Level 1 cert. attempt

[steve]

I have just finished building the rocket I hope to use for my level 1 high power certification. It is a LOC percision Hi-Tech and it will fly on motors from f to H size (Although some people have put I's in it) First flight will be on an Aerotech F25-4w in about two weeks. I have no Idea when the cert flight might happen, perhaps in another month? It has a 38mm motor mount which requires an adaptor for the 29mm motors I will be using initially. since I am too cheep to buy an adaptor, I made one out of aluminium instead. It is a lot lighter then it looks and way nicer then it needs to be. I'll post video of the flight when it happens!

[Greg O'Bryant]

Not bad how high do you expet it to go?

[Zippiot]

i cant find a clear answer to this, u said lvl 1 high powered, does that mean you have already completed the other 3 lvls of the basic one?

cause the requirements of the lvl 1 that i can find is like make 3 rockets, 1 streamer 1 normal and 1 2-stage...

[steve]

http://www.nar.org/hpcert/

[steve]

Not bad how high do you expet it to go?

On the F25? probably only 800 to 1000 feet
on the H, at least 3500 and possibly as high as 6000 on an I

some flights made with this model listed at the bottom of this page:
http://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/ki ... itech.html

[Zippiot]

wow...high power certs is a lot of work...

and you cant buy big engines until you are qualified, and once you pass the qualication you are only put on the "list"?

well the rocket looks sweet best of luck, i'll look into the low power certs for now

[steve]

there are no such things as low power certs- you can operate anything up to a "G" size engine without any cert at all.

[Zippiot]

one of those companies ( i swear its nar im still lookin through their site) offers certs up to lvl 3, but to pass lvl one is just build a few small rockets. and once you get to lvl 3 there are benefits like being able to buy the high powered motors...

might be a different org, ill google rocket certification...

anyways, find 2 people who are part of nar to watch, did nar give you contact numbers or do you just know people?

[MJD]

Motors up to 62.5 grams of propellant (mid-G total impulse level) are model rocket motors and loosely regulated. Larger than that are HPR motors and more tightly controlled.

The two associations that oversee high power rocketry (HPR) in the US and that offer certification programs are the National Assocation of Rocketry (NAR) and the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) at www.tripoli.org. Tripoli is far less anal than NAR [who in many ways define the term], however they do have a rigid three-tiered certification program as well. NAR resisted HPR for years, finally caving in and accepting it within their organization. There are funny stories regarding their original hatred of it, including ejecting members who also participated in HPR, members who snuck larger engines into NAR launches to cause trouble, that sort of thing.

Certification is required to purchase motors from HPR motor dealers, unless you are a legitimate organization that uses rockets in the course of business/research, in which case you still have to prove that.

If you want to fly commercial high power stuff, best get involved in a local chapter of one of the two associations. You cannot fly HPR rockets without a waiver from the FAA, so doing it privately is a PITA. Join a club, they have launch equipment and take care of FAA waivers etc. Much simpler.

[steve]

The launch today went perfectly on the f25 motor! the only problem came when the rocket landed on asphalt and scraped up my nice paint job. No real physical damage though.

I also bought an H128W-M for my Cert attempt which will probably happen at next months launch.

I'm kind of sorry I didn't try to certify today since the winds were so calm, but that's alright.

anyway, here is the video as promised-

[Zippiot]

ride of the valkyries, classic!
great video great rocket, and idea how high it got?

[steve]

acording to the computer simulation, about 1200 ft