Sorry about the late reply been busy with mother's day festivities.
The day was a success, the rains held off long enough to give us 3 hours of flying madness. I got to the school about 20 minutes before folks started showing and had just enough time to set up a table with a few of my rockets and my netbook with a slideshow i put together from thunderstruck earlier this year. Prior to any launches the teacher gave a thorough safety brief to the parents and students along with a how to prepare the rockets for flight. He also introduced me and gave a quick rundown of the fliskit spot landing competition.
I had set up the spot landing flag and soon a flightline grew in a row of launch pads the kids brought. I stayed inside around the table for a few minutes to answer questions about hpr and help the kids and parents prepare their rockets. The response to my statics was great, better than i had hoped. I expected to answer questions from the kids, but majority of them were from parents. The better part of the static is that farmers from the area who were there for their kids got really interested. These are the farmers that own and work the thousands of acres of continuous fields with no power lines or trees for miles
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After a few minutes of q and a, and helping pack chutes and insert igniters, the mob headed for the flightline so i followed. There were roughly 35 kids and all of them had at least 3 engines from 11 pads, you can imagine the hustle. I have to give the teacher credit taking that many kids and parents whom have never really launched and run a successful program with no injury is truly a feat. I felt almost overwhelmed as a go to guy for questions and I know i fielded less than half of them. I was glad to help as much as possible tho i know the parents appreciated it as much if not more than the children.
once the flying started and people got a feel for the spot landing comp, the fever caught on and i got busy with nonstop measurements for a solid hour or longer. The first measurement was in the 80 feet range followed soon by a 40 footer that held the lead for a good while. The kids and parents caught on quick tho and soon many were actually watching the wind, adjusting the pad, and waiting for the right time to press the button. These folks participating didnt have any lessons on how to get closer and their ideas and competitive spirit lead to very low measurements in no time at all.
Trying to keep track of the numbers was making my head spin, then i had a true epiphany. Prior to leaving the house that morning i grabbed a sharpie, becuase you just never know ya know, and i had a roll of masking tape in my back pocket for quick repairs and igniter retention, I put a strip of tape on my wrist and would write down the low numbers as they happened and would give the flyer a piece with their number so they could stick it on their shirt, GENIUS. at the end of the day the three low numbers just handed me their number tape and i knew who won. I had downloaded the competition software but it was way to fast paced for a computer.
I was also very pleasantly suprised to see how many girls were there. When i flew and was president of the rocket club 11 years ago it was almost all boys, not now. There were probably 15 of the 35 female, and many of the kids came with their mom due to their dad being in the fields. The mothers were very quick to come and ask for help loading or fixing a problem with the rockets and were very supportive of the hobby and wanting to learn how to support their child's new hobby. A girl even took first place, landing within 9 feet of the target and taking home a Fliskits Bullseye rocket kit, second place was 18 feet, he took home a triskellion and third was 21 feet, he took home an Overdrive, not bad for only having 3 or 4 lifetime flights.
Dont take me being surprised by the involvement of girls in rocketry as a sexist remark. It was just not quite what i expected but im glad it was that way rockets arent just for the boys anymore.
Overall it was the most fun ive had in rocketry, ever. Sharing my knowledge, and making the day better for children and their parents was great. I also learned many new ways of how not to build something lol
. One of the highpoints of the day was getting to speak with a parent, who was my 5th grade english teacher, whom is a member on the county's 4h board. I mentioned to her that i would like to do a 3 or 4 saturday class culminating in a build of an egg loft competition or spot landing, so who knows what door that may have opened to expand the hobby to even more kids. I noticed that many kids need a little more hands on teaching with building and flying to take them beyond level 1 skill kits, but a few of the kids demonstrated a high aptitude for building that if supplemented by a saturday program will open more doors than they could have imagined.
The fliskits really took the cake. There is not enough that can be said about the creative minds behind those kits and how eager as a company they are to make them available for educational purposes. I know our hobby is full of great companies but jim's kits just strike a string that says "fun, intuitive, CRAZY" the brochures that i had collected from orders from fliskits were passed around followed by parents getting wide eyed saying "well id like to fly that one" and kids telling their parents which ones they want. The competition prizes really added another element over just pushing the button and running to grab the rocket, now they had a chance to win one of those awesome kits on the table!!! I cant thank Jim Flis enough for providing me with a discount to make it possible. The spitfire i built to demo got the standard "No way are you putting a motor in that thing" and provided an oppurtunity to explain how it fly's so straight expanding the knowledge and science involved with rockets.
From this small event, the sport and hobby of rocketry may have expanded beyond the school age children, i had numerous parents asking me about getting started in mpr and hpr. The local area could soon see a new nar or tra section/prefect.. Fingers crossed. You just never know what you are going to get when you volunteer your time for something like this i suggest it for everyone to try at least once, maybe you will get access to a closer spot to launch or maybe you will give kids a chance to step into the hobby either way it will make you feel good.
