NC Rocketry

Rocket people,

I have spoken with the landowner and decided to hold the September launch under some rather strict safety rules, which we can relax (or tighten up) as we gain experience with CoViD-era rocket launches:

• Masks or face covering? of some sort will be worn at all times near the club trailer, RSO tables, LCO table, and the pads.? You can take them off at your vehicle or out in the field recovering rockets.? I will have a few extra with me, but when they are gone, if you show up bare-faced you will be sent home.
• Park a little farther away from other vehicles than you? usually do, the extra walking is good for you!
• Bring your own pen or pencil for signing in.
• Contact-tracing information will be collected at the field.?? If you are fairly certain that you will be attending, send me your name, home town, and telephone number by return email to save time.
• If you feel sick, stay home!

The next items are strong suggestions:

• There will be no soap and running water supplied at the field, so bring your own hand sanitizer or disinfectant.? Jim Livingston came up with a great idea that I will be adopting.?? Get a package of baby-wipes that has been opened, or buy a new one and leave it open overnight.? Then pour in isopropyl alcohol until the wipes are soaked, and close it back up.? When I was working with the original SARS-1 in the lab, we could buy any space-age disinfectant we wanted, but we all used isopropyl alcohol because it was most effective on coronaviruses.
• At least for September, there will be no porta-potty.
• Please don?t bring visitors or children too young to be expected to comply with the safety rules.
• We are going to try a ?flight-cardless? method for listing rocket flights.?? The RSO or LCO will have a clipboard on which he or she will record flyer name, rocket name, motor information, and, if it?s a high-power flight, the cert level of the flyer.?? Please don?t touch that clipboard unless you are actually the LCO or RSO.

?We can improvise at the field and learn from our experience for the October and November launches.

?Alan Whitmore, Prefect, Tripoli East NC

I had been entertaining the notion that a one-day launch at Bayboro on March 28 would be a good way to get out of the house into a VERY unconfined space and enjoy a little rocket flying and hang out with some friends for a day (hotels and restaurants in New Bern completely shut down) but the Tripoli BOD has squashed that notion.? We will shift our attention to the last launch of the season on April 25-26, and hope that some of the universal panic will die down by then.

Alan Whitmore

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Okay, here it is:
Tripoli Rocketry Association has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation.
The White House and the CDC has recommended that all gatherings be limited to 10 people or less. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf)
In order to protect our members, their families and guests at launches, and do our part to stem the spread of the virus, the TRA board of directors have taken the following actions.
All TRA sanctioned launches, meetings, or other gatherings shall be canceled for a minimum of 15 days, starting March 18, 2020
We will continue to monitor the situation.
Please stay safe and healthy

Tripoli Board of Directors

3/8/2020

Unfortunately, we have lost the use of the Butner Beef Cattle Research Facility for our monthly summer non-waivered low power events.?? Reasons too complicated to go into, but it was not due to any damage we caused or misbehavior of our people

We need to start looking around for another low-power field in the general Research Triangle area that we can use for our summer events (May through August

It seems worth our time, because a lot of families with young children live in the Triangle area, and a 3 hour drive to Bayboro is a little too much for a lot of people.?? I know we have a lot of flyers who live east of I-95, but the bulk of the people in NC live in the center of NC, between 95 and 77.?? It will still serve the educational goals of our club if we spend a little energy looking for a place in the middle where we can fly small rockets in the summer.?? So, please keep your eyes open as you drive around your hometowns, and look for open spaces not filled with crops or buildings.?? Make contact with the owners if you can, and tell them who we are and introduce them to our club and its educational goals. ???Call or email me or Dave Morey if you get any leads.?? Thanks.

Alan Whitmore