g3d
Member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2011
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 0
Having recently returned to rocketry after a ~20 year absence, I'm very excited to play around with Open Rocket to create my own designs, where I can rapidly build and launch - for the time being - low-power scratch-built models.
Since I'm doing launches using Estes B & C motors, I scoped out several local parks for a good launch site, and settled on one that is used for equestrian riding. It is a large park with riding trails, open fields, and riding areas, with a very large dirt & gravel parking log which is almost always empty. Because the parking lot is the size of several football fields, and is surrounded by more open space, I thought this would be an ideal place to fly as it is only 5 minutes from my house.
To date, I have flown there 5 times, and the first 4 times I had a very good experience, and several times had bystanders walk up and show a high level of interest in my rockets, and wanted to watch the launches. Note that I only do any launching when I have good weather, the parking lot is empty, and there are no persons, etc. with several hundred yards.
This past weekend however, a local woman who lives close to the park, and has horses, saw me setting up for flying. She literally snuck-up behind me, and angrily confronted me and accused me of illegal activities. (She literally was screaming at me, which surprised the heck out of me) I told her that it wasn't illegal, from which she said she would call the police. She then walked away and proceeded to call 911, and informed them that I was deploying explosive devices and using fire, possibly intending to create bombs, and at the very least to create illegal fireworks, and that I was going to kill someone. (I know this because that is what the police reported to me upon arrival)
Within 5 minutes, 4 police officers in 3 squad cars converged on the scene, at which time I had to submit to a very heavy-handed grilling and a search of my person, rocketry equipment, and vehicle. Fortunately, I was able to easily diffuse the situation as they could plainly see I only had model rockets with "toy" engines. This was aided by the fact that my off-the-cuff lecture on rocket design and the affect of airfoil fins on stability, including calculating CP versus CG made their eyes glaze over, as well as the fact that I had written records of my flights and an altimeter for recording flight data.
However, I did receive an ultimatum to never fly there again, because the person who called them owned horses, and the park is intended for riding. After discussing the situation, they did say they would talk to the person who started the incident with things blown way out of proportion. During this incident, a guy showed up to fly his RC aircraft. I asked if he was allowed to fly at the park, and they responded that since there was no complaint about RC aircraft, there is nothing stopping him from flying.
Obviously, I would never like to experience this kind of situation again, and upon reflection, I wonder if I actually, in fact, did do something wrong here by inadvertently violating some safety rule(s)? How do you go about picking a local launch site for low-powered model rocketry in such a way as to avoid this kind of situation?
I can easily avoid this situation by attending club launches in the future, however I would like to continue to pursue the hobby by flying locally. Though this experience has made me very hesitant about future involvement, as this entire incident scared the crap out of me.
In any case, I want to be safe while having fun. So if any criticism or advice (hey, I'm willing to take some lumps here) would be appreciated.
Since I'm doing launches using Estes B & C motors, I scoped out several local parks for a good launch site, and settled on one that is used for equestrian riding. It is a large park with riding trails, open fields, and riding areas, with a very large dirt & gravel parking log which is almost always empty. Because the parking lot is the size of several football fields, and is surrounded by more open space, I thought this would be an ideal place to fly as it is only 5 minutes from my house.
To date, I have flown there 5 times, and the first 4 times I had a very good experience, and several times had bystanders walk up and show a high level of interest in my rockets, and wanted to watch the launches. Note that I only do any launching when I have good weather, the parking lot is empty, and there are no persons, etc. with several hundred yards.
This past weekend however, a local woman who lives close to the park, and has horses, saw me setting up for flying. She literally snuck-up behind me, and angrily confronted me and accused me of illegal activities. (She literally was screaming at me, which surprised the heck out of me) I told her that it wasn't illegal, from which she said she would call the police. She then walked away and proceeded to call 911, and informed them that I was deploying explosive devices and using fire, possibly intending to create bombs, and at the very least to create illegal fireworks, and that I was going to kill someone. (I know this because that is what the police reported to me upon arrival)
Within 5 minutes, 4 police officers in 3 squad cars converged on the scene, at which time I had to submit to a very heavy-handed grilling and a search of my person, rocketry equipment, and vehicle. Fortunately, I was able to easily diffuse the situation as they could plainly see I only had model rockets with "toy" engines. This was aided by the fact that my off-the-cuff lecture on rocket design and the affect of airfoil fins on stability, including calculating CP versus CG made their eyes glaze over, as well as the fact that I had written records of my flights and an altimeter for recording flight data.
However, I did receive an ultimatum to never fly there again, because the person who called them owned horses, and the park is intended for riding. After discussing the situation, they did say they would talk to the person who started the incident with things blown way out of proportion. During this incident, a guy showed up to fly his RC aircraft. I asked if he was allowed to fly at the park, and they responded that since there was no complaint about RC aircraft, there is nothing stopping him from flying.
Obviously, I would never like to experience this kind of situation again, and upon reflection, I wonder if I actually, in fact, did do something wrong here by inadvertently violating some safety rule(s)? How do you go about picking a local launch site for low-powered model rocketry in such a way as to avoid this kind of situation?
I can easily avoid this situation by attending club launches in the future, however I would like to continue to pursue the hobby by flying locally. Though this experience has made me very hesitant about future involvement, as this entire incident scared the crap out of me.
In any case, I want to be safe while having fun. So if any criticism or advice (hey, I'm willing to take some lumps here) would be appreciated.