Cesaroni Technology Incorporated News and Well-Wishes thread

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CTI

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On Thursday, March 24th at approximately 10:30 AM EST, a fire broke out during approved procedures in one of the propellant processing buildings at Cesaroni Technology Incorporated’s Gormley, Ontario facility. The fire was confined to the affected building. Surrounding buildings and structures including the main plant were not affected. Emergency response teams responded immediately. Three CTI personnel were in the area where the fire occurred. Two have been released from hospital and the third remains hospitalized.

In light of the previous information distributed on this forum, CTI can confirm that Dr. Jeroen Louwers (TRF member "DrJ") was the third employee and that he was seriously injured/burned in the incident. He is currently in one of the best hospitals in the country. That hospital has specialty facilities that provide the best possible treatment of the injuries he sustained.

Jeroen is currently in critical but stable condition. We understand that non-family visitors or contact will not be possible for many weeks and we ask everyone to be respectful of Jeroen, his family and loved ones throughout this time.

The CTI family has been fractured by this devastating incident. Jeroen is more than just an employee; he is a cornerstone of the CTI family. He is our leader.... our colleague.... our mentor......and a close friend to everyone here.

We know that he has also been an integral leader and friend within the hobby rocketry community and that he has touched the lives of many within that community. His enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, thehobby/sport is unparalleled, as all who have interacted with Jeroen over the years can attest.
The CTI family is looking forward to Jeroen’s recovery, but it will be a long process. CTI will not be posting updates in this forum on Jeroen's health out of respect for him and his family as they endure the recovery process.

For anyone who has visited CTI, they that know we are a tight knit family, so please be patient and respectful during our healing process as well. We will be forthcoming with information at the appropriate times. and in the interim, we ask that you not speculate, postulate, draw conclusions, etc. regarding the incident.......Do this out of respect for Jeroen! Anyonewho knows him understands that is what he would want.

The incident is currently under investigation by the relevant public authorities with CTI providing technical support. It did not involve any hobby (HPR) rocketry motors. The root cause has not yet been determined. Given the nature of this incident, the investigation may take considerable time and, while it is ongoing, CTI and its staff cannot comment further.

For those of you wishing to show your support, as Gus highlighted in a previous post, feel free to share kind stories or experience you have had with Jeroen in the past. His family has been touched by all the support he has received to date and is being shared/communicated with Jeroen at the hospital.

From,
Cesaroni Technology Incorporated

NOTE: The TRF member (CTI) posting in this forum onbehalf of CTI has done so with the direct approval from CTI and will not be responding to any private messages
 
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CTI- thank you for the update. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help Jeroen- either financially or emotionally. I hope his recovery is full, and that he can return to rocketry in the near future.
 
CTI- thank you for the update. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help Jeroen- either financially or emotionally. I hope his recovery is full, and that he can return to rocketry in the near future.

Ditto... Prayers and thoughts for Dr. J and his family.
 
Been thinking of Jeroen every day since I heard of the accident. Jeroen has been very supportive and helpful to me in my rocketry hobby. He is a wealth of information and is a genuinely nice person. Thank you so much CTI for posting the full story. I am sad this incident has happened but am glad to hear some positive news regarding Jeroen. Please wish him well from Dave and Molly.
 
For those of you wishing to show your support, as Gus highlighted in a previous post, feel free to share kind stories or experience you have had with Jeroen in the past.

My heart goes out to Jeroen and his family. He has always, without exception, gone far beyond what anyone would expect when asking for assistance. It's obvious that he loves what he does! Personally, I've received phone calls from him when I hadn't expected more than a quick email. Timely responses, good-natured about my confusion, and always gracious.

In the week before the accident, I received quick email responses back from Jeroen on two different problems. One was a warranty replacement on a Pro98XL casing, the other was a defective DAT that was causing short delays for the TARC team I'm mentoring. He cares equally about both ends of the hobby rocket spectrum.

I hope our kind thoughts and prayers will help Dr J find strength during the healing process. Looking forward to seeing him back doing what he loves to do! Best wishes to the whole CTI family.
 
This was no doubt a horrible accident and i cannot begin to imagine how it has affected the entirety of your organization. Thank you for taking the time to update this forum. You are a class act. You have had and will continue to have my support. I wish not only the three employees a speedy recovery, but also the CTI organization as a whole.
 
