L1 certification question

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Five

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Hey everyone,
I hope everybody is healthy and doing well.

I’m looking to get my L1 certification. I was told to visit a local club launch but since the weather here in Vegas get hotter than the surface of the sun, they canceled the next couple of launches.
According to the TripoliVegas website the next launch is in September and I plan to attend. There are a few questions I have if someone can help me out with?

-How do I obtain the motor that is used for certification launch?

-I’m currently a NAR member but not a Tripoli member, can I still attempt L1 certification?

-If meeting all the requirements for certification Is it possible to attempt the certification launch at my first appearance to a local club launch?

I’m looking for all opinions and suggestions. Tell me if I’m on the right track or if I’m asking the wrong questions. Your feedback is greatly appreciated,
Thank you
 
Hello Five, welcome to TRF.

L1 certification motor: you just need to buy a H or I impulse certified rocket motor with more then 80Ns of average thrust from a on site motor vendor or online, just say you are buying the motor for a L1 attempt. As for which one there are many factors, what rocket are you planning for the L1 attempt?

As for NAR or Tripoli that depends on your local launch, what everyone or both that are represented having a active membership is required. Also our local Triploli requires adult fliers to have a local membership to fly rockets. I do not know if this is required at other launches (the local membership).

I do not see why you could not attempt your L1 at your first high power launch. It's a community, learning experience, a journey.

Good luck, search and read the forums, as you make the L1 attempt: pictures, video, flight details, have fun.

~John
 
Hey everyone,
I hope everybody is healthy and doing well.

I’m looking to get my L1 certification. I was told to visit a local club launch but since the weather here in Vegas get hotter than the surface of the sun, they canceled the next couple of launches.
According to the TripoliVegas website the next launch is in September and I plan to attend. There are a few questions I have if someone can help me out with?

-How do I obtain the motor that is used for certification launch?

-I’m currently a NAR member but not a Tripoli member, can I still attempt L1 certification?

-If meeting all the requirements for certification Is it possible to attempt the certification launch at my first appearance to a local club launch?

I’m looking for all opinions and suggestions. Tell me if I’m on the right track or if I’m asking the wrong questions. Your feedback is greatly appreciated,
Thank you
-Many launches have onsite vendors. Check with TripoliVegas if they have a vendor at launches; if not, you'll have to buy on line.
-Depends on the clubs. I am an NAR member, but I joined the local Tripoli club to fly on a bigger field. They were ok with an L1 cert.
-NAR level 1 requires two NAR members to sign off on your flight, one holding a Level 1 certification, or an NAR level 2 certified member. There may or may not be NAR members at the Tripoli launch.
-I think if you show up and seem to know what you're doing no one will question a certification attempt at your first appearance.
 
Well, the closest NAR section looks to be out at Pahrump and the Las Vegas group looks to be Tripoli only by their website. Many folks join both organizations. I would contact the club and ask if they have an on-site vendor. That simplifies things, you go buy your motor and fly (by the rules and paperwork :)).
 
Thank you Galantvr, your feedback is exactly the kind of response I’m looking for.
I was going to keep it simple with a h100 38mm from Siriusrocketry. I have a loc HI-Tech 38mm that I fly with a MM2 adapter, I wasn’t sure if I could use that for certification. Which brings up another question. Can the rocket that I use have been previously flown?
 
-Many launches have onsite vendors. Check with TripoliVegas if they have a vendor at launches; if not, you'll have to buy on line.
-Depends on the clubs. I am an NAR member, but I joined the local Tripoli club to fly on a bigger field. They were ok with an L1 cert.
-NAR level 1 requires two NAR members to sign off on your flight, one holding a Level 1 certification, or an NAR level 2 certified member. There may or may not be NAR members at the Tripoli launch.
-I think if you show up and seem to know what you're doing no one will question a certification attempt at your first appearance.
Thank you
 
Any rocket can be used for an L1 attempt, flown or unflown, as long as you built it. You can cert NAR at a Tripoli launch as long as you have the required people at the launch to sign your NAR paperwork and vise versa. Check with the club officers, many will be dual members of both Tripoli and NAR or can let you know if the right people are going to be there.

