Material contained in The Model Rocketeer is Copyright © 1995 by the National Association of Rocketry. Permission is hereby granted for non-commercial reproduction, with proper credit, solely for purposes that will further the aims and objectives of the NAR. Editor: Mark Johnson Telephone: (316) 733-4804 3532 S. 154th St. E. E-mail: CompuServe: 76670,1775 Wichita, KS 67232-9425 Internet: 76670.1775@compuserve.com Publisher: National Association of Rocketry P.O. Box 177 Telephone: (800) 262-4872 Altoona, WI 54720 NARAM Notes by Mark "Bunny" Bundick, NAR President I've just returned from NARAM-37 in Geneseo, NY, and want first to congratulate all the National Champions crowned there. Those winners will have their names listed here in the Model Rocketeer for the next year until the conclusion of NARAM-38. I also want to thank and congratulate Dan Wolf, NARAM 37 manager, and his hard working capable staff of the MARS section for an outstanding event. Kudos are also due the CMASS section, led by Chris Tavares and Bill Spadafora, for once again running an outstanding sport range operation that flew more rockets than the contest range! NARAM represents far more than a contest. As one of our national events, it's an opportunity to see new models, techniques and products, and swap tips and tricks with fellow NAR members. For those of us involved in the administrative work of your Association, we also share our management expertise with one another and plan out the work to move the NAR forward, reflecting on the accomplishments of the past year. While you might think that my 19th NARAM would be routine, it was not. It marked the end of my first year as your president and afforded me the chance to make my first "formal" address to the membership at the Association meeting. I reflected for quite some time before deciding what to say to the NAR members gathered there. I decided to emphasized three critical areas of NAR business: Safety, Education and Fun. Safety is critical not only to the NAR but to the hobby at large. Any blemish on our spotless safety record may well severely restrict our ability to fly sport rockets. I'm proud of the leadership role NAR members take on safety, at their launches, by our participation in the NFPA process and through the hard work of NAR Standards and Testing. Collectively, this work helps insure a continuing bright future for the hobby. NAR members constantly educate themselves and others by generously sharing their modeling skills and techniques. I see this happening constantly at a local level at section launches and through section newsletters. NAR Sections also have many active programs linked to local schools. Nationally, we're working to expand this effort. In one of the more exciting programs to come out of NARAM, the NAR will be working with the SEP project in Alabama to expand and promote their successful aerospace education program. The NAR Board will travel to Huntsville next January to meet with Greg Warren and other members of SEP's team to finalize details of this joint effort. NAR members should look for more information on this exciting project in upcoming issues of Sport Rocketry. I'm also happy to announce that the NAR will undertake another joint effort, this one to establish the Bob Cannon Memorial Award. Many longtime NAR members will remember Bob as the Education Director at Estes Industries, a position he held until his death. There, Bob introduced literally thousands of teachers to the fun and power of model rocket based learning in their classrooms. Working jointly with Bob's estate, the NAR will establish a teacher recognition award, to be presented on an annual basis, to acknowledge outstanding integration of sport rocketry into the classroom. Pat Miller and Vern Estes will lead this effort for the NAR and will be taking advantage of our contacts with members of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Look for details after our January 1996 Board meeting, and be prepared to let us know about outstanding teachers using model rocketry in the classroom in your area. Finally, I point out our commitment to fun. That might sound strange, for after all, this is only our hobby. But when I work with NAR volunteers who have competing family and professional commitments, they sometimes miss the "fun" parts of our collective volunteer job after a hard day stapling newsletters or running a sport rocket range. While the volume of mail, email messages and phone calls can sometimes get even to your president, I can't think of another aspect of my life that has brought me in contact with such a great group of creative, interesting people as those I've met in the NAR. Nationally, our NARAM and NSL programs are well established and provide great opportunities for NAR members to join the fun at these national events. Locally, our sections provide outstanding leadership with their launches, building sessions, and meetings; if you're not a member of a section, you're really missing out on some fun. NAR HQ will be happy to provide you with a list of sections