yvanthesaxophonist
Active Member
When I first got into rocketry, it struck me as weird that L1 was the only certification level with two letters in it, while the others each had three. Now, it feels weird to me that the others have three.
I realize that all cutoffs are in some way arbitrary, what separates a 1% J from a 100% I is measurement error, but from my (not fully inclusive) experience, H&I motors are indeed pretty similar, even the baby Hs to the full Is, and J&K motors are also similar. But L motors don't "feel" like they fit with the J&K motors. I think a lot of this has to do with that most L motors are 75mm motors. Rockets that I and others have built that are good for L motors tend to be pretty good for M motors, and the lowest they'll go is very very thrusty Ks. Similarly, the gap between a baby M and a full O, or even something like the N5800, feels much larger than between even small Ls and big Ms. I personally feel like L1 of H&I, L2 of J&K, L3 of L&M, and L4 of N&O, just makes more sense. I don't think this is a necessary change, nor do I think how we do it is unsafe. It works, it's good, people get their certs and generally speaking fly rockets they're capable of flying. Just had some thoughts and wanted to share.
I realize that all cutoffs are in some way arbitrary, what separates a 1% J from a 100% I is measurement error, but from my (not fully inclusive) experience, H&I motors are indeed pretty similar, even the baby Hs to the full Is, and J&K motors are also similar. But L motors don't "feel" like they fit with the J&K motors. I think a lot of this has to do with that most L motors are 75mm motors. Rockets that I and others have built that are good for L motors tend to be pretty good for M motors, and the lowest they'll go is very very thrusty Ks. Similarly, the gap between a baby M and a full O, or even something like the N5800, feels much larger than between even small Ls and big Ms. I personally feel like L1 of H&I, L2 of J&K, L3 of L&M, and L4 of N&O, just makes more sense. I don't think this is a necessary change, nor do I think how we do it is unsafe. It works, it's good, people get their certs and generally speaking fly rockets they're capable of flying. Just had some thoughts and wanted to share.