The Next Step

The Town Hall Meeting takes place on the first night of NARAM.  This gave me the entire week of NARAM to start talking to people about my idea, or an entire week of torture to keep this idea quiet.  In the end, the week ended up being a healthy mix of both.  For the most part, I kept my article under wraps, but I needed someone else in B division to read it and give me feedback and suggestions.  Dad agreed and I went to the person who I knew felt the presence of this problem and wanted a solution just as badly as I did.  I went to one of the people that I knew I could trust to keep my article quiet, but would still give me honest feedback.  I went to Zach.

Zach and I share a lot of the same views on competition flying and he had been expressing similar frustrations when it came to not being able to fly as much during the contest year due to school.  He was an upcoming senior in high school and was already so concerned about keeping up with school work and competition flying that he already had plans to fly as a team with his dad for this season.  I knew that if my article and idea was anywhere close to being plausible, he would be excited and willing to help.

Photo by Chris Taylor

Two days later on the field, I finally found a chance to snag Zach away from the prying ears of the competition range and told him that I had an article that I thought he would like.  I gave him a quick summary and he gave me his email address.  As soon as I got back to the hotel, my computer was out, turned on, and the email was sent.  Now four people outside of my family had my article.  Zach was the first one outside of PSC to lay eyes on it.  This was a risk, and I was nervous about it, but I was also excited.

If my idea was leaked before the rest of the community was ready to see it or before it was worded and formed just right, my idea could be buried before it even had a chance to make roots.  It felt like I was holding my breath for the rest of the afternoon.  There was absolute silence from Zach.  No texts.  No emails.  Nothing.  I began to tell myself that he just hadn't checked his email or that he was preparing for his presentation later that night.  None of my self-reassurances could stop the sinking feeling in my stomach as the time came closer to his presentation and there was still no word from him.

Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

My Article

I wrote, revised, and finished my article on July 27, 2015, just before the annual Town Meeting that takes place every year at NARAM.  Sometimes, ideas hit you at the most uncanny times.  This was one of those times.  Dad had recommended that I send my article to one of the guys in our club, Steve, to take a look at the article.  I sent it to him about an hour before the meeting thinking that he wouldn't take a look at it until later that night at the earliest.  By the time we walked down to the meeting room, he had not only read it, but he had really liked my ideas and had shared it with Rod and John (his teammates) as well!

The three of them arrived a couple minutes before the meeting started and stopped by quickly to tell me that they liked my ideas and looked forward to talking more bout them.  I was shocked and thrilled!  I had three people that genuinely liked my article, at the very least, I would have the article published in the club's newspaper.  Maybe from there it could expand its audience?

Photo by Chris Taylor

I tried to quiet my racing thoughts as the meeting started.  The NAR president,Ted, started his presentation on how the NAR was doing and what areas of the hobby needed more attention.  The further that he got into his presentation, the more excited I became.  One of the issues that was continuously being stressed was "The B Division Problem".  I kept leaning slightly forward to look around my mom to my dad to see if he was picking up on that too.  He was.  It took all of my self-control to restrain myself from jumping out of my seat in excitement.  Ted was asking people to do what they could to help encourage B division contestants to stick with the hobby and offer any ideas they had to work toward a solution.  I had an idea.

The Flying I Beam Kids, Steve, Rod, and John, came up to us after the meeting.  The five of us grouped together in a corner and began discussing my article.  They agreed, I had an idea, an idea that could work.  It was time to take the next step, already.  This idea was only a couple of hours old and it kept moving forward rather quickly.  The question was no longer whether or not my article would leave my computer.  Now the question was who should I go to next and how far would my idea make it?

Until next time, fly high, be safe, and have fun!