Please give my best to Jeroen. We've had numerous email messages back and forth over the years, and his helpfulness and concern for his customers was evident. He's one of the good guys!
 
CTI, thank you for the information. A day has not gone by since the incident that I haven't thought of Jeroen and the other CTI employees. In fact, my wife asks me all the time if I have heard any more new about Dr. Louwers.
I have never had the pleasure of meeting Jeroen however, I have corresponded with him about some technical issues. His love for rocketry was clear and obvious in his posts and emails.
I look forward to the day that he is released from hospital and is able to recover further at home.

Best regards to the whole CTI family.

Len Bryan
 
I have thought of Jeroen everyday sense this happened! CTI thank you for the update. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for Jeroen and his family both morally and financially! I am sure the vast majority would do anything to help this wonderful man/friend in his time of need. He has always been there for us and it is now our time to be there for him

Dennis
 
CTI - Thank you for the update. Please let Jeroen and his family know they are in our hearts and prayers

Best wishes for his recovery

Les
 
I only met Jeroen once. It was during prep for an MWP drag race; can't remember which one, but certainly a CTI motor event. Well, I only fly CTI on occasion when the motor profile or application is compelling, otherwise, AT or Loki. So you certainly can say, I'm not their best customer--bottom 10% likely. Anyway, I was under time pressure to get out to the pads and had some questions on prepping the motor. Hadn't got it done but was walking to the RSO anyway. Well, some "white knight" noticed my predicament. More than that they stopped me, asked what my issue was, and clearly explained the solution in an unknown accent. I was truly grateful and thanked the savior--he in turn said, "Have a great flight Tim." Huh?! He knew my name? Who was that guy that came to my rescue? Well, went on to fly in the drag race, but the next day, asked about the man that was so helpful and found out it was Jeroen. How is that for going above and beyond. Must have known I was in the drag race as CTI provided the discount deal, but hey, I had never met him and as I said, not a CTI "big dog" like Gus, still, Jeroen was there helping as usual.
 
Man that is awful. My prayers are going out to Jeroen and his family. Get well soon Jeroen.
 
Wow. I am absolutely horrified to read this. Dr. Louwers remains a hero of mine and I wish him the speediest of recoveries.
 
I hope both you and CTI recover quickly , it is obvious by the posts here and at the watering hole just how respected you are Dr J ! Wishing you the best , Jim
 
I hope DrJ recovers fully. He is an asset to the hobby and by all accounts a great guy. He has certainly helped me on more than one occasion.

Can we all maybe stop using the past tense to talk about him though?
 
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Okay, I locked this for a while while I spit out the questions and comments about CTI production.

Those questions now exist as a separate thread.

Going forward, let's keep discussions of production (as important as they may be to the TARC teams) in that thread.

This thread is intended solely to create a conduit for our rocketry community to send well-wishes to Jeroen, his family and the fine folks at CTI.

Any posts other than that will be removed.
 
From Tim (WILDMANS)

WILDMANRS

Dr J

I don't think anybody here is missing Dr. J more than I'am.
I can only hope and pray for a quick and as painless as possible recovery for him.
If I could I would be up there waiting to see him.
He has been a great friend for a long time.
The man has forgotten more about rocketry than I can ever hope to know. (example)
I received a call from a military contractor wanting a motor for a specific purpose, they gave me the specifics and I called Dr. J within seconds "I could here him typing in the background" he not only had and an answer weather or not he could do it but also a price and a time frame of how long it would take before we could have it, and he met those times.
That is were the N10'000 came from.
I am hoping we can have him back for Midwest Power I need to talk with him to come up with a new drag race.
Anything you want from Home depot USA Jeroen, I have you covered
Get well soon my friend.

Tim
Just Fly It
Wildman Hobbies
Wildman Rocketry

Proud member of
Chicago Rocket Mafia
QCRS
TWA
Woosh
Indiana Rocketry
Kloudbusters
Metra
MDRA
 
I can’t stop thinking about this horrible event. I think about it, yet I am still partly in denial. Like it is something impossible, incomprehensible.

I have been fortunate enough to meet Dr J a few times. Two of those events are memorable:

First time I met Jeroen was at Midwest Power 9. I was one of the participants in the N-5800 drag race and chatted with Jeroen about the mighty N-5800 and a bunch of other things. Being both expats (he moved from Holland to Canada, I moved from Canada to the US) we talked, among other things, about how it feels to leave your home country and relocate your family in another country. At one point during that conversation I said, “You know, you should make and Imax reload for that 6-GXL casing”. He thought for a second and said “do you think we should make it a full impulse N for altitude records, or try to maximize the impulse and make it an O?”

