LDRS XIX
Tripoli Pittsburgh Rocketeers Show Their Stuff
By Ken Good

As the Tripoli Pittsburgh Prefecture continues to surge in size and capability, a contingent of Pittsburgh members traveled to LDRS XIX (Orangeburg, SC, July 1-4, 2000) to fly their rockets at the national event. Members who attended the event included Pittsburgh Secretary/Treasurer Francis G. Graham, Dave, Chris, and Kathy Rose, Kreig Williams (now also Prefect of Tripoli Mid-Ohio), and Ken Good, Pittsburgh Prefect and TRA Secretary. In addition to flying rockets, the annual members' meeting and Board of Directors (BOD) meeting were items of key interest to us. The following is a synopsis of the Pittsburgh member rocketry activities, followed by some pertinent TRA BOD matters:

In the words of Elvis Costello, "It's been a good year for the Roses "

The Rose family, Dave, Kathy, and Chris attended their first LDRS this year, and brought along some of their well-built and exquisitely finished rockets. The Roses really had a good time, and the vendors were happy they attended too. :-) Dave's beautiful Rocket Boy kit, finished in the "Miss Riley" colors/logo as shown in "October Sky," was a real eye-catcher, and had many people photographing and video taping it. This included Ky Michelson, who was very impressed with how Dave had built one of his kits - Ky taped a brief interview with Dave. Hey Dave, maybe Ky will toss in some freebies! Of course, Dave does not miss and opportunity to fly at least one short and stubby rocket - his Fat Boy therefore took to the air, with his AAMRAM representing the more slender end of the spectrum. And Dave's flights were most impressive - all functioning flawlessly. The last flight I witnessed at LDRS was Chris's very nice Sandhawk, which flew perfectly. And hats off to Kathy, who braved the South Carolina heat, humidity, and bugs to accompany and support Dave and Chris. It should be mentioned that offsetting Dave and Chris's support of the LDRS vendors was the fact that they were extraordinarily lucky at the members' dinner raffle, winning a number of prizes, including a Missile Works altimeter.

Dave Rose with his beloved "stubbie" FAT BOY		Lift off of Dave's MISS RILEY from 'October Sky"		Chris Rose mounts his SANDHAWK		G-80 powered SANDHAWK heads skyward

Kreig Williams impresses at LDRS XIX

The first big flight the Roses, Francis, and I witnessed at LDRS was the launch of Kreig's "My New Rocket" in two-stage configuration, an L motor staging to a J. As we have come to expect from Kreig, it was a stunning and flawless flight, which had the announcer and spectators very impressed - a textbook example of how to stage very high power rockets. Way to go, Kreig! Of course, Kreig had other flights which were equally as successful. Kreig also assisted me on some technical matters with my "Merlin" and helped me recover it too. Kreig is now Prefect of Tripoli Mid-Ohio, and will be present at our next Dragon's Fire launch. He is a fine rocketeer and a true gentleman.

Kreig's MY NEW ROCKET shown at Dragon's Fire 15 with the booster under construction. For LDRS it was done and worked flawlessly!

Ken Good's "Merlin 2K" flies at LDRS XIX

It always helps to take drills and Dremels along, since engineering in motel rooms is a time-honored LDRS tradition. True to this practice, the Merlin was subjected to some last minute holes and grinding, and also underwent a couple of static tests at the field (one of them was semi-unintentional), prior to its flight on July 4 on a K-550, with a Transolve P6 altimeter/deployment board. For some reason, I have this habit of putting myself under some pressure - the completely new "Merlin 2K" had never been flown before, the Transolve P6 was a new and untried component, it was my first K-motor, and as I walked up to the flight line, Chuck Rogers remarked, "Hey, a Board member who is really flying a rocket!" So Chuck and Bruce Kelly both came up to see how it worked. I guess this is where you show that you really know and apply all that safe rocketry stuff you preach to everyone. I was very pleased when the rocket flew perfectly, and recovered just as planned. There was a bit of trauma when the rocket accelerated upward through the haze that was present at about 3K feet and couldn't be spotted for what seemed like an eternity.

Ken Good preps the booster section of his MERLIN. Francis Graham provides supervisory consultation.		MERLIN lift off despite what Francis said!

Finally, Kreig Williams spotted it coming in on its drogue, the main popping out at 400 feet. When we recovered it, the computer was beeping out an apogee of 6,600 feet, which was about 1K more than I had presumed it would go. Lesson learned - if you are using wRASP, don't use the default Cd of 0.600 for a rocket possessing decent aerodynamics. Chris Rose later investigated my flight profile and determined that a Cd of about 0.450 was probably more realistic. I'll be adjusting some of my sims going forward.

TRA Board and Members' Meeting Items:

Francis Glen Graham is made a life member of Tripoli!

