"Rocketry" accident

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Nessalco

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A bit just came up on the local news site

https://www.wcax.com/story/30152490/vt-boy-badly-burned-in-accident

I've called the station, and found out the information came from a press release given out by the State Police. I am waiting on a callback with a source name in the VSP to track down further information. I can't think of any use of nitro-methane in the hobby of "model rocketry", and tried to make that clear to the reporter. The closest I can think of would be the use of methanol in a RATT tribrid, but I think if anybody in our little state were working with one I'd know it.

Kevin
 
and to be technical, no mod rocs use hybrids anyways...

reporters are stupid.
 
Something does not make sense here. As others have noted what does NM have to do with hybrid motors? And how did a 10 year old get NM anyway?

Irresponsible reporting like this creates PR problems for our hobby.
 
Something does not make sense here. As others have noted what does NM have to do with hybrid motors? And how did a 10 year old get NM anyway?

Irresponsible reporting like this creates PR problems for our hobby.

Exactly why I called the station and informed them. The information they presented is quoted from a State Police press release - not the station's fault.

Kevin
 
Nitro methane is used to launch model rockets, and 9/11 was orchestrated by a (insert highly racial slur here) in a cave on the other side of the planet.

The news it what they (msm) say it is. Haven't you heard?
 
nitro is blended with methanol to make fuel for small 2-cycle engines(used in rc cars, airplanes, and boats). the cox 0.049 used 5% nitro fuel iirc.
Rex
 
Nitromethane quote from Wikipedia:

"As an engine fuel
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2015)

Nitromethane is used by hobbyists as a fuel in motor racing, particularly drag racing, as well as for rockets and radio-controlled models (such as cars, planes and helicopters) and is commonly referred to in this context as "nitro".


If it is in WIKIPEDA IT MUST BE TRUE! Rockets refer to real ones but it looks like Hobbyists in context.
 
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Nitromethane is use in a lot of different types of racing. But some race track don't allow it. That's why they test fuels after each race. It's called cheating. I have never heard of it being used for model rocketry. Some kid could have gotten hold of some to do the unthinkable.
 
Nitromethane is use in a lot of different types of racing. But some race track don't allow it. That's why they test fuels after each race. It's called cheating. I have never heard of it being used for model rocketry. Some kid could have gotten hold of some to do the unthinkable.

Someone is probably confusing nitromethane with nitrous oxide...which is still only used by a tiny minority of rocketeers.
And for that matter, Nox itself is probably used by a lot more drag racers than rocketeers.
 
As mentioned prior, I would think that if they have the nitromethane part right, that it was actually being used for R/C aircraft or cars. You can buy the stuff by the quart or gallon at many hobby stores. Heck, you can even get it from Amazon. Mix your own fuel ratios and lube for the engines. I could certainly see a kid trying to refuel his hot R/C car, spilling some and POOF. Regardless how it happened or what he was doing with it, it is still terrible.
 
Although I'm not a hybrid motor user, everything I've read (or seen) uses NOX as the oxidizer for Class 2 (or 3) rockets.

Aside from WIKI, please feel free to show real-life builds where NM is used. Perhaps it is a viable option, but I can't seem to find it being used anywhere...
 
I think all good TRFers agree that this stuff is not "...a fuel used to launch model rockets.". So the question becomes why did the reporter (or the VSP person) characterize it the way they did ? Thanks to the OP for bringing this up and keep us posted.
 
I think all good TRFers agree that this stuff is not "...a fuel used to launch model rockets.". So the question becomes why did the reporter (or the VSP person) characterize it the way they did ? Thanks to the OP for bringing this up and keep us posted.

Quick google search and no time spent investigating? A neighbor said, "I think the kid likes rockets," and they ran with that? Rush to press and no time taken to consult experts? The possibilities are as broad as the imagination can take you.
 
A person very close to this event wrote the following:

I would like all my friends and family or anyone who see [sic] this to pray for this little boy and his family, he was being a kid and found someone's meth lab and is in Boston hospital. With 3nd [sic] degree burn over 70% of his body.

Greg
 
Exactly why I called the station and informed them. The information they presented is quoted from a State Police press release - not the station's fault.

Kevin

I just called the station too, and got the contact info for the Vermont State Police person that gave them the information.
It's Lt. Michael Henry at the St. Johnsbury Barracks.

[email protected]

She told me they would amend their story if he calls them and tells them that Nitro-Methane is not used in model rockets.
 
Here's a copy of the E-mail I sent. Hope it helps.:

I just saw a story on WCAX, that said that the poor burn victim was hurt by Nitro-Methane, and that it is used as a fuel for Model Rockets.
This is entirely false.
Model Rockets use solid propellants like Black-Powder based motors and Ammonium Perchlorate based motors.
Spreading this kind of false information could have serious implications for what is a hobby with an excellent safety record, due in part to the fact that Liquid Fuels are NEVER used.

