AZ CERTIFICATION HELP

[Bsswainston]

When you say "your family has a rocket launch," that tripped an alarm bell. Do you mean that your family is getting together privately to fly some rockets or you're all going to a club launch together?

If the former, you know you need a waiver from the FAA to fly most high power rockets, right?

If the latter, never mind and don't worry about it, the club will handle that.

As for getting your hands on motors, vendors will ship immediately if you buy motors from their current stock. You only have to worry about lead times if you're pre-ordering something that your vendor doesn't currently have. Balsa Machining Service is the closest major vendor that I know of to you if you're in Arizona. Wildman and BuyRocketMotors are also great vendors if BMS doesn't have what you want on hand.

 

[Bsswainston]

It's a private thing that we do close to Christmas. My uncle takes care off all that. We just go to a dry lake bed near Nevada. Don't you need the certification to be able to order more high power motors?

 

[Antares JS]

It's a private thing that we do close to Christmas. My uncle takes care off all that. We just go to a dry lake bed near Nevada. Don't you need the certification to be able to order more high power motors?

Yes, you need a certification to order more high power motors, but I'm saying that a month is plenty of time to get more motors in if you order from a vendor's current stock, especially if you order from BMS, which is right nearby in Pahrump, NV. Also, if you're driving up to near Nevada anyway, it might even be worth crossing over to Nevada and picking up the motors directly from BMS and not paying for the hazmat shipping.

 

[Bsswainston]

I see thank you for the info. That's a good Idea to pick them up. I won't rush then ,and take my time. Thank you
-Bradley S

 

[secretagent]

Bradley - happy to help. I’m in NW Phoenix but fly with both SARA and SSS. DM me if you’d like.

 

[Bsswainston]

Bradley - happy to help. I’m in NW Phoenix but fly with both SARA and SSS. DM me if you’d like.

Thank you I would really appreciate that ! Are you in a club??

 

[ClarkusAurelius]

U

I can do a NAR certification for you if you would like. I do not see a problem recovering a 2000 ft high fight as long as the wind is being reasonable. I was also disappointed that the last launch was limited, View attachment 651303as I had my 4" Polecat Jayhawk ready to fly! Hopefully I can get it into the air in July.

Beautiful! I got back into rocketry 2 years ago and had the Estes Jayhawk as a kid. I want to get another one because that would make the kid inside me very happy. I launch at the TRAPHX site and worry about the winglets. Do they do ok with landing in the hard soil? The soil is so hard I seem to have some sort of damage with my all my other rockets upon landin. Do you upsize your parachute? Something else. Or maybe it’s just not an issue where you launch? Never been to the the SARA site or any others besides where TRAPHX launches so not sure if the soil is softer?

 

[terryg]

U

Beautiful! I got back into rocketry 2 years ago and had the Estes Jayhawk as a kid. I want to get another one because that would make the kid inside me very happy. I launch at the TRAPHX site and worry about the winglets. Do they do ok with landing in the hard soil? The soil is so hard I seem to have some sort of damage with my all my other rockets upon landin. Do you upsize your parachute? Something else. Or maybe it’s just not an issue where you launch? Never been to the the SARA site or any others besides where TRAPHX launches so not sure if the soil is softer?

Nope, same hard desert soil as in most areas of the southwest. I plan to use as large a chute as I can for a nice slow decent to try to protect the fins. The polecat version is fairly strong so I am hopeful that will be enough to protect it.

 

[terryg]

The bigger 5.5 inch version came as a rather cramped dual deploy design. It was known for getting the fins tangled in the laundry when it was launched, so I built it a single deploy in order to use an oversized chute to bring it down nice and slow and a long enough shock cord to give a smooth deployment.

 

[MClark]

In most of Arizona the dirt is hard as rock.
The rest really is rock.

 

[SkyFire]

Nice looking rocket!
A JLCR is well worth the cost. You will be glad you got one.
After losing my Airstrike 354 at SARA I got a Featherweight GPS tracker. So glad I did!
(The rocket was found 9 months later in the desert. Still in great shape!)

 

[bchaltraw]

The SARA launch this past weekend was low-mid power only, due to the heat, and lack of leadership support. There were a few 'G' flights, but mostly Estes stuff.

I would try the superstition spacemodeling society outside of Phoenix, but I think most of the AZ launches are on hold, or very light attendance during the hot summer months.

Also, the recovery field at the SARA site is very limited, so if you have a small carbon bird, there is a good chance you'd lose it. My son lost his E powered rocket there last year

I fly with the SSS 506 Group. We have a lot of people that are very active, but we do not launch in the summer... If you ever had to do a 2-mile hike in 110 heat to find a rocket, you would understand it's just not feasible to do launches in the desert this time of year. In one of my last L3 Launches, I had to trek 2.5 miles to retrieve a 70lbs 12" tall rocket, which would have been next to impossible in this heat. If you absolutely have to launch this summer, there are groups launching in Cali, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah who don't have our amazing winter weather and cannot launch in the winter.

We also have AMWProX here in Phoenix, Robert is based in North Phoenix and has a full stock from A-O.

Also, unless your family launch has filed for a waiver with the FAA, you are looking at huge fines if you fly high-power and don't do the paperwork. One Cessna flies in the area and reports it to Air Traffic Control. If you think driving out of town is expensive, you are in Federal space now. Get some Composite G's and fly without the restrictions, which is your best bet, or have the family camp out at one of the big launches and enjoy other people burning big motors. This photo was our last launch Saturday morning before people who were not camping started rolling in.