New Tripoli Unified Safety Code

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Given any three people there will be an argument about the best way to phrase a requirement. What is considered a safe way to disarm? Is clipping wires allowed? May a person be on a ladder to do so? The problem is that any subjective language leave room for interpretation and everyone reads things differently. We tried to keep it simple.
Here’s what the new Safety Code says:
13-10 Where possible, igniters must be removed and all sources of ignition must be disarmed before lowering a rocket from launch position.
 
Gary,
Twist and Tuck was never outlawed. You still need a way to disarm the electronics if you have to take the rocket down. Most folks I know went to the two hole method, where the wires came out the top hole and were reinserted into the bottom hole a bit below the top one. That left a bit of the switch wire exposed so that if the electronics needed to be turned off they had access to them.
Bob
Thanks Bob. That has been my method for many years. It has never failed me.
 
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Gary,
Twist and Tuck was never outlawed. You still need a way to disarm the electronics if you have to take the rocket down. Most folks I know went to the two hole method, where the wires came out the top hole and were reinserted into the bottom hole a bit below the top one. That left a bit of the switch wire exposed so that if the electronics needed to be turned off they had access to them.
Bob

^^This^^
It’s what I’ve mostly always done with twist and tape/tuck.
 
Sandy,
We have worked many hours getting the safety code to where it is now. Still on our list is updating the study guide for the L2 test. That task starts tomorrow. In all fairness, we have until May 1st before the study guide is out of date.
Bob
I will be taking the Level 2 test likely at the NSL at the end of May. I hope if things are changed on the test by then, that we are notified as I have memorized the current one.
 
I will be taking the Level 2 test likely at the NSL at the end of May. I hope if things are changed on the test by then, that we are notified as I have memorized the current one.
Marty,
Good luck on the test. Mostly we think the changes will be the reference materials in the study guide. The questions themselves may not change, but that review is next on the agenda (for some of our other stalwart directors).
 
What is considered a safe way to disarm?

Personally, I think ANYONE who approaches an armed rocket needs to be able to disarm the rocket.
I think methods like single-hole twist-n-tuck, key-switches, WiFi switches and hidden screws-switches deep inside a rocket are NOT SAFE in this regard.

THIS is not that hard to do:
EBay-SW.jpg
 
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Why is the Tripoli safe distance code different than the NAR safe distance code for model rockets?
NAR - 15 feet for A-D and 30 feet for E-G. Tripoli - 50 feet for A-G.
 
Why is the Tripoli safe distance code different than the NAR safe distance code for model rockets?
NAR - 15 feet for A-D and 30 feet for E-G. Tripoli - 50 feet for A-G.
Jim,
Tripoli's safety distance for A through G motors has been 50' for the last several years. These distances were not increased in this Unified Safety Code.
Bob
 
Understood and I wasn't trying to say something was bad, just verifying how the people who have been studying should proceed. Probably the right answer is wait for the new study guide to be published and verify that you are working with that information if you are going to take the test in the next few weeks.

I imagine it will be a year or 2 before I take it, so I'm not overly concerned for myself, just others who are planning to do it sooner.

Sandy.
I personally read through the safety code and rules once a year just before our clubs launch season as well as the study guide just because we all get a little rusty🧐
 
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I have wondered about that difference for years. It means that the launch controllers that Estes has sold for years are illegal to use at a Tripoli launch because the cable lengths are 17 feet and 30 feet for the different types that they have.
 
I have wondered about that difference for years. It means that the launch controllers that Estes has sold for years are illegal to use at a Tripoli launch because the cable lengths are 17 feet and 30 feet for the different types that they have.
Hi Jim,
Like Bob said, we haven’t increased it, but it’s important to read the actual words. The old Safety Codes simply required that there be 50 feet of safe distance to Spectators. The LD, RSO, and LCO are all part of Range Personnel, not Spectators. This new unified version of the Safety Code specifically says that the safe distance for model rocket motors is 50 feet to Spectators but can be as little as 30 feet to Range Personnel.
 
