Freedom Launch Cancelled

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AlexM

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Freedom Launch 2004 : Cancelation
Posted by bweatherford on 2004/9/2 18:38:11 (0 reads)
Folks,

This has been a most difficult decision for your leadership to make. We realize the current predicted path of Frances takes it below South Carolina. Florida will take the brunt of the storm and it is predicted at this point to go into Alabama and western Georgia. However, keep in mind this is a very large storm and it reaches far beyond the path of its eye.

After checking NOAA, Weather Channel, and local weather sources, it appears the winds will be high starting Saturday afternoon with storms and rain settling in for the remaining days. Safety and fun are our primary concern. A major concern is for our members and guests who may be traveling through the path of the storm.

Risking a launch during this time doesn't seem like the right call to make. Remember, we love to fly as much as the our members and guests. We just feel the risk does not out weigh the benefits. We look forward to seeing you at another launch, but we feel we must cancel the Freedom Launch festivities.

If you have reservations at the Days Inn (803-534-0500), don't forget to call and cancel. We'll see you guys on the field in October!

Sincerely,

Eric Benner, ICBM Prefect
Bobby Weatherford, NAR Senior Technical Advisor
Mike Mixon, ICBM Treasurer
Randy Trotter, NAR Treasurer


This Sucks
 
Hey everyone,

Just to explain a little more about our decision.....

We (both club's officers) have been talking pretty steady for the last 24-36 hours about this weekend. I can't cound the number of emails that have been exchanged. At the end, three of us spent almost an hour on cell phones in a 3-way conference call talking about nothing but the weather...... Even without a CAT-4 hurricane, the weather at Oburg would be only fair on Saturday, not too good on Sunday and really poor on Monday. Then factor in the storm and we felt it was better to cancell it.

I told the other guys that while cancelling the launch would make everyone remember "the year we cancelled the Freedom Launch", this would be better than remembering the "year someone got hurt / killed during the Freedom Launch"

In a nutshell, Safety was the MAIN concern............
 
Uh, as big as this B**** is I don't think anyone in the southeast will be flying rockets! See pic.
 
This is definitely disappointing considering I already had the plane ticket, studied for the L2 test, purchased motor casings and mailed all of my rockets ahead of time so they would be there when the plane landed. Frances looks like it is moving less northward then anticipated, more then likely will not affect the Orangeburg area, but I respect the leadership decision of safety first. Maybe next year....
 
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