Should Launch Organizers provide "recovery caddies" ?

Heck yeah, great idea Dave.

By why stop there! I also say we should have an AC mobile launch center, licensed of course. That way we can sit in our air conditioned mobile launch center drinking copious amounts of beer, watching our rockets launch on the big screen and just tip the rocket retrievers.

mpitfield said:

Heck yeah, great idea Dave.

By why stop there! I also say we should have an AC mobile launch center, licensed of course. That way we can sit in our air conditioned mobile launch center drinking copious amounts of beer, watching our rockets launch on the big screen and just tip the rocket retrievers.

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"The world has been moved forward by men of greater vision and imagination than hard work has ever gained" (if it wasn't somebody famous, then it should have been said anyhow!) Thx, MP!

mpitfield said:

Heck yeah, great idea Dave.

By why stop there! I also say we should have an AC mobile launch center, licensed of course. That way we can sit in our air conditioned mobile launch center drinking copious amounts of beer, watching our rockets launch on the big screen and just tip the rocket retrievers.

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I am actually talking with an individual who wants to get a field started with a portable LCC "in-a-box" that has a passive A/C system! Whole thing uses a cooler/ice/fan setup to cool the LCC box (small enough to fit in a Tacoma bed for transport from the Launch site).

back in the late 90's when I was launching out in ithica,mi and three oaks I hadda time I was on crutches, went to launches with a couple rockets not expecting to fly because its fun enough in the parking area with crutches, but I had hope!!
the reason I did that- the first launch on crutches I didn't take any and one of the members of the club asked me why, I explained it, and he said," well if its just about shagging your rocket, theres always kids here that'll shag a rocket for money."
best $10 bucks spent at a launch.

but hey, why not throw some more onto the overworked and underpaid volunteers of launches to organize.

if these caddies had 4 wheelers or something like that, I don't think it would matter if a club had em if the landowner said no.

Hey, I see it now... I can modify this for rockets?!

^ Sure Tim! As long as you understand what is shown is the IED/mine detector version....

I just want to good folks at Wisconsin's DNR to deforest Bong Rec Area.

One of the best recovery experiences I ever had was out at Eagle Eye in an air conditioned Jeep Wrangler. I told the owner of the Jeep to take his time...

When I am flying motor recovery I have been known to turn to the nearest Boy Scouts and say "5 bucks to the one who brings that rocket back". :grin:

Many years ago our club put an launch ad in HPR Magazine saying "Cabana Boys will be provided."
And they printed it.

M

MClark said:

Many years ago our club put an launch ad in HPR Magazine saying "Cabana Boys will be provided."
And they printed it.

M

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LOL! and the thread falls way off track in 3,2,1..........

A well placed bribe works for me as long as it doesn't melt.

I expect my car to be vacuumed, washed and waxed too. And no smoking, eating or drinking in it when doing so.

I realize this thread was resurrected, but I did go to a rocket launch at Suffield Air Base in Alberta back in 1999 (Medicine Wheel 4). Because of concerns over unexploded ordinance, any rocket that landed over a kilometer away had to be retrieved by military personnel. It was awesome.

AlfaBrewer said:

Most definitely!!! I hate having to climb through barb wire fences.

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I figured out a simple solution for getting through barbed wire fences solo:

In the handle of my range box, I have two Velcro wraps.

I use them to hold two top wires and two bottom wires together so I can climb through the hole. (Like you would get a buddy to do by stepping on one and lifting one so you can climb through...)

snrkl said:

I figured out a simple solution for getting through barbed wire fences solo:

In the handle of my range box, I have two Velcro wraps.

I use them to hold two top wires and two bottom wires together so I can climb through the hole. (Like you would get a buddy to do by stepping on one and lifting one so you can climb through...)

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What a great idea, i will have to try this!

A masseuse will also be nice. Now where did I put that list.

On a more serious note, our launch site has a great waiver and miles of recovery, but it’s hilly. Most of us who have launched there for the past 16 years have gotten to know the hills and know how to follow a line to recover our rockets, but just last month we had someone get turned around before they ever got to their rocket. As a result they ended up northeast of the launch site instead of north. Fortunately we had insisted they take a radio and we told them they were on the wrong hill. They never did find their rocket and came back empty handed. Soon afterward they left. One of the others at our launch followed the line he had seen for the rocket and found it easily. If we had sent a more experienced flyer out with the rocket’s owner in the first place it would have been a better experience.

Steven said:

A masseuse will also be nice. Now where did I put that list.

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QCRS may provide a massage therapist at upcoming launches.
I know because I married her and she wants to make money.

CzTeacherMan said:

QCRS may provide a massage therapist at upcoming launches.
I know because I married her and she wants to make money.

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Will she vacuum, wash and wax my car too? Or to put it another way, will she 'massage' my car?

Hot stones only ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't actually know any of these people.

I'm pretty easy as long as it feels great.

Steven said:

Will she vacuum, wash and wax my car too? Or to put it another way, will she 'massage' my car?

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Doubtful

dhbarr said:

Hot stones only ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't actually know any of these people.

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She does do hot stone, and it's awesome.
massageinnovationsbytlc.com

Steven said:

I'm pretty easy as long as it feels great.

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She's got a very loyal clientele. She specializes in clinical therapies, but is licensed in a bunch of techniques. She was thinking about setting up a chair in the hotel throughout the MWP weekend. Details to follow.

As a geezer prone to heat injuries, having someone available to retrieve if necessary would certainly be nice.

In another sport that I participated in, AMA Free Flight modeling, it was an article of faith that retrieval would be allowed via dirt bike, quad, bicycle, or most any other means of transportation. Having seen some photos from the desert rocketry launch sites, I know this is the rule rather than the exception.

I am also aware of the nature of most rocket launch sites is such that the risk of crop and field damage makes motorized retrieval a deal breaker.

Getting old sucks and youth is wasted on the young.

o1d_dude said:

Getting old sucks and youth is wasted on the young.

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Well, come to QLD in Australia, join our club, finance my HPR habit, and I will gladly go retrieve any rocket you fly (with a GPS tracker)...

Who says I can't waste my youthful exuberance in exchange for you investing(^wasting) your money on my rockets!! ;^)

I always though the idea was to land the rocket back as close to the pad as possible to eliminate recovery time so the next person could launch.
I once had my Big Bertha drift over the pad and the chute got caught on the end of the rod.
I called that a 10 out 10, perfect landing.
I would have no objections to kids retrieving rockets for a buck a rocket if there is no chance of them getting hurt.
It's an easier way to make money than I use to do...mow yards, shovel walks and drives, pitch fork cow manure on garden's in the spring, and bail hay.