Seems to be a critical addition.
Twist-n-tuck with a single hole is dangerous and should be outlawed by a safety code.
I don't quite agree as long as the electronics can easily be disarmed. I do understand if once tucked the system cannot be disarmed. I am a fairly new Level 2 so to me twisted and taped wires are a positive connect and dis-connect. With all of that I like sexy rockets so I am using the Lab Rat rocketry 2 micro switch pin pull method.
 
Personally, I think ANYONE who approaches an armed rocket needs to be able to disarm the rocket.
I think methods like single-hole twist-n-tuck, key-switches, WiFi switches and hidden screws-switches deep inside a rocket are NOT SAFE in this regard.

THIS is not that hard to do:
View attachment 516267


That seems like one more failure point waiting to happen . Can you power up your altimeters with the charges switch turned off and read continuity to the charges ? If your altimeter(s) are on and you flip the charge switch off , will it mess with the altimeter(s) ?
 
That seems like one more failure point waiting to happen . Can you power up your altimeters with the charges switch turned off and read continuity to the charges ? If your altimeter(s) are on and you flip the charge switch off , will it mess with the altimeter(s) ?

A switch needs to be there per the rules....no added failure.
The second, pyro switch, I consider a great addition to safety as it DISCONNECTS and SHUNTS the pyro's avoiding any possibility of errant fires due to static, RF or miss-handling.

Yes, you can power up the altimeters then turn on the pyro's - altimeters don't get from boot to pyro check that fast.
With the pyro's off, the pyro check fails.....just restart if you can't switch two switches fast enough.
And this avoids any power-on "burps" from altimeters.

We have HUNDREDS of flights with this arrangement.....HUNDREDS.

Enough with the unfounded worry over switch failure - they don't fail, people do.
Most failures regarding electronics are pilot error....not HW.
 
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PERSONALLY I would like to see the answer as "any electronics arming process must have a SAFE way to dis-arm".

This would exclude tucking the wires. Twist and tape to outside airframe: fine. Tucking it inside where it's not easily undone in the case of an aborted or failed launch...not-allowed.

[ I know a lot of people like twist-n-tuck. And they will say they can disarm it, but that is a more involved process, and DOES have more risk getting access to the wires. ]


I think you are wrong. I firmly believe the twist guys(myself included) have long ago stopped tucking. We have been taping for eons.
 
I think you are wrong. I firmly believe the twist guys(myself included) have long ago stopped tucking. We have been taping for eons

Eons --- really.

Just about 4-5 years ago my team was the one of the last to leave the playa on the Sunday of Balls.
We found a twist-and-tuck, partially deployed rocket on the way out - still beeping.
NOBODY else was around - all the organizers had long since fled the field - we had to take it or leave it.
NOBODY on my team wanted the damn thing in their ride going home.
FORTUNATELY we could see the wire and with a pair of tweezers we could fish it out and shut down the rocket.
It delayed out departure for almost an hour.
It wasn't fun to deal with and I wish that on no one.
 
Personally, I think ANYONE who approaches an armed rocket needs to be able to disarm the rocket.
I think methods like single-hole twist-n-tuck, key-switches, WiFi switches and hidden screws-switches deep inside a rocket are NOT SAFE in this regard.

THIS is not that hard to do:
View attachment 516267


BAD IDEA First, I'm surely not adding needless switches to my rocket. Secondly, I don't want strangers fiddling with my rockets unless I ask them. Why would the need arise for a stranger to disarm my rocket?
 
BAD IDEA First, I'm surely not adding needless switches to my rocket. Secondly, I don't want strangers fiddling with my rockets unless I ask them. Why would the need arise for a stranger to disarm my rocket?
FredA answered your question about the time you were posting.
 
Great job Bob and Steve. I have one request, Seeing as according to TMT chair Alan Whitmore, motors never lose certification but can be decertified for safety reasons. Can we get a list of decertified motors? I only know of the US Rockets, and we all know that story.
 
Great job Bob and Steve. I have one request, Seeing as according to TMT chair Alan Whitmore, motors never lose certification but can be decertified for safety reasons. Can we get a list of decertified motors? I only know of the US Rockets, and we all know that story.
Sorry Jim. TMT is charged with keeping the list of certified motors. The board has never kept such a list.
 
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