We have a few announcements to share from discussions at the meeting last Tuesday:
- September Buder Park launch - date change
- October Fly
- Boost Glider workshop at next month's meeting
First off, I apologize that the last couple of emails were sent multiple times to some of you. There's a glitch with the mailing software that we use that I'm still trying to sort out.
September Buder Park launch - date change: This weekend is the annual Radio-Control Air Show at Buder Park, so we have decided to delay our September park launch by a week to avoid interfering with their event. We are also going to try flying on Sunday to see if the park is less crowded (i.e., fewer athletic events on the athletic fields) vs. Saturdays. The scheduled date for this launch is Sunday, September 25 (weather permitting, as always) with an 8:00 am setup time. As usual, we do not have a set ending time, but will fly as long as people are there and keep bringing rockets to the pads. If you are going to arrive late (after 10:00 am), please contact Dan at (314) 630-7619 to see if the range will still be open when you get there.
We are also going to return to our prior practice of setting up the pads in the northern part of the park, due to concerns about being too close to the treeline to the south, with wind typically coming from the north. However, please keep in mind that athletic groups always have priority in the northern part of the park, as they are paying for rental of the area. If an athletic group sets up near our launch area, we will pause the launch and relocate the launch pads to the southeast or southwest corner of the field, depending on the wind direction (staying upwind of the radio control area). If that still puts us near an athletic group, we will restrict the launch to D or smaller motors per the NAR Safety Code.
October Fly: October Fly, our annual NAR Regional competition event, has been added to the calendar on October 22 and 23. The location, however, has not yet been set. We would like to hold the event at one of the large fields which MAY be available to us (Addieville IL or Elsberry MO) but we can’t confirm that availability just yet. If neither of those fields are available, the event will most likely return to Buder Park. Please check back here for details.
The event list for the competition is as follows:
- ½ A Boost Glider
- ½ A Rocket Glider
- ½ A Helicopter Duration
- ¼ A Parachute Duration
- ¼ A Superroc Altitude Altimeter
Boost Glider Workshop: At next month's club meeting (October 11), John Buckley will be leading a short workshop on the topic of boost glider construction. If you would like to participate in this hands-on activity, please refer to the attached plans and cut all of the balsa parts ahead of time to bring with you. Per John: "It would be preferable to airfoil the wings but not required. I can demonstrate that as well. Bring CA [super glue] if you have it, but I'll have some. Bring sand paper too. If they want to build a pop pod bring the parts for that too, BT5 tube, launch lug, and nose cone. I don't plan to do that but will have completed examples. If the prep work is done ahead you can build one of these pretty quickly about an hour more or less."
Click to download boost glider plans
If you have any questions about any of these announcements, please contact me at admin@stlouisrocketry.com.
Thanks,
Dan Crank
Secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association