Bring money. If you cert successfully and the vendor is on site, you will want to dump lots of cash for more motors!

Have fun!
 
Any rocket can be used for an L1 attempt, flown or unflown, as long as you built it. You can cert NAR at a Tripoli launch as long as you have the required people at the launch to sign your NAR paperwork and vise versa. Check with the club officers, many will be dual members of both Tripoli and NAR or can let you know if the right people are going to be there.

Bring money. If you cert successfully and the vendor is on site, you will want to dump lots of cash for more motors!

Have fun!
Greatly appreciated. I will have my card, cash, and ready to fill there pockets up.
 
I did exactly as you describing 2 weeks ago. I built my rocket this past winter (I had flown low power for many years before taking a break and getting back into it a year ago). I found a local club that had both NAR and Tripoli affiliations, joined the club and reached out to them with what I planned to do at their next available event. They had no problems with my making my attempt at my first club launch, but I also gave them details about my background and experience. I sourced my motor online and reached out to the online vendor and provided my NAR number and explained the purchase was for an L1 attempt (they will only sell you 1). Attended the first launch I could and all was good to go after that. I had also previously test flown my L1 rocket at a private field on some G motors to make sure all was good (and I was itching to fly it with COVID shutting everything down).

My recommendations:
- Read all the details on the NAR and Tripoli websites about high power certification
- Run a bunch of sims for your rocket - make sure you have the correct mass input for your actual rocket and keep the first flight low and slow if you can (my L1 simmed to 997ft).
- Watch some of the L1 certification walk-through videos on youtube. Apogee Components and John Coker had the most informative ones on there in my opinion.
- Have fun.
 
I did exactly as you describing 2 weeks ago. I built my rocket this past winter (I had flown low power for many years before taking a break and getting back into it a year ago). I found a local club that had both NAR and Tripoli affiliations, joined the club and reached out to them with what I planned to do at their next available event. They had no problems with my making my attempt at my first club launch, but I also gave them details about my background and experience. I sourced my motor online and reached out to the online vendor and provided my NAR number and explained the purchase was for an L1 attempt (they will only sell you 1). Attended the first launch I could and all was good to go after that. I had also previously test flown my L1 rocket at a private field on some G motors to make sure all was good (and I was itching to fly it with COVID shutting everything down).

My recommendations:
- Read all the details on the NAR and Tripoli websites about high power certification
- Run a bunch of sims for your rocket - make sure you have the correct mass input for your actual rocket and keep the first flight low and slow if you can (my L1 simmed to 997ft).
- Watch some of the L1 certification walk-through videos on youtube. Apogee Components and John Coker had the most informative ones on there in my opinion.
- Have fun.
Which vendor did you use and out of curiosity which motor did you choose?
 
I got my motor from flightsketch. I used a motor adapter from 38 to 29mm as I already had 29/180 and 29/240 hardware. I went with an AT H128W with delay drilled to 8 seconds in an Apogee Zephyr. Simmed to 997 feet. I also considered the H238 and H165. Both are also 29/180 motors and have similar, albeit slightly higher results. For test flights i flew it on an AT G79W LMS and a G76G RMS.
 
You guys in the USA are so lucky to have on-site vendors. Would simplify purchasing here in Oz, but there are far few rocketeers down here.
That may be true, but I suspect you have large open spaces and high waivers like we don't have here. At least not within a 20 hour drive from the eastern shore.
 
You guys in the USA are so lucky to have on-site vendors. Would simplify purchasing here in Oz, but there are far few rocketeers down here.
What would it take to form your own motor manufacturing company and get motors certified there? I know TMT is based in the US but I imagine getting a branch of TMT there should be possible to get motors certified. If motors were easily available, would you see an increase in the number of people in the hobby?
 
What would it take to form your own motor manufacturing company and get motors certified there? I know TMT is based in the US but I imagine getting a branch of TMT there should be possible to get motors certified. If motors were easily available, would you see an increase in the number of people in the hobby?
You would have to get a bunch of people together that have the wherewithal and enthusiasm to do it for free. I believe it is possible to organise from a regulatory point of view, but not easy. We just don't have the numbers in this country to make it worthwhile IMHO. Nice idea though.
 