My Reaction

Arizona was a milestone for me.  It was during that trip to NARAM 57 in Tuscon, Arizona that I realized that I channel myself through writing.  I sat down in the hotel room after a long day on the rocketry field and poured out all of my frustrations about "The B Division Problem" through the keys of my laptop.  I sat in the chair in the hotel room rapidly typing out what the generalized problem was and how it is unfair to expect high school juniors and seniors and college students to be as active in the hobby as they were when they were in A division.

Think about your last couple years in high school and your time in college.  How much free time did you really have?  Was there enough to take an entire weekend or week out of your schedule to go fly rockets?  Probably not if you had a part time job or had big projects or events coming up.  What about the time spent building the rockets, where would that come in?

I wrote an entire article about the expectations and requirements of this age group to show why B division contestants were "disappearing" for a couple years.  When I finished I showed it to my dad.  he read it and looked at me and said it was good.  It was what people needed to know, but he said, "So how do we fix it?"  I sat there for a minute and thought about it before spitting out a couple ideas before I realized, we can't fix the problem, not permanently.  We can't fix "The B Division Problem" with how competition flying is currently set up.  It's not possible or feasible in the long run.  Competitive model rocketry must evolve if it wants to last for another 58 years.

I settled into the firm, red chair beside my bed in the corner of the hotel room, took a deep breath... and dove back in where I left off.  The rest of my family napped as I tapped key after key brainstorming, planning, developing, creating, evolving.  The air conditioning blew over me as I reshaped my thinking, reworded my thoughts, developed new theories. I began to let my mind wander where it couldn't before.  I dared to break the status quot.  When I got stuck, I brainstormed out loud and Dad chimed in with new ideas, a different perspective, and new problems that could arise.

I revised what I had written just moments before.  Dad looked it over and made more recommendations.  I adjusted again and gave it back.  We repeated this over and over until finally, we had it.  It wasn't perfect.  It wasn't any where near ready to present to the national board, but it was ready for fresh eyes.  I was ecstatic.  I had created idea that could solve "The B Division Problem" once and for all, but would it ever make it out of my laptop?  Would it ever be anything more than just an idea?  I wasn't sure and I was excited and terrified to find out if anyone else thought my article was worth while.

Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

The B Division Problem

I have only missed two NARAMs since NARAM 50.  My family has been flying under PSC since then and has helped the club to earn several different awards through competition flying.  I have flown my way through A and B division and am beginning the next phase of my competition flying journey in Team division starting this year.

NARAMs have been a lot of fun for my family and me.  These competitions have given us the opportunity to meet new people and enjoy the hobby with our friends from across the country.  We also like to use NARAMs as an excuse to travel to and explore different states that we haven't visited before, such as Arizona and Michigan, and this summer we will travel to Missouri for NARAM 58.

These competitions have taught me a lot about myself and my abilities.  I have strengthened my presentation techniques and improved my building skills.  I have learned to detect thermals and sand an airfoil successfully.  I've learned the value of being able to think quickly to fix a problem and the value of being early to an event.  Rocketry has allowed me to think critically and adjust to on the spot questions.  I have learned a lot about science, math, and engineering and their real world applications, but I also learned how to address other people's concerns.  The biggest most recurring concern is "The B Division Problem".

At every NARAM, the same question is brought up continuously, "where are all of the B division contestants?"  From the moment I turned 14, I had people hounding me about not disappearing like the other B division contestants.  There are tons of A division contestants, but once they hit B division they seem to disappear and nobody knew why.  This became commonly known as "The B Division Problem".

The NAR tried a lot of different ideas to keep this from happening year-to-year.  There were socials for the B division contestants during NARAM and extra awards for the people who placed in different events at NARAM, but nothing seemed to work.  Survey after survey took place to find out why B division contestants weren't staying involved, but no one could come up with a solution.

I stayed as active as I could during my time in B division.  I love model rocketry and I love competing.  I won two national championships back-to-back.  I got a second national record and I developed a new launch pad that allowed easier access for children and handicapped people to put their own rocket on the launch pad by themselves (see the article here).  During my junior and senior year of high school, I started to fade away from the rocketry scene.  Little by little, I pulled back from competition flying and focused more on tennis, work, school, and applying to colleges.

