Model Rocket Safety: For Educators... A cautionary tale.

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Micromeister,

I took your advice and looked at the NAR website (again). I read their RSO training guide (again). And on slide 12, it once again says the RSO is responsible for checking the safety of rockets flown. If it is an HPR flight, the RSO must check it and he/she must be HPR certified. I attached the link. I first saw this slide show when it was presented by one of our members, Ted Cochran.

The RSO is responsible for SAFETY. Pad/flight line location, watching for rockets coming in un-safely, AND ensuring only safe rockets fly to begin with. Checking the rocket is a big part of safety, and NAR agrees with me.

https://www.nar.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Safety-Training-for-RSO-2013.pdf
 
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I am surprised that no one has mentioned that, especially at launches with new modelers, the launch rods should be angled away from spectators/participants so that a ballistic return is less likely to come in where the people are.

Don
 
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I think it speaks very well of the hobby in general that young people are so firm in their commitment to safety. Another case in point: a year or so ago, we were at our local hobby shop just after a couple of kids had blown up their living room messing around with black powder motors. They had emptied out several motors, and were lighting off some of the powder in the fireplace to "test" new configurations. A spark got loose and into the bowl of powder. BOOM! Fortunately, the kids just had temporary hearing loss and minor burns, and the living room just needed new windows. The LHS owner told us that BATF had been there to ask if the kids had bought materials there (which they hadn't). On the way home, my daughter (1 year and change into TARC then) said that she was glad the kids hadn't been in their high school rocketry club, because they would have had to expel them for gross disregard for safety.

So good on you to the young people standing up for doing it right!
 
This story came up on FB and I feel it's time to bump it again... I wish this would get stuck for all new teachers to see.
 
As an Educator doing mid power rocketry with students I am always watching out for turkeys who’d like to mess around with the rockets. I am acting as the RSO at all times. All the local police, fire and EMS know me and are supportive of what I do with my students. School administration are backing me - and have come out on several occasions to see what all the fuss is about.

As apart of safety I demo all the what ifs and show graphic images of surgical reconstruction of hands mutilated by careless use of energetic materials. I do many live demos with energetics. That usually does it for the students. Haven’t had any issues in my rocket program with students glueing nose cones or ripping out the parachutes etc. Nope. I let the students know that should they get struck by a rocket coming in ballistic it would be a slim chance of survival. I’m deadly serious about this - and its nice to have EMS help Educate too. We have designed plenty of low power rockets and in groups when students have attained the right level of understanding - students will have a go at a building a Mach flyer- minimum diameter rockets on AT and CTi 24mm and 29mm motors. I oversee the fabrication part to make totally sure the rocket fins are done right.... you’d be surprised on the level of detail these students get into. You see the girls are very picky and see those math science connections quickly... oh how they enjoy these challenges!
These are 12 / 13 yr olds. Parents and staff are out supervising and taking pictures. We always maintain safe distances. IMG_0329.jpg


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Well, in all fairness, there's a BIG DIFFERENCE between someone "bending a few rules" here and there, while knowing WHICH ONES they can bend and which ones they can't (or SHOULDN'T)

The ones they think they can bend are the ones they don't know the reason they were put in place. It is usually a safety event that causes things to be done a certain way. Same thing happens in railway signalling when young engineers consider simplifying the circuitry. Methods are usually developed or refined based on injury or death, but they are not explicitly told that at school.
 
Guess what... This topic came up on FB again... Time to bump it again. I still wish this would get stickied.
 
kid had removed the parachute, and superglued the nosecone into the body tube without anybody catching on.
Unfortunately a simaler act of sabotage occurred in a aero class at my high school. After I talked to a few people It seams that this is not very uncommon. So doing a final inspection of all of the rockets is very important. When my rocketry team does a STEM Engagement activity (building rockets with kids) we always have the kids pull the nose cone off and pull the parachute out. This helps us also make sure they are properly packing there parachute.
 
Folks, all I have to add to this conflagration is this: Pass the fire. Not literally, of course. We all stand in the shadows of our pioneers, many who had to learn lessons the hard way so we don't have to. For those old enuff, Estes had a "basement bomber" info series back in the day. The internet provided much useful information sharing as it came of age, but it was a two edged sword. Things like The Anarchist's Cookbook, mis-applied pyrotechnic practices, and indeed, darker motives, spread like, well, wildfire. We, in defense of our hobby, have had to shoulder the safe and sane practices that allow us to persue our hobby, relatively free of over-arching restrictions brought about by uninformed 'authorities'. When I moved to Cali from Georgia, you had to be 18 to posess an Estes motor, and an adult had to be present at all launches. Not to mention fire permits snd all that entailed. FAA notams were non- existent snd as things progressed, leups and storage bins were required until the successful fight to deregulate AP. I have lived a long time,with all the eyes, fingers and toes my parents gave me as a matching set for my birthday. I'm not recounting the horror stories, there is neither the time nor is this the place to do that. Help defend our hobby by sharing your experience and bringing along the newbies and wannabe's. We need to keep this hobby alive at all levels with our enviable safety record. Pass the fire, but safely.
 
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