May 2004 Meeting Minutes (5/9/2004)
The May 2004 MASA meeting was held on the 6th at the
Science Museum.
The meeting started promptly at 7 pm to allow plenty
of time for RSO/LCO training.
It was decided to hold the May MASA launch on our regular date of
May 22. Lee Frisvold volunteered to be in charge of the launch. I
will drop off a limited amount of equipment at Lee's house before I
leave for the TARC finals. The launch will be run as mis-fire alley
style. Members are encouraged to bring their own launcher and
pad. The Tour de Deuce will proceed at the launch as planned.
The plan is to hold the launch at the VFW soccer field in Elk River.
I will call to make sure that it's okay for that date.
There will be a contest building session at the June MASA meeting
presented by Mike Erpelding. The goal is to get some entries ready
for the NAR sanctioned Section Contest featured at the June
launch. Events for the June contest are A BG, B PD, & A
SD.
Numerous requests for volunteers for ongoing outreach
opportunities was made
- National Girl Scout Jamboree- Friday, July 16 9 am to 4 pm
building session & Saturday July 17 2 to 4 pm launch with
MASA demo launches between Scout groups. It was pointed
out that this huge event also happens to fall on the same
Saturday as the MASA picnic. The members present felt that the
picnic could be moved back to the regular launch day of July
24th.
- The Bakken Science Saturday- May 22 and May 29 still no
volunteers
- Minnetonka Cub Scout pack demo on Tuesday, May 11
- 6th Annual Westwood rocket building session- Friday, May14
(130 pm) & launch on Thursday, May 27 starting at 130 pm
- Rocket league
- Boy Scouts of America Day Camp
An update on the NAR/TRA litigation with the BATFE was given. The
US District Court Judge Reggie Walton ordered that single use motors
are exempt as PADS ( propellant actuated devices) under the BATFE's
1994 exemption. Until the BATFE makes a formal NPRM to change this,
the 1994 exemption stands.
A plug to participate in the MASA Open Contests was made.
Two upcoming NAR events were mentioned
1 4 Al regional in WI on the weekend of June 5&6
NSL in Texas May 29-31
A request was made to encourage members to find potential model
rocket sites around the Metro to hold informal launches this
summer. The masarockety yahoo group will be used to inform the
membership when and where these launches will take place.
It was suggested to have a Tornado drag race as a fun event at
one of our MASA launches. Lee Frisvold sold several of them to
members last year and still has some left if anyone is interested.
The Aerotech G35W recall for batch #'s 011213, 002693, &
001914 was mentioned.
A discussion of doing something special for July's National
Rocketry Month commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 11
moon landing was made. The idea of having a make it/ fly it/ take it
home rocket building session, which would be open to the public, was
very popular. Final details will be discussed later.
Mark Thell and Russ Durkee gave an execellent presentation on how
to be an RSO or LCO at a MASA launch. There were several rockets
with minor and major problems presented for practice. They varied
from cracked fins and missing recovery systems, to a " trick
question" rocket with the only thing being wrong with the
rocket was Ellison Lenz ( The flyer being under 18 years old and the
rocket containing 2 G motors.) <grin>
The meeting ended at 843pm.
(Mike Erpelding)
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