I got your contact info from someone at WCAX, but they said they will not issue or make a correction until you tell them other than what you already have.
As a concerned citizen, and a member of the model rocketry community, I implore you to please check the facts for yourself, and then ask WCAX to make sure that folks don't think that Nitro-Methane has any place in model rocketry.
It is used for certain radio control vehicles if I remember correctly, but is not ever used in model rockets.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter, and keep up the good work.

David Holmes, concerned fellow Vermonter.
 
According to what I have read in the past, Timothy McVeigh and his associates purchased nitro methane from a drag strip in Ennis, Texas and used it in the construction of the ANFO truck bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. When they ran out of nitro-methane they finished the device with diesel fuel. Rocket fuel? I think not.

Welcome back Top Ramen. Will you be staying long or are you just passing through? :surprised:
 
According to what I have read in the past, Timothy McVeigh and his associates purchased nitro methane from a drag strip in Ennis, Texas and used it in the construction of the ANFO truck bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. When they ran out of nitro-methane they finished the device with diesel fuel. Rocket fuel? I think not.

Welcome back Top Ramen. Will you be staying long or are you just passing through? :surprised:



Thanks, just passing through to do my duty to the Hobby I love and make sure that we get the word out that Nitro-Methane is not used for model rockets.
I have no where to build anymore, so nothing helpful or relevant to talk about here. When I get a new house with a workshop I'll be back. Working on it.

The Phone number for the St. Johnsbury Barracks is 802-748-3111.
I sent my Email, and that's as far as I'm going to go, but now the rest of you can also try to get him to tell the News to issue an apology or correction.
 
I got a failed delivery E-mail notification, and don't have any more time to give to this matter, so it's up to someone else to set it right now.
 
I did some more looking into this, so this is a distillation of what I've found.

Last Monday morning, the injured child (10 yo) was in the woods was with his 13 yo brother (no adults present) and came across an abandoned shack in their back yard (some reports said that it happened at home). They found some chemicals in the shack in the shack and the younger boy was handling it when it "exploded". It is not clear what caused the explosion. The accident was reported by a neighbor. It was originally thought to be an old meth lab. The crime lab (I don't know what department but probably VT state police, presumably the closest one having jurisdiction to the accident scene, as this happened in a small town) made a determination that it was not an abandoned meth lab and he was burned by nitro methane, "a fuel to launch model rockets", whereas another report called it "bottle rocket fuel". Something is either wrong with conclusions of the lab or there is something wrong in the reporting. I'd guess the latter. The child is now at Shriner's Hospital for Children in Boston, MA and had his first surgery yesterday and has many surgeries in his future. No charges are expected to be filed.

The story has been picked up by AP:

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Vermont-boy-10-badly-burned-after-rocket-fuel-6542413.php

Regardless, the child is in very bad shape and I really don't think they care what caused it, they just want to there child to live at this point. A GoFundMe account has been setup on his behalf.

If anyone in the area wants to get more information, it may be better going to another source:

https://vsp.vermont.gov/about_us/divisions/support_services/public_information

Greg
 
According to what I have read in the past, Timothy McVeigh and his associates purchased nitro methane from a drag strip in Ennis, Texas and used it in the construction of the ANFO truck bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. When they ran out of nitro-methane they finished the device with diesel fuel. Rocket fuel? I think not.

Careful using McVeigh as an example. Ammonium Nitrate was the other half of that bomb and it is certainly able to be used as rocket fuel.

The Phone number for the St. Johnsbury Barracks is 802-748-3111.
I sent my Email, and that's as far as I'm going to go, but now the rest of you can also try to get him to tell the News to issue an apology or correction.

I think at this point, any attempt to get the news to issue a correction or apology is just going to make us look like dicks.... The only reason we should be contacting them is to get them to stop referring to it as rocket fuel. There should be no requests for an apology or retraction in the face of the kid being burned so badly.... That's just kind of callus. But it should be pointed out so the reference does not continue.
 
it does make sense IF the rockets in question are the 'woosh bottle rockets' where one adds a small amount of flammable liquid to a bottle and then light the fumes. especially if the bottle is the handy 5 gal. size.
Rex
 
In that report, they don't refer to it as "model rocket fuel," but just as "rocket fuel." At least that's an improvement.

Also, they say "while playing with bottle rocket fuel" which I suspect mutated from "while playing with A bottle OF rocket fuel" somewhere along the line.

In any case, where the heck they came up with the "rocket fuel" idea I don't know. The Wikipedia page on liquid rocket propellant lists nitromethane in its table of monopropellants with NO specific data given, yet doesn't include it in the list of monopropellants on the same page.
 
Not rocket fuel but a high performance RC racing fuel component. If you make your own RC fuel mixtures you can get 100% Nitromethane.

$T2eC16FHJHQFFhs)V1YsBR)OTB579!~~60_35.JPG


High performance RC racing fuels use ~50% nitro, ~30% methanol and ~20% lubricating oil.

Bob
 
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