When people noticed this change, they began to question me and ask why I wasn't competing as much.  They weren't always satisfied with my answer that I was really busy with school and work.  Proms began to impose on field time and then senior year it felt like I had absolutely no time at all to fly between graduation preparation and work.  I had to miss my best friend's graduation/going away party for the National Guard in order to go to NARAM 57 last summer.  Still, people pushed me for answers and I couldn't make them understand completely what was going on.  I was frustrated with explaining myself and trying to make people understand.  Finally, I realized what I had to do.

In my next post, I'll explain what I did and why.  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

What is NARAM?

NARAM stands for the National Association of Rocketry Annual Meet.  This is the annual national competition.  Model rocketeers come from all across the country to compete against each other and get to know each other while having fun with the one thing we all have in common, love for the hobby.  For more background information about NARAM, check out this link.  This year's NARAM, NARAM 58, will be held in Walnut Grove, Missouri from July 23-July 29.  Definitely come check it out if you're in the area.

When my dad asked us to go to NARAM 50, in The Plains, Virginia, we of course agreed.  Dad was so excited to be going to the 50th anniversary and he began to look up information on competition flying and the different events being flown.  Each competition has its own slate of events, and different points associated with each event.  I went into this a little bit in my previous post.

Dad began preparing for some of the events for the first half of the week of competition, which was the only time period we would be there for, and he helped me prepare too.  Before we knew it, it was time to pack up the car with our rockets and bags and head to Virginia.  Dad and I would be competing, and Mom and my little sister, Sarah, would be spectators, for now.

The first day of competition would be a defining moment for both Dad and myself.  After a couple of the regular competitors helped us to find our feet on this new adventure, we jumped in.  That day, the events being flown were Set Duration and D Boost Glider.  Set Duration is an event where you try to get your rocket to stay in the air for a set amount of time, that year it was 50 seconds.  Boost Glider is an event that is challenging to describe.  Basically, you make a glider and a boost pod.  The boost pod contains the motor, in this case a D engine motor (the class of motor), and usually a streamer to help bring it down safely.  When the rocket reaches apogee, the highest point during the flight, the ejection charge goes off and the glider detaches from the rocket and glides, hopefully safely, back down to the ground.  Meanwhile the boost pod comes down separately.

Dad and I both made ourselves known in the competition rocketry community that day.  Dad found three different ways to disqualify his models, which is rather impressive.  Meanwhile, I won first place in my first ever competition event, Set Duration, and had an impressive first flight for my glider and almost hit the president of the NAR during launch with my second flight.  The best part, the design for the boost glider was his, and I got him to sign it later that day.

Throughout the day, Dad and I were able to get to know several people in the rocketry community and were given lots of advice as well.  Most of this advice came from a couple of guys from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  These guys were Rod and Steve or, as many people know them, The Flying I-Beam Kids.  Rod and Steve fly in the Team Division of contest rocketry and know so much about the hobby.  They were, and still are, the first source Dad and I go to when we need help improving.  Rod and Steve welcomed us into their world of rocketry, and later into their club, Pittsburgh Space Command, PSC.  Dad and I were hooked, and later Mom and Sarah would join us in flying competitively and having more crazy adventures, but that's not where my story ends.  It's just the beginning.  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Competition Flying

Competition flying is a ton of fun and it gives people across the country, and even across the world, the chance to get to know each other.  Through competition flying, I have met people from California, Virginia, Maryland, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and almost every other state.  Occasionally, I will also meet people from other countries like India or a European country.  Model rocketry competitions take place all over the world, so besides the national competition, NARAM, there is also Internats, the international competition.

In this post, I'm going to quickly go over some basics of competition rocketry.  For complete rules, event listing, and other more detailed information about competition flying, check out the NAR website's Contest Flying page.