upon request. The "fun" is expanding inside your NAR! I left Geneseo's NARAM with lots of fond memories and a renewed sense of commitment to this triad of safety, education and fun. I look forward to our continued work on these three principles. This is the basis of our work as Association volunteers work to improve hobby service to NAR members the world over. Aim high. Bunny NAR High Power Certification Program Overview The NAR and Tripoli are currently revamping their high power certification programs to provide a good balance between demonstrations of the requisite modeling knowledge and certification program complexity. One desire is to maintain, where possible, interoperability between the programs where NAR and Tripoli certifications are mutually accepted by each organization. The revised NAR certification program is planned to be implemented in April, 1996 after the National Sport Launch. Changes to the NAR program include a reduction in the number of certification levels (4 to 3), incorporation of NFPA 1127 requirements (e.g. age 18 minimum, US. citizen, and no felony convictions), and instant on-site certification. Certification is still performed by any two NAR members, however, one of these members must be certified to the same level as the certification level attempted. A checklist is included with the certification documentation to standardize the physical examination of the certification model. You will note that a written examination is part of the "complex" and "J"/"K" certification process. The test will consist of 20 multiple choice questions; the passing grade is 80%. The majority of the questions will concern regulations applicable to high power models. Referenced documents include NFPA 1127, FAR 101, and the NAR High Power Safety Code. The remaining questions will be basic "rocket science" questions such as CP and CG relationships and motor designations. The test question pool will be published in a NAR publication with questions, answers, and references to allow test preparation. There are logical reasons for the breakdown of certification classes. Models in the "H"/"I" class tend to use 38mm motors with a maximum average thrust not over 400 Newtons. Airframes tend to be less than 4 inches in diameter and model kits are typically designed for either motor class (overlaps and exceptions are acknowledged but these generalizations are typically correct). Following the same logic the models in the "J"/"K" class tend to use 54mm motors with a maximum average thrust in the 1100 Newton range. Airframes tend to be less than 7.5 but greater than 4 inches in diameter and are also designed for motors in either the "J" or "K" classes. The NAR will differ from Tripoli by creating a "complex" certification class. Experience shows that the greatest potential for failure and the resulting safety risks are with staged or clustered models. By creating a separate certification class the modeler is required to give a demonstration of his knowledge and skills in building and preparing a complex model. The greater failure potential and safety risks inherent in complex designs are thought to justify creation of this separate certification level. This program is not foolproof. A single demonstration of a modeler's skills does not guarantee consistent safe performance. This program is intended to provide a measure of the modeler's competence to avoid gross violations of good modeling practice and safe model operation. The certification program does not replace competent range personnel (Note that high power range safety officers will require high power certification per NFPA 1127) to provide assurance of safe models and operating practices. Please contact me if you would like to talk further or offer suggestions regarding this program. Copies of the high power certification program plan can be made available on request. I can be reached via telephone (Sorry, I'm not even looking for an on ramp to the "Information Superhighway") at 520-296-1689 or via the US. mail at: Stephen Lubliner 9968 E. Domenic Lane Tucson, AZ 85730 More On Compliance NAR members in California should be aware that state laws further restrict purchase and use of some HPR reloadable motors. Some of these motors require California state permits. NAR members in California can contact the State Fire Marshall's office for details on state regulations for these motors. Mark B. Bundick, NAR President New Recognition Program for NAR Sections Under Development A new program to recognize outstanding sections of the National Association of Rocketry was approved by the NAR Board at NARAM-37. This new program, which has yet to be named, will recognize all NAR Sections that meet a set of criteria established by the Section Activities Committee for an outstanding rocketry club. This award level is to specifically include criteria not related to NAR sanctioned competition. Some possible criteria under discussion are: - renewal rate - growth - public interaction - newsletter - launches and launch schedule - demonstration - outreach and community