Why Get HPR Certified?

[techrat]

Ok.... I am NOT L1 yet, but I expect to be L1 in early 2024. And yet, I have already built 3 or 4 rockets that require 38mm motors. I have a Zephyr that I already extended (it's about 7ft tall now), and I do not believe it's capable of getting off the rail with just a "G" motor -- too heavy. And while my LOC IV and some of my others may make it with a G motor, they won't go more than a few hundred feet. I've reached the point where I keep building bigger and heavier, and I'm now looking at H and I motors as "necessary" to actually fly some of these things I have built.

Admittedly, I'm running out of space in my place, so I may scale it back some after that -- I'm not gunning for L2 and beyond simply because my flying spaces are kind of limited. But I should be OK at METRA in NY to do anything as long as I don't go beyond 4500 ft. That said, I think 3" and 4" diameter rockets are my happy spot that I'm comfortable with and don't see myself going beyond that for now.

 

[NTP2]

That said, I think 3" and 4" diameter rockets are my happy spot that I'm comfortable with and don't see myself going beyond that for now.

That’s what you say before a really cool L3 kit goes on sale…

 

[Art Upton]

" . . . but I honestly don't think I'm every going to go for level 3. I can't see myself traveling to these events sometimes thousands of miles away to fly a rocket but you never know where life will take you" - That's exactly what I said when I entered this hobby in the mid-90's! But Art Upton is right, life is what happens to you when you were busy making other plans. The included photo shows my Blushing Bride steadying my L3 certification rocket at BALLS. That smile on her face is genuine; she like the spectacle of rocketry, and she has the special gift of being able to get along with just about anybody. We sometimes travel thousands of miles together for HPR events. But, as usual, the key is moderation. We recently took a vacation that had absolutely nothing to do with rockets.
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I remember seeing you out of the Blue at Jean Dry Lake one October Fest some years ago and said Hi.

 

[Rocket86]

That said, I think 3" and 4" diameter rockets are my happy spot that I'm comfortable with and don't see myself going beyond that for now.

You can do some very cool L3 stuff with 3" and 4" rockets too.

 

[Neutronium95]

My dad started taking me to local launches when I was 5, I started building and flying my own a few years later, and soon after I attended my first high power launch. I was hooked then, and my family went to Plaster Blaster every year until I graduated high school. High Power always seemed like the obvious next step. I got my NAR Jr. L1 the year I turned 14, only to drift away from the hobby when I went to college.

High power has just been where I've found my comfort zone. Since getting back into the hobby in 2020, I've been pretty much flying only HPR, with occasional excursions into midpower. I've found my favorite fun:dollar ratio in K motors, with one or two 75mm Ms thrown in each year. A collection of 29mm H and I motors to fill in the rest of the flights each year leaves me feeling pretty satisfied. Someday I'd like to get into 98mm motors, but that'll have to wait until I either make a lot more money or find a project that some friends would be willing to pitch in to help with.

 

[doctorduke]

Man, I feel like I've run down the list of all those reasons, but "because I can" seems to fit the best. I've been an L3 candidate for a long time and the only reason I haven't gotten L3 is because other fun projects and rockets have come up. The L3 journey has gotten me into HAM radio, dramatically improved my CAD skills, and taken my 3D printing to entirely new levels. I've spun off so many non-rocket-related interests in my personal and professional life from pursuing high-power rocketry, it is crazy really.

For me doing high-power stuff or becoming an L3 has never distracted me from low and mid-power either. It really has re-energized inspiration and creativity for all other levels of rocketry.