We received confirmation from the landowner in Elsberry that, as expected, the roads and fields are snow-covered and muddy. As such, we will not be able to access the field for a launch on Saturday.

We will still plan for the following Saturday, March 7, to be the back-up date, but the long-range weather outlook does not make us optimistic that conditions will be any better by then. Please continue to watch this website and our Facebook page for further information.

Our first planned launch date of 2015 is just a few days away, and we are having our typical poor luck with weather conditions.

The club has not yet contacted the landowner about the condition of the Elsberry field. It is still very likely that it will be too muddy for us to use the site. However, part of the decision-making process is knowing how many flyers we will have if the launch does happen. So I'd like to take a quick informal poll on the following question: "given the current weather forecast, with temperatures well below freezing and moderate wind, would YOU have a rocket to fly?"

Please either reply to this post, or email me directly at danno@danno.org. Thanks!

It's a new year, and that means it's dues time again. At our January meeting, the members present voted to increase club dues from $20 to $25 per year to help build the treasury back up.

The membership forms have been updated for 2015. As before, there is one form for renewing by mail or paying in person at a club meeting or launch, and a second form for paying by PayPal. From a paperwork standpoint, it's easier for the club Secretary if you use PayPal.

Click here to renew and pay with PayPal

Click here to renew and pay by mail or in person

Thanks in advance for your continued membership. We're working to make 2015 better than ever!

At last night's monthly club meeting, we discussed high-power and park launch plans and decided on some planning dates. Rob Chapie has taken care of the FAA paperwork for our high-altitude waiver in Elsberry (thanks, Rob!) so our primary concerns will be landowner approval (i.e., scheduling times when he is not busy working his fields) and, of course, the weather.

• Our planning dates for high-power launches in Ellsberry are February 28, 2015 and March 21, 2015. We are going to try handling weather delays a little differently than in the past. If weather prevents us from holding a launch on the originally scheduled date, we will roll over once to the following Saturday. (For example - if the field is too wet to fly on February 28, that launch will be rescheduled for March 7.) If weather prevents a launch on the roll-over date, the launch will be cancelled. By keeping to this policy, we hope to reduce the amount of confusion and miscommunication we had last year, when we rolled over multiple times and flyers were frequently unsure whether the club would attempt to hold a launch or not.
• We are planning to hold model rocket launches in Buder Park as usual, but they will be held on the first Saturday of the month and begin in March, weather permitting. This does raise the possibility of a conflict between the first park launch on March 7 and the roll-over date for the first high-power launch; in the event that this happens, we will make a decision whether or not to hold both launches, or direct model rocket flyers to Ellsberry. Either way, please watch this website for announcements closer to the launch date.
• We will be collecting launch fees from all flyers. This has been done inconsistently in the past, but during our budget discussion we determined that this was a necessity to offset our equipment expenses and remain funded as an organization. We will have another discussion at the February meeting to decide how to set the fees, but we can say at this point that a) it is likely that launch fees for high-power fliers will be higher than those for model rocket fliers, as they have typically been in the past, and b) it is possible that launch fees for SLRA members will be discounted from the fees collected from non-members. If you would like to take part in the launch fee discussion, please join us at our next club meeting on February 10.

As always, the launch dates on our calendar represent our current plan and are subject to change for a wide variety of reasons. Please check this website regularly for the most current information. If you have any questions, please email me at danno@danno.org.

Two quick notes:

• Due to a scheduling conflict with a larger group, the SLRA January meeting will be held upstairs in a corner of the main Bandana’s dining area. Please enter through the front door and ask the hostess where we are being seated. As usual, reservations are set up for 6:30pm until closing. We will return to the lower level banquet room in February. Please see this post for the regular meeting announcement with all other details.
• Mike Fischer will be accepting donations of building supplies, parts and motors for the Belleville West High School TARC (Team America Rocket Challenge) team. Please see this post for their complete wish list. This is a great time to clear out that box of unused body tubes, nose cones and kit pieces, and help out a good cause at the same time.

If you have any questions on either of these items, please email me at danno@danno.org. Thanks!

SLRA is having our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, January 13th, at our meeting location: Google Map Link

NOTE: Due to a scheduling conflict with a larger group, the SLRA January meeting will be held upstairs in a corner of the main Bandanna's dining area. Please enter through the front door and ask the hostess where we are being seated. As usual, reservations are set up for 6:30pm until closing. We will return to the lower level banquet room in February.

