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Old 04-15-2016, 10:53 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
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Default Fuse use in EU (links)

Hello All,

While I'm not advocating the use of fuses to launch model rockets, I've noticed that it's a fairly common practice in Europe, and it doesn't seem to be condemned there. Over the years I've seen several YouTube videos of model rocket launches in Europe that used fuse ignition. In these two recent ones (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKiI5wo3br0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC9tHx7dNbA ), a space modeler (model rocketeer) in Stegersbach, Austria flew his SpaceX Falcon 9 and Fairing model with an onboard keychain video & still camera with audio. The fuse can be clearly seen and heard in the camera views. Also:

The location where he flew his model (a very large and open farm area with no buildings, vehicles, or other people nearby--I was half-expecting to see Lipizzaner horses grazing in a nearby field... :-) ) looks like a place where fuse ignition would not pose any safety problems (provided that the launch pad was stable, the conditions weren't tinder-dry, and the wind wasn't gusting very high, all three of which appear to have been the case in the above-linked videos). Model rocketry safety codes in European countries do prescribe electrical ignition (and it is used in contests and other group launches there), yet using fuses instead doesn't appear to call down condemnation on people who use them when flying model rockets alone, or with family and/or friends. In addition:

To me, this is a perfectly sensible, non-uptight attitude that makes the hobby more enjoyable, without increasing the risks. I would not criticize any model rocketeer who kept a roll of green cannon fuse in his or her range box, for use in non-club flying sessions (provided that the conditions I listed above--and which appeared to be in place in the above-linked videos--were satisfied) if his/her launch controller became faulty or damaged (or its batteries died), or if s/he ran out of extra igniters. Over the years such things have happened to me a few times, and on the private land where I flew models either alone or with family (in northern Georgia and Alaska--I wouldn't have contravened the safety code at Tamiami Park, a public park where I flew rockets in Miami), I would have used fuses if I had brought any along with me, because I never flew in conditions in which fuses would have been any less safe than electrical ignition.
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