EVENT LDRS 39

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Dugway

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I have been tasked by the Utah Rocket Club to create an official LDRS 39 thread, and this is it! Planning has already begun and at this point I can confirm that the location will be the Bonneville Salt Flats and that we will be launching from Thursday, July 30th to Sunday, August 2nd. As more details emerge they will be revealed here, so stay tuned!
 
Thanks for the update and we are looking forward to learning details as you folks work them out. Dates are on my calendar.

If you all need any consultation with past host organizations, we are more than happy to help.

--Lance.

Lance, you guys are truly a tough act to follow. We learned a lot by watching Kloudbusters. And there’s a lot we plan to borrow.

Joe
 
Here are some photos of LDRS-17, which I am thinking was in 1998. The white landscape of the Bonneville Salt Flats stretches as far as the eye can see. Even in 1998 upscale models were a striking sight to see as shown by the upscale Estes Alpha and the Estes Sprint. One of the unique things about the launch set-up was that the LCO table was at ground level, but the RSO people actually climbed up into an elevated platform from which they could see near and far.
 

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At LDRS-17 Randall Redd had some of his famous Odd-Roc creations including flying fishes, a dragon that had a motor in it's mouth so that it spit fire, and a early version of Marv The Martian's Rocket. The late Fred Williams had a scale Viking model that was hybrid-powered for L2 certification. Back then hybrids were coming into popularity. There was a vendor on-site with an N2O source packed in dry-ice. At Andy Woerner's tent you could find two different scales of Saturn V's and Bumper Wac's.
 

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I looked but not very hard. What are the dates? Can we camp in trailers on the lake bed? Are there any restrictions while on the lake bed?



I have been tasked by the Utah Rocket Club to create an official LDRS 39 thread, and this is it! Planning has already begun and at this point I can confirm that the location will be the Bonneville Salt Flats and that we will be launching from Thursday, July 30th to Sunday, August 2nd. As more details emerge they will be revealed here, so stay tuned!



from the UROC website located here: https://www.uroc.org/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=591702

No Camping on the Flats - Overnight stays are prohibited on the salt flats. Camping is encouraged on surrounding public lands. Private campgrounds and hookups are available in nearby Wendover City ten miles west of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Other accommodations and services are also available in Wendover.
 
UROC has a couple of members camp at the site for security. Those of you who went to LDRS 38 no doubt saw Clair and Maureen Mills’ steam punk camper. They will stay out on the salt in the camper, but no one else gets to. BLM has regulations that we can’t do anything about. Speed week has the same limitations. The upside is that there are about 3,000 hotel rooms in Wendover, ranging from $50 a night to a suite in one of the casinos. After a day in the sun, it’s nice to take a dip in the pool, and almost every hotel has one, even the Motel 6 where I’ve generally stayed. Wendover is about 10-15 minutes away, depending on how fast you drive on the salt.
 
There is an area just off the salt called "the bend" where an asphalt road kind of winds around ... close in just not on the salt. Many racers have camped along this ring road as it's open BLM land and free use. It's dry camping without any hook ups of course, but for three or four days might work for some. I've "tented" in the past but will be staying at one of the casinos in Wendover ... Hot showers, Hot food, Cold air-conditioning (July/Aug is no joke on the flats) and a nice bed with housekeeping.

BTW ... don't go commando with shorts on the salt ... interesting "parts" sunburn for the unaware.
 
The host hotel hasn’t been finalized yet. I expect that announcement fairly soon. We usually get a block of rooms at a pretty good rate. But if you can’t get a room at the host hotel, Wendover is not that big of a place. And there are more than 3000 rooms in Wendover, so they won’t run out.
 
As of today, hotels.com has 2 rooms left at the Motel 6 for $48/night. The bad news is that you have to prepay. The good news is that it's half of what all the other hotels are charging, and it is fully refundable. Have stayed there multiple times for previous Hellfires, and it is perfectly adequate.
 
It's not looking good for getting anything above the regular Hellfire 25,000' waiver.
Also, we are probably going to get the waiver to run from 7am to 3pm instead of the more typical 9am to 5pm. The best weather for flying is earlier in the day and the heat gets bad in the afternoon.
 
It's not looking good for getting anything above the regular Hellfire 25,000' waiver.
Also, we are probably going to get the waiver to run from 7am to 3pm instead of the more typical 9am to 5pm. The best weather for flying is earlier in the day and the heat gets bad in the afternoon.

Good news on the waiver time. Having attended two Hellfire launches in the past I can say YES the heat gets bad in the afternoon so I am happy the waiver will open at 7am.
 
Hopefully a higher waiver can be negotiated.

Maybe TPTB within Tripoli could help with getting the waivers (call ins ?) raised? 54mm MD rockets are currently pushing the 25'k level and then some. With only a 25'k waiver I would expect many projects won't make the trek to the salt flats resulting in smaller participant numbers.

I'm sure everyone is trying ...
 
At past Hellfire launches, we have had a 10,000' AGL waiver with a 25,000' AGL call-in. I expect that is what is being described above.

FWIW, the part of the Salt Flats that we use is under the five mile wide civilian air traffic corridor that runs East-West. All the other airspace belongs to the military. If anyone has contacts in ATC at Hill Field AFB, please let us know!
 
Hopefully a higher waiver can be negotiated.

Maybe TPTB within Tripoli could help with getting the waivers (call ins ?) raised? 54mm MD rockets are currently pushing the 25'k level and then some. With only a 25'k waiver I would expect many projects won't make the trek to the salt flats resulting in smaller participant numbers.

I'm sure everyone is trying ...

It would be great if we had that kind of influence, but if Tripoli tried to intercede it might just make things worse. UROC knows the obstacles at Bonneville better than anyone.
 
At past Hellfire launches, we have had a 10,000' AGL waiver with a 25,000' AGL call-in. I expect that is what is being described above.

FWIW, the part of the Salt Flats that we use is under the five mile wide civilian air traffic corridor that runs East-West. All the other airspace belongs to the military. If anyone has contacts in ATC at Hill Field AFB, please let us know!

We have contact and have looked into using the UTTR airspace. The issue actually isn't getting authorization to use the airspace. The issue is the land. On the Salt you'll get stuck. Other locations BLM will not allow.
 
There is no plan to have any launch rods larger than 1/4" setup on the range. Any rockets that will be launching on larger than G motors should have rail buttons or guides that fit 1010 (for up to L motors) or 1515 (for M and above) rails.
This saves the time and energy of swapping back and forth between rails and rods and gives us an extra margin of safety. Fliers are always welcome to bring their own custom pads, towers, etc. and then use our control system to launch.
 
There is no plan to have any launch rods larger than 1/4" setup on the range. Any rockets that will be launching on larger than G motors should have rail buttons or guides that fit 1010 (for up to L motors) or 1515 (for M and above) rails.
This saves the time and energy of swapping back and forth between rails and rods and gives us an extra margin of safety. Fliers are always welcome to bring their own custom pads, towers, etc. and then use our control system to launch.

One update. At the last planning meeting we thought we'd put a couple 1010 rails on the M pads as well just in case. Curious if anyone has a need for this?
 
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