The Range Head

Once we get confirmation from NAR that the contest is sanctioned, we'll post it on our web site. The rain date will be our January launch 1/17 (LARPD doesn't let us make fast changes, unfortunately). The Contest Director is BAYNAR prez Dan Davis so if you have questions, you can contact him at

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

I have an informal list of email addresses of club members that covers about half of the active members. I use it to send out notices and updates of events and find it very handy to get in touch with most of the members should there be some last minute change of plan (sort of like an old style telephone tree, except that everyone is guaranteed to get the same message and all at the same time). I know that many of you have already read a lot of what's in this column because I was able to send it out that way early to those on the list.

If you have an e-mail address and aren't on my list (you'd know if you were!) but would like to be, drop me a note at

and I'll be happy to add you. The list is kept confidential and I only use it to keep in touch with the membership. (Ed: Also see article later in this issue on the electronic notification list for the newsletter.)

MEETINGS

At the October membership meeting, we discussed our schedule for the first part of 1998. The good news is that we are going to start periodic meetings again, but only every other month. The purpose of these meetings will be education and our new Education Chairman, Andrew Pohlman, has set up an exciting agenda of programs that should appeal to both beginners and advanced hobbyists. I also plan to hold some drawings for free kits for the younger set (the "youth" and "junior" members) as a blatant attempt to get some kids into the meeting. The planned meeting dates for the first half of the year are January 15, March 19 and May 21. For more info, look for Andrew's article elsewhere in this issue.

ELECTIONS

The Bylaws state that we have to have an election and that notice has to be given in advance. We'll hold the election for club board members at the January meeting. Until then, nominations are open for all five board positions. I'm willing to serve again (if you'll have me!) but I haven't yet asked the other board members.

PAD ASSIGNMENT PROCEDURES

In the last issue, Warren Massey did a great job of explaining the confusing subject of how we assign pads and why, if it's busy, it seems like you have to stand in line twice. In that article he gave several options and asked people to vote. Warren won't say how many (or more likely, how few!) people voted, but it was a landslide for continuing the two line system.

(Ed: For a written description of our launch procedure consult

wherein this and other SOPs - standard operating procedures - for LUNAR are documented.)

HARRY STINE

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Photo 1. Harry Stine (right) with Jack Hagerty at NARAM 39.

It's my sad duty to tell you that Harry Stine died suddenly on Sunday, November 2nd of an apparent heart attack. He was 69. Those of you who are new to the hobby may not recognize the name, but Harry was the founder of both our hobby and the NAR. As a young engineer, Harry worked at White Sands during the 1950s on projects like Aerobee and Viking during the day and wrote science fiction (under the pen name "Lee Correy") during the evenings. Towards the end of the '50s he became alarmed at the number of kids who were maiming and killing themselves trying to build rockets out of pipes and match heads so set out to develop something safer.

He got together with Orville Carlisle, a pyrotechnic hobbyist who had developed a paper cased, black powder rocket motor with a ceramic nozzle, time delay charge and ejection charge at the top. In other words, exactly the motor we still use today for 80% (or more) of all hobby rocket flights. They started a company, Model Missiles, Inc., in 1957 and along with it, a hobby organization called the Model Missile Association which was patterned after the AMA of the model airplane hobby. Thinking this had the appearance of conflict of interest, they soon changed the name of the latter to the National Association of Rocketry. Orville (who passed away some years ago) took NAR #1 and Harry NAR #2.

In addition to his model rocket activities, Harry was a tireless promoter of inexpensive access to space. He wrote books, articles and served on national committees to further that goal. One of his last books, "Halfway to Anywhere" (which takes its title from a Robert Heinlein quote "Reach low earth orbit and you're halfway to anywhere") is just coming out in a revised paperback edition. He is the father of Bill Stine, president of Quest Aerospace, the biggest supplier of rocket kits and motors after Estes.

I had the privilege of meeting Harry twice, in 1994 at NARAM 36 (Houston) and again last July at NARAM 39 (Tucson). This second time I invited him up to my room where we chatted at some length about the book I'm writing on fictional rocket designs. He was very enthusiastic and offered to let me use his "Lee Correy" designs in the book. We had corresponded a few times since then by e-mail (setting up a license agreement, etc.) but hadn't yet finalized anything. I hope I can still work something out with the executors of his estate as that will at least let me dedicate the book to him.

A fund has been set up in his memory. Those interested in contributing may send checks to:

Let's move on to something less sad, but still serious.

NIGHT LAUNCH AND SAFETY

We had our second night launch in October, and it was a bigger hit that the first one! The turnout was phenomenal (one member said the parking lot was three rows deep!) and things seemed a bit better organized.

There was, however, one incident of a pair of back-to-back volley launches at the end of dusk which had some unsafe prangs. At a normal launch these would not be so serious as the crowd would have been smaller and the rockets much more visible. As it was, the prangs were quite frightening and potentially hazardous, especially to the unexperienced spectators.

Two different members wrote me concerning this incident. I thank them for their concern and thought I ought to share my response with the rest of you, since if two people took the time to write, there are many more who were thinking the same thing.

I'm sure you realize that safety is our prime concern for this hobby. The volley launches right at dusk were a bad call on my part as an attempt to clear out the non-lighted rockets before it got totally dark. At about ten minutes before sunset, I had stopped the RSO from accepting any more models that were not equipped for night flying. I figured that we had at least half an hour of acceptable daylight left. Unfortunately, the LCO at the time had never operated in "pressure mode" and despite several attempts to speed things up, the line dragged on over 45 minutes and we still had about 15 non-lighted models.

I didn't want the folks who had been waiting the better part of an hour to loose their chance to fly, so I gave them the choice to either all fly at once or not fly at all (we have flown "full up" 12 pad volleys in the past, and they have always worked well or I never would have allowed at that night in the first place). I asked this over the PA system so that everyone (not just those in line) could hear me. I should have made it a stronger "heads up" conditional launch, but in any case, it is the responsibility of spectators as well as participants to listen and pay heed to all range announcements.

The second volley fire was a rack of six which was delayed about five minutes. It actually had only three non-lighted rockets, the others had small lights in the nose cones. As the members who wrote me pointed out, though, it was already too dark at that point and in retrospect, I shouldn't have allowed it. The delay was caused by the time it took to replace the fuse in the controller (this was our first 12-up launch with the new controller panel and it blew the fuse!).

And finally, a note on responsibility. One of the members who wrote me did so because it was his family that was nearly hit by one of the prangs. When the owner of the model collected the remains, he was quite cavalier about it saying that it was the fault of whoever pushed the button (it was the LCO in this case), not him. Well, here's my take on that sort of attitude. If you place a rocket on the pad it's yours. You built it, you prepped it, you hooked up the ignitor and set the launch angle. To say that not pushing the button absolves you of the consequences of your rocket's flight won't cut it. As the organization holding the launch, the club has a responsibility to safeguard the general public which we execute by doing a safety inspection on every rocket, and carrying a million dollar insurance policy with NAR against personal injury and property damage (which, fortunately, we've never had to use). But the individual modelers carry an equal (if only moral) responsibility for their actions. I don't buy into the current attitude that you can always find someone else to blame. Actions have consequences. If you screw up, you take the heat. I, as president, screwed up on this one and took some (deserved) heat over it. We're all out here to have a good time and learn things, but let's do it in a responsible manner.

Information date: November 25, 1997 lk