involvement - educational programs NAR Sections will not be required to specifically apply for this award, but news of their activities will be a major factor in determining the winners. NAR members with suggestions or comments regarding this program should contact: Steve Decker, Chairman NAR Section Activities Committee PO Box 833 Morrisville, PA 19067 email: 72317.732@compuserve.com Judges for 1995-96 Newsletter Trophy Announced At NARAM-37, the NAR Board of Trustees formally established a committee consisting of the NAR Editor of Sport Rocketry, the Chairman of the Section Activities Committee, and the Editor of Sport Rocketry as the judges of the Rockwell Trophy for the most outstanding NAR Section newsletter. NAR Sections wishing to have their newsletters considered for the 1995-1996 Rockwell Trophy, to be awarded in August 1996 at NARAM-38, should send copies of 1995-1996 issues to each of the three committee members: Tom Beach, NAR Editor Sport Rocketry Magazine 432 Pruitt Avenue White Rock, NM 87544 Steve Decker, Chairman NAR Section Activities Committee P. O. Box 833 Morrisville, PA 19067 Steve Weaver, Editor Sport Rocketry Magazine 1202 Mosswood Court Florence, KY 41042 NAR S&T Announces High Power and Hybrid Rocket Motor Testing Program The NAR Standards and Testing Committee is proud to announce their intention to begin testing high power rocket (HPR) motors October 3, 1995. John Cato has agreed to join NAR S&T to test HPR motors at his facility in Nicholls, Georgia. John brings a wealth of experience as former Chairman of Tripoli Motor Testing. Vern Estes has been hard at work since this winter, fabricating a new test stand based on the design currently used by S&T to testing model rocket motors. The new stand is designed to handle motors up to 54mm in diameter with peak thrusts up to 2,500 newtons and contains several provisions to minimize the effect of any motor failure during testing. Vern demonstrated the stand at NARAM 37 in Geneseo, New York. The maximum motor accepted for certification will initially be "K" (2560 newton- seconds total impulse). NAR S&T is also actively pursuing hybrid motor testing. Bob Littlefield is spearheading efforts in this area. Though there is not presently a committed date to begin formal testing of hybrid motors, S&T expects to conduct experimental firings before the end of the summer at Bob's facility in Newton, New Hampshire. Appropriate modifications to S&T testing standards and policies taking into account high power and hybrid motors testing, as well as feedback received at the April meeting in Huntsville with manufacturers and NFPA experts are now being discussed. They will be mailed out to manufacturers when completed. NAR Standards and Testing Motor Decertifications The following motors have lost their contest certification effective July 1, 1995. They remain certified for general sport flying use for three years. Aerotech/Apogee: E6-2, F10-2. Estes: E15-4, E15-6, E15-8, E15-P. The following additional motors have had their contest certification suspended, effective July 1, 1995, due to a manufacturing hiatus. Certification for contest use will be restored on November 1, 1995, assuming production resumes in October. They remain certified for general sport flying use. North Coast Rocketry (NCR): F30-4, F30-6, F30-P Jim Cook, Secretary for NAR Standards & Testing Jack Kane, Chairman Summary from NARAM-37: 1994-95 National Model Rocket Champions A Division: Champion: Mike Filler 15,828 Reserve: Troy Leveron 13,439 B Division: Champion: Shaun Smith 17,004 Reserve: Kevin J. Gormley 11,604 C Division: Champion: Chad Ring 11,797 Reserve: Mike Borman 9,952 Team Division: Champion: Thrust You Can Trust 11,165 Reserve: Guns 'n' Rockets 10,392 NAR Sections: Launch Crue (Indiana) 85,176 NOVAAR (Virginia) 84,556 1995 National Association of Rocketry Service Award Recipients Rockwell Newsletter Trophy: CRASH Landings, from the CRASH NAR Section of Colorado Howard Galloway Spacemodeling Service Award: Michael Platt, for outstanding work in clarifying BATF and DOT regulations on consumer rocketry. NAR President's Award: NAR Comptroller Stewart McNabb, for his efforts in managing NAR finances. News from the NAR Contest and Records Committee New Chairman: The NAR Board of Trustees has appointed Tom Lyon of the NARHAMS Section as the Chairman of the NAR Contest Board. Tom can be reached at: PO Box 1746 Prince Frederick, MD 20678 or by email at 74640.407@compuserve.com. Please send your suggestions for improvement in NAR competition to Tom for consideration. The Contest Board has announced that, effective immediately, the $5.00 per year registration fee for competition teams has been eliminated. All that is necessary is to file the form with CB Chairman Tom Lyon; the new form is contained in the appendices of the recently issued 1995 US Model Rocket Sporting Code ("Pink Book.") In addition, any NAR Section wishing to hold a Local or Section meet prior to 12/31/95 may do so without the usual $5.00 sanction fee. Just file the sanction form with your Regional Contest Board Chairman and mark it "no charge." The Contest Board will be checking to see that nobody gets more than one free meet! Rules Change -- Final Disposition: Rules Change Proposal 500230-01, which would have added a new rule requiring contest directors to insure that all flights met with all applicable local, state, and federal laws, passed the 1995 Rules Change Ballot. On advice of NAR legal counsel, this rule change has been deleted and will not be implemented. 