Bandana’s Bbq Sunset Hills
11750 Gravois Road
Sunset Hills, Missouri, 63127

We are continuing to meet at Bandana’s BBQ Sunset Hills. Even though Bandana’s Sunset Hills doesn’t have a minimum food purchase, we are encouraging members to purchase something to support the use of the room. We have the room from 6:30 to 9:00 and we’ll need to leave promptly since 9 pm is the closing time.

The room will be available at 6:30 PM and the business meeting will start at about 7:00PM. We’ll need to be out of the room by 9:00 PM (closing).

If you’re a member of SLRA, the meeting minutes from previous meetings will be available here: Meeting Minutes Page. The minutes of the December 2014 meeting will be the basis of our “old business” discussion.

The standard agenda for all meetings is as follows:

1. Treasury Status.

2. Recognition of Achievements

3. Recognition of Contributions

4. Members expenses.

5. Old Business – please review minutes for last month’s meeting for topics

6. New Business

On line and paper membership forms with payments received by mail to be processed by treasurer and president.

Please comment on this post or email me at danno@danno.org if you have new business for the meeting.

As expected, Elsberry got additional rain (and possibly a little snow) and we are still unable to use the launch field. There will be no launch this weekend.

Therefore, at this point, there are no further launches scheduled for 2014. Please continue to check this site for current information about our launch activities in 2015 - and either register here, so you get direct emails with announcements, or follow our Facebook page - or both!

Unless we get both unseasonably warm and dry weather this winter and significant desire from flyers for a winter launch, the earliest we will probably start planning for a spring launch will be late February.

So stay tuned! Let us know what you're building and what you want to fly with us (again, please post to our Facebook page). Happy holidays, and we'll see you next year.

SLRA member Mike Fischer is mentoring the TARC (Team America Rocket Challenge) team at Belleville West High School. At our December meeting, Mike told us about the team's work and the club members present voted to donate $100 to the Belleville West team to help with building materials and motors. Since the meeting, Mike has passed along these words of thanks and a wish list. If any club members have any spare materials or motors applicable to the project and would like to help the team out by donating them, please bring them to the January meeting.

Merry Christmas! Many thanks to all who offered to help my TARC team. Other donations, (parts, motors, etc.), I will pick up at the next meeting.

The first prototype is all Apogee components. Payload bay 66mm (BT80), booster 41mm (BT60) with a 29mm MMT. Hard, heavy (PVC?) transition, foam egg protector and NC, 1/16 balsa fins.
One flight so far on an Econoline F. Two fins broke on the way up. Too thin, too large and grain direction incorrect. Estimated altitude too low.
They will need more motors. I have an Aerotech 29/40-120 and a Cessaroni three grain case they can use. E or F impulse.
They would do better with a 56mm (BT70) payload bay and a 24mm (BT50) booster. It I can convince them of that they will need everything. Tubes, transitions, nose cones, motors.
Not very specific, but we still don't know what motors will be used. They are simulating everything in RockSim but still need actual test flights. And the design is not finalized.
They need to make most of the decisions themselves. I answer questions and advise. Like fin grain direction and weigh each component. They were ~300gm over RockSim's estimates.
Any scrap pieces you have laying around, if not in the final rocket, will be used to hone building skills or teach. ("Here's a box of junk. Build a rocket.")

Thanks for your help.

May you all have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, (and no rain for a while) Mike Fischer

Following Tuesday's meeting and contact with the Ellsberry landowner, we have the following launch status to pass along:

• Despite the promising weather forecast for this weekend, we will NOT have a launch this weekend (December 13/14). The field and dirt roads are still too muddy from previous rain for us to bring vehicles in without damaging the roads.
• There is a small chance we could put a launch together for the following weekend (December 20/21), but only if there is no additional rain. Since the current weather forecast predicts rain on Monday, we expect that the field will continue to be inaccessible. We will check again with the landowner next week.
• Beyond that, we are on a wait-and-see basis. It is fairly likely at this point that our next launch opportunity will not be until spring.

We apologize for the poor communication surrounding the December 6th date. We discussed this problem at length at the club meeting this week and are taking steps to improve communication both among the launch planners and with the club members. As Heino mentioned in his previous post, the forums have been removed from the stlouisrocketry.com website as they were counterproductive (in short, people were asking questions on the forums, but the people who could answer those questions were not notified that the questions were there). Going forward, our primary means of receiving questions and feedback from members will be through our Facebook page. If you need a more immediate answer (for instance, information about an upcoming launch), please email me directly at danno@danno.org.