Hello from Western Washington

[Jim P.]

My first rocket launch was in August 1968 (I was a spectator only).
Built and flew my first rockets a few weeks later.
Joined a couple NAR sections and became active and successful in competitive rocketry, 1969-1974
Switched to sport flying from the late 70s through the 80s.
Became more active again in the late 90s.
Rejoined a local NAR section in 1999.
Certified L1 and L2 in 2000.
Bought everything for a L3 project in 2001.
Then I found lots of other rocket projects that were more interesting.
Finally started building the L3 project in 2023.
Heard at our local club meeting this evening that I should join TRF, so I did.

Jim Pommert

 

[BEC]

Hi, Jim! As I said to Bob Yanacek, fancy meeting you here!

BTW, as I'm sure you figured, Saturday's BEMRC launch is going to be scrubbed for too much liquid sunshine in the forecast....

 

[Rocket86]

Hi Jim, nice to see you here. I saw you in the meetings last week, I was on Zoom. Hope to see you next year.

 

[teepot]

Welcome to the Forum. You have been busy.

 

[jpoehlman]

Welcome Jim, you are a true legend. Looking forward to seeing your L3 journey and flight this year!

Jack Poehlman

 

[OverTheTop]

Welcome Jim. I hope your L3 build is fun .

 

[mcderek]

Hi Jim, what's your L3 project going to be? A 7.5" Thor? It would make your awesome Thor collection complete!

 

[Jim P.]

Hi Jim, what's your L3 project going to be? A 7.5" Thor? It would make your awesome Thor collection complete!

I thought of a 7.5" Thor properly scaled but decided I didn't want something nearly 15 feet tall as my certification bird. That would have been too much of a hassle with accessing the e-bay since I'd need to bring a ladder. Besides, I decided that I wanted something with a boat tail. So the bird is kind of an upscale of the old BS&D Apache, but different. I also wanted a rocket that I could fly on a small M at any of the Washington State high-power launch sites without building something heavier than I like. Tri-Cities has the lowest waiver of the current sites at 9,000 feet AGL. That kept me away from anything under 7.5"

By the way, I did add to my Thor collection recently. I now have a Micro-Max Thor!

 

[rharshberger]

Welcome Jim!

 

[mcderek]

I thought of a 7.5" Thor properly scaled but decided I didn't want something nearly 15 feet tall as my certification bird. That would have been too much of a hassle with accessing the e-bay since I'd need to bring a ladder. Besides, I decided that I wanted something with a boat tail. So the bird is kind of an upscale of the old BS&D Apache, but different. I also wanted a rocket that I could fly on a small M at any of the Washington State high-power launch sites without building something heavier than I like. Tri-Cities has the lowest waiver of the current sites at 9,000 feet AGL. That kept me away from anything under 7.5"

By the way, I did add to my Thor collection recently. I now have a Micro-Max Thor!

Sounds good. Still a nearly 15' tall Thor would be AWESOME! If you ever build one I'll carry the ladder for you!

 

[mcderek]

Here's a picture of Jim's high power Thor's.



The low power Thor's:



An awesome collection! I bet there will be a 7.5" Thor someday!

 

[Rocket86]

Jim is an a-THOR-ity on those.

 

[mcderek]

If anyone is wondering why there are multiple 4" Thors, I'm pretty sure at least one is a cluster set up.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Jim