1996-97 Rules Change Proposal Cycle Beginning: In accordance with the Rules Change Procedure adopted by the NAR in February of 1990, it is once again time to solicit proposals for changes to the US Model Rocket Sporting Code. The Rules Revision Subcommittee solicits your input for proposed changes to the NAR's competition rules. There are two basic types of proposals: REGULAR proposals may be filed by any NAR member. If adopted, the new rules go into effect with the next edition of the Pink Book. SAFETY, EMERGENCY, URGENT, or INTERPRETATION proposals may also be filed by any NAR member. Because of the long time period to enact a Regular rules change, this alternate path is provided to enact changes quickly when the situation dictates. The Rules Revision committee will determine which of the subcategories a particular proposal falls into. SAFETY or EMERGENCY proposals will normally involve potential loss of life, health, or property. The intent of such proposals will be to quickly modify or enhance existing rules to create a safer flying environment. This level of proposal may be enacted immediately with concurrence of the Contest Board Chairman, Rules Revision Chairman, and NAR President, and will be published in the next available official Association publication. (Sport Rocketry or Model Rocketeer). URGENT proposals constitute actual changes in the rules, of sufficient importance to justify quick action, but not related to safety. Adequate justification must be provided for the need for Urgent changes. INTERPRETATION proposals will not alter existing rules, but provide information designed to clarify them. How to file a rules change proposal: An RCP consists of four major parts: - A brief summary of the rules change proposed. - The logic and intent of the proposed change. - The effects, if any, on NAR competition and/or NAR records. - The exact wording for the rules revision as it should appear in the Pink Book. REGULAR Rules Change Proposals should be submitted to the Subcommittee by 11/30/95 in order to be considered in the coming cycle. URGENT/EMERGENCY RCP's may be submitted at any time. The filing fee for Rules Change Proposals is $1.00. Rules Change Proposal forms, and the complete text of the Rules Change Procedure, may be obtained from the NAR Rules Revision Subcommittee Chairman: Jay Marsh 3227 Pine Needles Road High Point, NC 27265 A Reminder About Your NAR Insurance Your individual NAR insurance runs from January 1 to December 31 of each year. The time is quickly approaching for insurance renewals to be sent to NAR Headquarters, regardless of when your membership renewal comes due. Watch the Model Rocketeer for information on 1996 insurance premiums. NAR Administrative Directory as of August 15, 1995 TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS Arthur H. (Trip) Barber III, Vice President 9306 Brian Run Lane Springfield, VA 22153 703-866-4710 Executive Committee NARAM Committee Mark B. Bundick, President 1350 Lilac Lane Carol Stream, IL 60188-3369 708-293-9343 Executive Committee Vern Estes 225 Main Street Canon City, CO 81212-6799 Work Phone: 719-275-3306 Special Committee on Academic Memorial Awards George Gassaway, Secretary 1600 Oxmoor Road Homewood, AL 35209 Home Phone: 205-879-3649 Jack Kane, Treasurer 23 Bungay Road Mansfield, MA 02048 Home Phone: 508-339-6439 Standards and Testing Committee Mark Johnson 3532 South 154th Street Wichita, KS 67232-9425 316-733-4804 76670.1775@compuserve.com Editor, Model Rocketeer Ed LaCroix 19828 North 43rd Drive Glendale, AZ 85308 Home Phone: 602-780-8911 J. Pat Miller 2518 Ridgecrest Garland, TX 75041 214-278-9865 Executive Committee Joint Manufacturers Association Council NAR NFPA Representative Special Committee on Academic Memorial Awards Marie Stumpe, Manager NAR Headquarters P. O. Box 177 Altoona, WI 54720 Work Phone: 715-832-1946 Member Service Line: 800-262-4872 NAR VOLUNTEERS Tom Beach, NAR Editor Sport Rocketry Magazine 432 Pruitt Avenue White Rock, NM 87544 CIS: 71540.722@compuserve.com C. James Cook, S&T Secretary 9 Oakhurst Road Hopkinton, MA 01748 508-435-2292 Internet: JimCook@AOL.COM Steve Decker, Chairman NAR Section Activities Committee P. O. Box 833 Morrisville, PA 19067 CIS: 72317.732@compuserve.com Steve Lubliner, Chairman NAR Sport Services Committee 9968 East Domenic Lane Tucson, AZ 85730 602-296-1689 Tom Lyon, Chairman NAR Contest and Records Committee P. O. Box 1746 Prince Frederick, MD 20678 301-855-9457 CIS: 74640.407@compuserve.com Stewart G. McNabb, Comptroller 1690 Timberline Drive Garfield, AR 72732 501-359-3990 Jonathan Rains, Chairman Membership Committee 2108 Spencer Rd. Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-589-7562 CIS: 72613,1030@compuserve.com Internet: jrains@bna.com Chad Ring, NARAM 38 Manager RR1, Box 7 Holland, IN 47541 812-536-5291 William J. Spadafora, Chairman NAR Technical Services 5 Granby Street Saugus, MA 01906 617-233-0339 Craig Spomer, NAR Counsel 1610 SW. Topeka Boulevard Topeka, KS 66612 Greg Warren, Chairman NAR Education Committee P.O. Box 1934 Huntsville, AL 35807 205-232-0830 Steve Weaver, Editor Sport Rocketry Magazine 1202 Mosswood Court Florence, KY 41042 800-352-8611 NAR Standards and Testing: Discussion of Motor Decertification Policy Several people have asked why NAR Standards and Testing decertifies motors. It's a fair question. I think that everyone would agree some policy should be in place. You are never going to get everyone to agree on what it should be. The minute someone comes up with a decertified motor he/she wants to fly, that's the time you will hear the policy is unreasonable. So what is a good policy? What NAR S&T did was to use the combined experiences of many with a dose of reality. We have a policy that says a motor is decertified three years from a significant event such as the cessation of manufacture, failure to submit for triennial retesting, or dissolution of the manufacturer. It was a reasonable compromise. The data points that went into this policy include: 1. If a company is no longer in business, there is no one to take legal responsibility for failures of either the motor or accidents involving that motor. 2. If a company is still in business, it really is up to the manufacturer whether certification is dropped. The manufacturer may still submit a discontinued motor for triennial recertification, even if they have to go out and buy motors to submit. If you are dismayed at certification being dropped, why not call the manufacturer to express your dismay or dissatisfaction? As a matter of practicality, companies that are still in business are not very interested in taking responsibility for discontinued products. There are exceptions like the ability to obtain parts for a Chevy discontinued three years ago. They are going to stare at you if you go down to your local K-Mart to ask for parts for a radio discontinued three years ago and was most likely made in Japan. 3. Motors do change over time. We all know that if you heat cycle, cold cycle, physically shock (drop or bang around in your range box), or store a motor in humid conditions, it is likely to fail. Yes, you can take precautions to prevent this, but you and I are less than 1% of the rocket population out there. The proportion goes down another order of magnitude when you start talking about a time span of YEARS. Old motors therefore become a safety issue. We do have some test data that says some motors do change over time. We have seen changes in both total impulse and ejection delay duration. This is going to affect the safety of any rocket flight, no matter how well the motor was stored. 4. DOT certification is not forever Manufacturers do have to periodically reapply for DOT classification and certification. These things do not last forever, even if the regulations do not change. Someone did mention grandfathering provisions when rules change, but these last even shorter periods of time. All the manufacturers have had to recertify their motors when DOT rules changed to follow new UN classifications. DOT codes are irrelevant here, anyway. You can get any motor, NAR certified or not, classified by the DOT. Manufacturers do it all the time--they have to show us the DOT paperwork before they submit the motor to us to be certified in the first place. 5. Why three years? We retest all motors triennially (every three years). If our policy were to expire certifications after ten years, why should manufacturers bother to submit for triennial retesting? The motor would still be good for ten years. Granted, that six year old SMI motor is now expired, but you can fly that twenty year old Estes A8-3. As I said at the top, there is a dose of reality here. No one is set to deal with expiration dates as one does with a can of soup. When Estes printed a date of manufacture on their motors, some folks sent them back, figuring it was an expiration date (hence why Estes went to codes). 6. Legal realities There are some legal realities involved with #1, #2, and #3 above if there was a failure or accident. Our nation graduates more lawyers in one year than Japan has all together. You don't think all those lawyers out there are all working on new and better ways to protect your right to free speech, do you? As I said above, the policy was a compromise based on experience, test data, and reality. Note that while some might want to claim it as overly restrictive, we have received advice by some high priced NFPA and legal consultants that we may be exposing ourselves by how liberal we are. We made intelligent choices and apply them to everyone as evenly as possible. Regards, Jim Cook, Secretary, NAR Standards & Testing Jack Kane, Chairman