so many support the club in this fashion.

There were 4 certification attempts on Saturday, 3 at level one, one at level 2, all were successful! Congratulations to Bryon Schopp, Luke Lindeman and Kristen Maes for certifying level one. Congratulations are also in order for James Stoffel who got his level two cert minutes after one of the rain squalls. James drove over from Redmond Saturday morning and returned within minutes of having his rocket inspect and declared intact. He had a 7 pm shift at work.

Our neighbor to the north made an appearance on Saturday, stated her views that we shouldn't be launching and left, with promises to call the police is we didn't quit "right now!" The police didn't come until Sunday, around 11am. The police officer was very polite, ask a lot of questions about the regulations and we answered. Thanks to James Stoffel for having the Tripoli safety code that includes NFPA 1127, it was very helpful in the discussion with the officer. The officer was satisfied that we weren't doing anything wrong and even stayed around to watch a rack of rockets launch.

The day ended with nice weather, a great pot luck with more food than we could eat and some nice dusk flights of Models. Lots of discussion around the fire and good company. There were a lot of folks that spent the night.

Sunday, Father's day, dawned bright and clear! Flying commenced at around 9am. There wasn't much of a crowd, but the crowd was flying! A photographer from the Spokesman Review showed up around 10am and from the article in the paper got some nice shots. As mentioned before, a county sheriff showed up around 11am. Thank goodness that the Spokesman didn't publish any of those photos. A reporter showed up later in the day and interview a number of people, she did a nice article for the paper.

Flights proceeded through out the day at a slow, but regular pace. The crowd was small, but in good spirits. At 2:30 we held the raffle, 10 prizes were given away, I sent out a list of winners earlier. We managed to raise $159 toward the purchase of motors for the Nike Hercules flight at LDRS. Many thanks to all that donated items, and contributed funds! Tear down was around 4 pm, and with many hands it was packed quickly.

Emerson's daughter and grandkids were there most of the weekend and Emerson showed up several times. He hung out long enough on Sunday to get in a flight of Emerson Express on a G40. I think we have the greatest land owner in the state! A big thanks goes out to him for letting us use his field.

Some memorable flights to me;
The Goddard Hoop Skirt by Dave Glass
The two stage glider by Mark Howe
The scissor wing transport by Mark Howe
F10 by Bob Yanecek
The Albrechts flights
The scimitar by the Weisers and PSP
Kiss DD flying successful dual deployments 3 times, the last time on a AMW K motor
A Binder design stealth on an I-300 by Lou Bragg
All the Certifications

Motor Breakdown;
1/2A - 2
A - 11
B - 28
C - 38
D - 17
E - 6
F - 10
G - 9
H - 14
I - 12
J - 3
K - 1

Two stage - 6
Three Stage - 1
Clusters - 3
Certifications - 4

Total flights - 137

There was 1 flight card without a motor listed.

Posted by ray at 4:37 PM | Comments (0)

Club Project Lift off Photos

June 1, 2005

First lift off photo!

Just off the rail, one motor isn't burning.

Click on the thumbnail for a larger photo
Credit to Rocketshots
Scanned and posted with permission

Posted by ray at 6:25 PM | Comments (0)