Photo by Chris Taylor

Competition rocketry aids in a lot of research about aerodynamics and improving performance.  This is because in competition we generally focus on one of three or four main categories: altitude, duration, distance, or visual appearance.  

Essentially, there are local meets and then NARAM.  NARAM I will cover in a separate post titled "What is NARAM?" because it is more detailed and has a greater importance to the main story I want to share through this blog at this time.  Local meets are usually regional events.  These events are hosted by a club, for example Pittsburgh Space Command (PSC).  Competitors wishing to fly at this event will show up the day of the launch ready to fly the predetermined events for that meet.  Each launch must be announced ahead of time and are usually posted on the NAR website's Find a Contest page. On this page a time, date, location, event director, and event slate will be found.

Most of the time, an event will be focused on the flight's duration, how long the rocket was in the air, or on the rocket's altitude.  There are different events that can be flown within these categories, such as rocket glider, parachute duration, streamer duration, or helicopter for duration events and super roc or predicted altitude for altitude events.  Open spot landing would be an event that would be based on how far the rocket landed from a certain point, and scale modeling judges rockets on how close they look to the original rocket or how pretty the rocket is in general.  For more information on events or for the complete event listing, please reference the NAR website's Contest Events page or the Pink Book.

There are different divisions for competitors to ensure that seven-year-old children don't have to compete against a fifty-year-old professional competitor.  There are four total divisions.  The first division is A division.  A division is for 7-13 years-old, this grouping is typically the younger kids that are just getting started and haven't quite developed all of their skills yet.  The next division is B division which is 14-18 years-old.  This grouping is more advanced skill wise than A division.  Next is C division which is comprised of everyone 19 or older.  Finally is T or Team division.  Team division is a group of two or three people that are 7 or older.  Teams compete together through out the competition year and at NARAM.  

Throughout the year, people fly at meets to gather contest points.  Each event has a different contest weight to help accumulate points, but each meet is restricted to a certain number of contest factor points, see the NAR website's Pink Book for details.  NARAM has more events than any of the meets and has a greater contest factor as well.  The points from the preseason meets and NARAM get totaled together during/after NARAM to determine the national champion from that year for each division.  It is possible to win the national championship without attending NARAM, or without competing in meets but attending NARAM, in some cases, but it is highly unlikely.  The amount of points for each club are also totaled and the club with the most points after NARAM is recognized as well.  The list of current national champions is usually published and distributed at each NARAM.  A list of current national record holders can be found on the NAR website's Records page and the current point standings can be found on the Current Point Standings page.

Next time, I'll get back into my story and describe NARAM.  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

How I Got Started

I actually got my start in model rocketry when I was about five years old.  My dad had been flying rockets since he was a teenager, but when he went to college it was hard for him to continue flying rockets.  Rockets went on the back burner in his life until my mom became the fifth grade teacher at a Catholic school in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania called Lock Haven Catholic School.  She was looking for an end of the year science unit and with my dad's help, she decided that rocketry was the way to go.

It's rocket building week! Going bigger this year! pic.twitter.com/n3L2LLY3Zf

— Lock Haven Catholic (@LHCS311) May 11, 2015

My dad got his clearances and began helping with the building process and launch day.  Every year he goes into the school to help the kids build the rockets, fly them safely, and understand the physics and math behind what happened in the air.  An amazing thing happens when you give fifth grade students model rockets, they want to learn what's going on with their rockets and why Bill's rocket flew higher than Suzy's rocket, or why Timmy's rocket was closer to the launch pad, or why Jane's rocket was in the air the longest.  They want to learn trig and physics, and they actually understand it.

My dad pulled me into this wonderful world of rocketry with my very own rocket kit.  It was the Quest Lightning.  It was the perfect rocket for a five year old little girl, it was all purple.  I remember laying on the living room floor putting it together with Dad and then going out to fly it that weekend.  After that day, I was hooked.  I kept flying and building rockets with Dad, and it was a lot of fun.  We got more friends interested in the hobby and have annual launches and lunch with our friends.  It wasn't until I was in fifth grade that we really got into the hobby, though.