I did exactly as you describing 2 weeks ago. I built my rocket this past winter (I had flown low power for many years before taking a break and getting back into it a year ago). I found a local club that had both NAR and Tripoli affiliations, joined the club and reached out to them with what I planned to do at their next available event. They had no problems with my making my attempt at my first club launch, but I also gave them details about my background and experience. I sourced my motor online and reached out to the online vendor and provided my NAR number and explained the purchase was for an L1 attempt (they will only sell you 1). Attended the first launch I could and all was good to go after that. I had also previously test flown my L1 rocket at a private field on some G motors to make sure all was good (and I was itching to fly it with COVID shutting everything down).

My recommendations:
- Read all the details on the NAR and Tripoli websites about high power certification
- Run a bunch of sims for your rocket - make sure you have the correct mass input for your actual rocket and keep the first flight low and slow if you can (my L1 simmed to 997ft).
- Watch some of the L1 certification walk-through videos on youtube. Apogee Components and John Coker had the most informative ones on there in my opinion.
- Have fun.
Will do,
Thanks for the advice
 
AMRS already does for SCR, so I'd imagine certing an H should be reasonably straightforward?
Sort of true. This hobby is one of the ones that is truly exponential in many ways. Stepping up from smaller motors makes things relativley easier, but the motors get bigger and more expensive to certify exponentially too. I am guessing they get progressively less sales as the size goes up, so the relative return on effort expended probably diminishes. The safety requirements would also get more onerous I would think. Happy for someone with experience in this area to tell me I am wrong, but the fact that it hasn't happened yet tells me I have a good chance of being correct. Maybe there are other issues I don't know about too.
 
Hey everyone,
I hope everybody is healthy and doing well.

I’m looking to get my L1 certification. I was told to visit a local club launch but since the weather here in Vegas get hotter than the surface of the sun, they canceled the next couple of launches.
According to the TripoliVegas website the next launch is in September and I plan to attend. There are a few questions I have if someone can help me out with?

-How do I obtain the motor that is used for certification launch?

-I’m currently a NAR member but not a Tripoli member, can I still attempt L1 certification?

-If meeting all the requirements for certification Is it possible to attempt the certification launch at my first appearance to a local club launch?

I’m looking for all opinions and suggestions. Tell me if I’m on the right track or if I’m asking the wrong questions. Your feedback is greatly appreciated,
Thank you

If you join Tripoli and NAR you will have more options for sure. Have you looked into FAR - Friends of Amateur Rocketry? It's not a far drive from Vegas and they do L1 certs for Tripoli at least.

https://friendsofamateurrocketry.org/
Also, have you checked ROCKONN?

https://www.rockonn.org/
They aren't that far from Vegas and they can do NAR certs.

For getting your motor to cert with there are two places online that I know of that will sell you ONE motor through the mail to do your cert flight.

Apogee Components
https://www.apogeerockets.com/
Buy Rocket Motors
https://www.buyrocketmotors.com/
Also, once you cert with NAR or Tripoli... they both honor each other's certs... if you forward your proof of certification.

I did my Tripoli Level 1 cert at FAR this June.

Then did my NAR Level 2 cert at ROKONN in July.

Both places have great people and they are both great spots to fly.

-Rend and Mend
 
I reached out to Siriusrocketry. They will allow me to purchase one Motor(H or I) They just need a statement from me and my NAR #. With that taken care of, just playing the waiting game for my madcow SuperDX3 and aeropack 38mm motor retainer from apogee.
Thanks for everyone’s help
 
Enjoy the L1. Good luck. I would suggest you give a camera to a friend to get a few pics of the day, including you with the rocket at the pad.
Good advice. If you want video, have someone else record it for you, too. You'll be too busy tracking your rocket.
 
I usually have my 6 year old sometimes take video but I think she won’t attended because heat will be torture on her.
 
This furry guy was passing through as I was putting the clips on the igniter and wanted to check out the launch.
 

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