… and that is the essence of Jeroen right there. Not looking for excuses, no word about potential technical difficulties, limited market, or anything like that. He always focused on finding a way to get it done. Of course, I said “go for the maximum impulse”. Sure enough, the O-3400 came the following year.

The other memorable meeting with Dr J was at Midwest Power 11. I had my Tintin rocket. Dr J being from Europe, he was very familiar with the Tintin comic books. We talked about the books, the rocket, and he mentioned a flyer in Europe who had built several rockets based on the same series. About a week later, I received an email from him with a picture of his friend’s rocket.

I am sure he had conversations with a hundred people during his weekend at MWP. Somehow, after he returned home he found the time to dig out that picture and email it to me.

We all think of you and your family, Dr J. Come back soon, we still have things to do…
 
Thoughts and prayers daily for Jeroen and his family. I only 'met' Jeroen recently through some posts on this forum and a prompt reply to a private message I sent him. Without ever hearing his voice it was obvious he is a trustworthy and caring man. Get well!
 
I've never had the pleasure of meeting you Jeroen.
From this outpouring of prayers, well wishers, and emotions,
you must be a wonderful man, no doubt.
I can only hope that we will meet some day.
Prayers for you to get well.

Teddy
 
My first direct contact with Dr J was in 2010. I was at home, assembling a Cesaroni N3180 Red Lightning motor in Aerotech 98/15360 hardware (certified cross compatible). This configuration takes a special aft closure and a few other steps that were new to me, so I called CTI technical support, expecting a staffer with a "we'll get back to you". Jeroen answered the phone himself, fielded my questions, and then chatted a bit about the weather, who was expecting to fly at MWP that year, etc. Very pleasant conversation and an extremely personable man. I have had the good fortune of meeting him several times in person, he always remembers my name, and incredibly, my motor history. He listens to the community and has generated new products (N5600 WT, O3400 Imax, etc.) to meet our needs. Thank you, Dr J. We wish you a speedy and full recovery, and I hope we can give back to you whatever you need in the process.
 
CTI- Thank-you the updates here, it has been a very busy week for me with today being one of the first in awhile to respond...

Jeroen is always in my thoughts- What a great community this is with all of the responses we've seen so far! :eek:
 
Thank you for sharing that CTI.

I have never personally met Jeroen or have done business with him, but from everyone here he sounds like a great guy. Get well soon Jeroen.
 
While I'm not the biggest flyer punching holes in the stratosphere, Jeroen took the time to do some research and custom work for me a while back. I can't express my respect and thanks enough to him to bother with 'a little guy' like me. I can only offer my sympathy and support to him and his family during this dark time. DrJ-Just know you have legions of supporters out here wishing you a quick recovery with as little pain as possible.
 
Thoughts and prayers are with everyone at CTi - especially with Jeroen and his family.
 
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Wishing Jerone a good recovery- I cant imagine what he is going through right now. He is the face of CTI as I have known it. Let him know we are all wishing for his recovery. Thanks for the update.
 
Dr. J, I'm beaming all my heartfelt support and strength to the universe for your speedy recovery. Your dedication and contributions to this hobby are one of its cornerstones. Myself and the HPR community hold you and CTI in the very highest regard. I have never forgotten all the great data I derived from my very first v1 RDAS (I still have it), along with all the sims I've run in GDP, and the great collective of advice you've shared with me.

It was great to finally meet up again in Potter last year.

CJand DrJ.jpg

Stay strong and heal my friend.
 
I have had the pleasure of meeting Jeroen in person. We also email and talk on the phone occasionally. As others have stated, Jeroen truly is a wonderful person. He is kind, patient and considerate, as well as knowledgeable and he really enjoys his work, making it enjoyable for everyone around him.

To Jeroen and his family; I and Gary P. as well as the rest of us at Aero Pack are very saddened and we have you in our thoughts and prayers and wish you the very best recovery. I will remain positive and look forward to our future conversations about rocketry.

Thank you CTI for providing this conduit to Jeroen. I understand this is difficult for the entire CTI family and I wish you all well. You and Jereon have provided a great resource of high technology products and I know the hobby rocketry community is grateful.

Sincerely,
Bob Mosley
 
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