Tom Blazanin had communicated a recommendation to the Tripoli Board of Directors that Francis, in recognition of his key role in founding Tripoli and keeping it alive during a number of organizational crises, should be made a life member of TRA. During the closed executive BOD session of June 30, TRA President Bruce Kelly made the motion to name Francis a life member. The motion was seconded by Ken Good, and was unanimously passed by the Board. Francis was officially presented with this honor during the members' meeting of July 2, with words of appreciation being spoken by Bruce Kelly and Ken Good. Francis accepted and made a short inspirational speech, in which he mentioned one of Tripoli's great strengths - that there are no caps or limits to Tripolitans, and that we can be the organization which champions the direction of civilians accessing space. Congratulations to the good Professor - an honor Richly deserved!

TRA to purchase its first launch site.

Although the location cannot be disclosed at this time, TRA plans to purchase a parcel of land to use as its first wholly owned launch site. Ultimately, the TRA BOD will investigate other suitable sites in other parts of the country to allow reasonable access to regional flyers, and as possible host sites for LDRS.

LDRS XX to be held at Lucerne.

Two bids were received for LDRS XX; during the executive BOD session on 6/30/00, Lucerne was awarded the bid. Tentative scheduling is for the third week of July 2001.

BOD election results.

TRA Vice President Scott Bartel had determined not to run for BOD re-election, so at the very minimum, there would be at least one new director. The election results showed both Chuck Rogers and Robin Meredith being re-elected, with Ken Biba receiving sufficient votes to take the vacant seat. Bruce Kelly received the majority of popular votes for TRA President, and was nominated and approved by the BOD to serve again as President. Dick Embry was nominated and approved as the new Vice President. Ken Good was again nominated and approved as Secretary, and Bruce Lee was again nominated and approved as Treasurer.

TRA BOD approves new H and I hybrids for L-1 certifications.

After some discussion over possible concerns, the Board could really not put our finger on a truly tangible danger or downside of approving hybrids for L-1 certs. In the end, we concluded that few would probably actually try a hybrid for L-1, since it probably introduces another level of complication for what everyone wants to be a completely flawless flight. But if a person really wants to use a TRA-certified hybrid for L-1 certification (and it's permissible to do so for L-2), there seemed to be no reason we should stand in their way.

"Manufacturer's (motor) demos" prohibited at all sanctioned TRA events,
except for experimental launches.

This was done because of blatant abuse by some manufacturers, at least one of whom had been doing demos on a certain fuel for about three years, and never having such motors certified or available for general sale. However, this manufacturer was sidestepping part of the existing provision, which states that the manufacturer must be the actual flyer, because there's also a clause which permits the manufacturer to have "his agent" conduct the flight. It further appeared that these demo motors were in many cases being sold to the manufacturer's "agent" - probably individuals known to the manufacturer - who would then fly their rockets as "demos." In effect, this ended up being a circuitous way of distributing a number of uncertified motors and having them fly at a normal sanctioned launch. The BOD therefore felt that the manufacturer's demo policy (just restated in the most recent Tripoli Report) should be modified such that these activities could only be conducted at experimental launches. Of course, since this resolution was passed at the opening of this LDRS, the resolution would take effect immediately after this event. Incidentally, the new "Pro 38" motors were properly certified before they were "demo'ed" at LDRS. And yours truly was the certifying Prefect/BOD member for the very first flyer (a Tripoli SC member) to certify L-2 on a Pro 38 J motor.

Chris Pearson recognized at the members' meeting/dinner.

Chris Pearson, the creator of the "LDRS" concept (and North Coast Rocketry), attended LDRS XIX and flew a number of hybrid-powered rockets. During the members' meeting, Bruce Kelly recognized Chris for his key contributions to Tripoli. Chris was probably also one of the few participants present who actually had attended LDRS I (the only other one I was aware of being present was me!). BTW - for you old timers reading this, I spent some time talking to Chris and Ron Schultz (LOC), both of whom I hadn't seen for some years. It was great to talk about old times and realize that these guys are pretty much the same decent people I remembered them to be.

Chris Pearson, originator of LDRS, stands with his fiberglass hybrid powered creation.

All told it was a very fine LDRS event - the Super Sod launch site was very user-friendly, being quite large (by the standards of the East), flat, open, and soft. The heat and the pesky gnats were challenging, but hey, that's part of the deal, right? The Tripoli SC folks were friendly, and clearly put a great deal of effort into the event. Flight lines tended to be a bit long on Saturday and Sunday, but flying conditions were generally close to ideal, with mostly clear skies and light winds. Apparently, Tripoli SC uses this site for monthly launches, and I would highly recommend any Tripoli flyers that are traveling to the area to seek out one of their launches. It's got room we would kill for here in western PA!

Here's a few interesting extras from LDRS

A super scale ALPHA that looked good and flew great		Marvin the Martian's preferred vehicle		Chris Rose next to an enormous AAMRAM

Derek Deville's FREEDOM PHITER flew on the Fourth of July on an M motor		Bruce Lee's BOMBPOP giant flew successfully on two M Class motors.