Dad never really asks for much, especially when it comes to family vacations.  It wasn't until 2013 that he requested the destination for our family vacation.  He wanted to go to the National Association of Rocketry Annual Meet for the 50th anniversary (NARAM 50).  I'll go over more of what this is next time.  Until then, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

What is Model Rocketry?

One thing that I get asked a lot when I tell people that I fly model rockets is, "What is model rocketry?"  Model rocketry is a fun hobby that was started during the Cold War and the Race for Space.  I'm not going to go into that kind of information here, if you want to know more I recommend watching October Sky.  Essentially, when the Russians and the U.S. entered the Cold War, everyone started looking toward the skies and NASA started making rockets.  When NASA started making rockets, civilians began to try to make their own mini versions of the rockets and tried to fly their models., which is where model rocketry got its start.

Now, as you can imagine, this was incredibly unsafe.  People were using gunpowder and matches to launch their rockets, which is extremely dangerous.  Three men stepped forward in different aspects of the hobby in order to make it more safe and practical.  These men were G. Harry Stein, Orville Carlisle, and Vern Estes.  Vern and Gleda Estes (pictured above) are probably the most well-known because they are still actively involved in the hobby and show up to the national competitive event frequently.  Vern and Gleda are responsible for the safe motors, Estes Motors, and some model kits as well.  For more information on the founders of rocketry, check out this article: Where Did Model Rocketry Really Start?

Model rocketry later began to develop and create laws to regulate safety.  The organization in charge of these safety protocols is the National Association of Rocketry, or NAR.  The NAR ensures the safety of its members and spectators by providing a pink book with safety guidelines and regulations.  Check out their website for more information on the organization and membership information.

The hobby has developed from its Cold War beginnings and is now a family friendly hobby.  People all over the country and all over the world are flying model rockets every day.  These rockets are typically made out of cardboard tubes and balsa fins and nose cones.  There are kits that can be purchased from several companies, or some people like to build their own rockets and create their own SAFE designs.  Safety and fun are key in model rocketry.

Model rocketry is also very educational.  There is a lot of science and math behind the hobby.  My mom is a principal at a Catholic school and she used to be a fifth grade teacher at the same school.  She needed a science unit for the end of the school year and she decided to do a unit on model rocketry and enlist my dad's help because he had been flying rockets since he was about thirteen years old.  He was able to get fifth grade students to understand trigonometry because of model rocketry.  Below, I have a video with some different models of rockets and a flight to help you get a better idea of what this hobby is.  I made this video a couple years ago for a presentation to a fifth grade class.

This hobby is for people of all ages.  I see people from five years to around eighty years old out on the rocketry field every year.  We do our best to make this a fun and safe hobby that everyone can enjoy and learn something from, too!

Next time, I'm going to give you a little bit more information about how I got started in model rocketry and my experiences.  Until then, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Welcome!

This blog is all about model rocketry and competitive flying through the National Association of Rocketry, or NAR.  Many people don't know about the hobby or what we do, well here's the place to ask your questions and get some insight!  For those of you that are already familiar with model rocketry, I am going to be going over competition model rocketry from a B division standpoint and I will also be talking about the article that I wrote this past summer that is changing how we look at contest flying.  Make sure you check back for posts on these topics!

Photo by Chris Taylor

I am a two-time national champion with the NAR and currently hold two national records in rocket glider events.  My main focus on the blog at first is going to be on the national competition, NARAM or the National Association of Rocketry Annual Meet, and an article that I wrote this summer that gained more attention than I ever thought possible.  I will be giving background on how I came up with the idea of writing this article, the process I went through this summer, and an update on what's going on with the article now.  Check back later for more information!  Until then, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!