MESS Reports?

[Len B]

Hi there,

I've seen a number of references to CATO's and "bonus delays" here and I have seen some of these as well. Recently, there was a message posted by a member of a national motor testing commitee. He indicated that he gets about 2 MESS reports per year. Are we doing ourselves a disservice by not reporting the problems we experience at the launch site? Some people shudder at the thought of a D21 or an F72 and I remember some problems with CTI G-60's and J-360's. I know I will fill out a report if I have another problem. So far, all my problems have been my fault! No motor related troubles so far. (touch wood) Are people filling out these reports?

Len Bryan

 

[vjp]

Wow, if that's true, I might be responsible for 1/2 of all MESS reports!

I reported an AT D21-7 CATO from the other weekend just a couple of days ago, and previous to that, a weak (almost non-existant) ejection charge on an Estes motor about 1 or 2 years ago.

Maybe awareness is the problem.

 

[jflis]

You bring up a good point.

One thought (though it wouldn't cover ALL occurances) would be to have some help at the club level. After all, these reports can help turn up some real problems that, if discovered, can be corrected in a timely manner.

Maybe clubs should take a pro-active approach to this and assign an individual (on a per launch basis) whose responsibility is to gather data from the rocketeer who suffers a cato and file the MESS themselves.

It is very easy to pack up your gear, head home, unpack and either forget about the MESS or just push it off cuz you're tired.

Such club involvement would do the rocketeers and the hobby a service. ALso, while I realize that club members are *already* busy and volunteers are hard to come by, I don't think this would be that much of an extra burden.

Just a thought...

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Ok, what does MESS stand for? What paperwork does one need to do?

I agree with Jim, maybe clubs need to be proactive with these reports....... I had a F-50 CATO in Jan 04, and have not even thought about reporting it

 

[wwattles]

I've personally never seen a MESS report, but I'm sure that if we just put a folder with some blank forms in with our club launch gear, we'd be much more likely to complete them when we need them.
Usually, when we have a malfunction, we take our failed (and often destroyed) rocket over to our club president, Andy Woerner, for an analysis. He's got a pretty good eye for design flaws, and can pretty accurately tell what went wrong if a motor failed... Maybe we should just put the MESS reports under his What's Up Hobbies sales desk and have them available...

Now you got me thinking...
(Darn you!)

WW

 

[n3tjm]

Yous should get a Mess Form when you renew (or apply for) your NAR membership. You can also contact NAR and they will send you several copies of the form. You can also report a bad motor online: https://nar.org/NARmessform.html

 

[jflis]

MESS: Malfunctioning Engine Statistical Survey

It's not *hard* to fill out and send in the form, they are very easy to obtain...


...HOWEVER...

heck, i havent' written my *mom* in months, guess where a MESS form is on the priority list...?

When you take into consideration the way most of us operate, they could include a MESS with every pack of motors and they *still* wouldn't get used...

Recognizing the value of the MESS it seems that organized clubs should spearhead the go-to-action to make sure this informaiton is being turned in, in a timely manner.

I would say that half of the NAR members that I know don't even know what a MESS is or why they should send it in. over half of the remainder don't have the time or the interest in sending them in, and it gets worse from there. You can *educate* all you want, but I doubt there will be much of an increase in the number of MESS forms received.

Clubs know what they are and why they're valuable (or they darned well should) and are in a position to make it happen...

just my 2 cents