06-05-2011, 09:34 PM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Originally Posted by Bill
Totally not true. At least one member of the NAR board is an avid EXer.
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That is good to know. However, having a few EXers or pro-EXers on the NAR board can't change the organization's official policy toward making motors if their views are minority views.
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Originally Posted by Bill
If NAR sanctioned the making of sugar motors, then those can be flown at NAR club launches and may become more popular. Also, said teacher, scout or 4-H leader may have an easier time getting a place to fly with NAR landowner insurance available.
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Agreed.
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Originally Posted by Bill
NAR currently has a volunteer problem. They do not have enough people to do all they would like to do, so they are leaving alone those things they do not feel are essential or one of the current volunteers has a personal interest. EXers within NAR so far are happy to do it with TRA sanction. Hence my thought that if someone interested in a NAR sanction for making sugar motors would do the thorough legwork needed to make it happen, the odds of getting it are significantly better than the current zero.
Bill
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Also agreed, but for health, stamina, and financial reasons, I am not the one to do this. My thoughts regarding sugar rocket building & flying projects were along the lines of what the Girl Scouts are doing here in Fairbanks with regard to rifle competitions:
The Boy Scouts have a rifle marksmanship merit badge program, and our local Girl Scouts also wanted to be able to earn marksmanship badges, but the national Girl Scouts organization doesn't have such a merit badge program for political reasons. The local Girl Scout outpost got together with a local firearms safety instructor who also teaches a concealed-carry handgun course, and they formulated an unofficial (as far as the national Girl Scouts organization is concerned) Girl Scouts rifle marksmanship merit badge program.
A sugar rocket building & flying youth program for Scouts, 4-H Clubs, and schools could be handled similarly outside of the NAR. I know (as Doug Sams posted above) that making composite propellant motors is also an option--in fact, I've read about a motor-making school called "Rocket Ranch" where the students make their own composite motors (I believe the article was in "Air & Space Smithsonian" magazine). Making composite motors is likely more appropriate for older (Explorer or Eagle) Scouts, while younger Scouts could safely (and cheaply) make sugar propellant motors, particularly the mini motor-size ones in "The Incredible Five Cent Sugar Rocket" pamphlet. |