Night Launches... an FAA Waivered Group or club activity

[Micromeister]

finished the little bugger lights and flys fairly well, if the wind isn't kicking up

 

[Fred]

Amazing stuff Micro i do night launches but i just attach some of those belly button lights those rave folks use and it blinks telling me which tree to look forlornly at. Whats even more amusing is the looks i get from the 18 year old selling me the lights
Cheers
fred

 

[WillMarchant]

Originally posted by WillCarney
Rockets that are under the 1lb size still need to be flown under
FAA notification rules and are not exempt but no longer require
a waiver.

Hi William:
I'm confused as https://tinyurl.com/yj3nlt exempts rockets weighing less than 1 pound with less than 4 ounces of propellant. Is the eCFR not current?
Best wishes,
Will

 

[WillCarney]

Originally posted by WillMarchant
Hi William:
I'm confused as https://tinyurl.com/yj3nlt exempts rockets weighing less than 1 pound with less than 4 ounces of propellant. Is the eCFR not current?
Best wishes,
Will

Look at 101.22 and 101.23 if this link does not work.

edit: link failed, go to FAA web site and CFR's

Clearly specifies all unmanned rockets with a no flight between
sunset and sunrise (101.23 h) does not exempt small rockets.
Under 101.22/a&b it gives large rocket specs and states that
101.23 h does not have to be followed if you fly under 101.25
(notification). So all small rockets up to 3.3 lbs need notification.

But as always check with your local ATC or airport. They might
have a say. It's their airspace anyway.

William

 

[WillMarchant]

Originally posted by WillCarney
Look at 101.22 and 101.23 if this link does not work.

edit: link failed, go to FAA web site and CFR's

Clearly specifies all unmanned rockets with a no flight between
sunset and sunrise (101.23 h) does not exempt small rockets.
Under 101.22/a&b it gives large rocket specs and states that
101.23 h does not have to be followed if you fly under 101.25
(notification). So all small rockets up to 3.3 lbs need notification.

But as always check with your local ATC or airport. They might
have a say. It's their airspace anyway.

William

OK, I understand the issue now. Part 101.1 says, in essence, "if your rocket is under 1 pound and has less than 4 ounces of propellant then go no further." If your rocket weighs less than 1 pound at liftoff and has less than 4 ounces of propellant on board you just need to comply with 101.1a3iia to d nothing else in part 101. This is the same section that allows us all to launch small rockets without having to call the FAA every time. Without that section we'd have to call in notification to fly MicroMaxx. It just requires us to fly safely and responsibly. If you can fly your small modroc safely at night you're allowed to do so.
Best wishes,
Will

 

[Micromeister]

Will:
As one of the folks directly involved with the Faa change,
I've not actually seen the new Far 101.1 listing...i've been talking directly with one of the FAA folks here in DC
Our club has been involved with flying Night launches since 1990. We've found it is just easier to put in for a full waiver for your club night launches as the notification process "CAN" be just as cumbersome, depending on the particular "Operator" you happen to get calling in that simple notification Here in the northeast especially in the DC/Maryland area I'm sure we get a bit closer look then folks out in the desert that said:
For Models under 1lb, our daytime exemption is "supposed to cover" these smaller models as long as they are flown within the limits of the safety code. Calling in your intentions to the local ATC center (notification) is also good for even the smallest group that plan to fly more then a single model. Case in point I wanted to test fly one of my micro Nite models recentlty... when I called it in, I was told. that a single model didn't need to be called in? Obviously, by the tone of the operator I could tell I had interruped him in the middle of something, and was bothering him. If you think about it however it does make sense for a single model under a pound and flying under 500'+/-.
A bit confusing? Is it a federal ruling? Of course it is.
My very best advice is to call in, if you beileve your in an active flight line, have more then one model to fly or are flying anything over 1000feet. Especially around small to medium sized airports, Just to let them know what's going on. Just keep in mind we don't want to be giving pilots heartattaches with our models after dark...they after all can't just pull over and stop to catch their breath.

 

[Ed Wagoner]

Those are some great pictures Micro .
Now to go totally off topic...reading through the post the part about the red lense covers for the flashlights reminded me of my short but passonate addiction to astronomy. I had a pair of red goggles. Not the small goggles mind you but the excessively large kind. Everytime I would put them on my son would nearly wet himself with laughter and my wife wasn't too far behind him. Ahhh the things we are willing to do to ourselves for our hobbies

 

[Micromeister]

Narhams still offers red lens covers to all who attend our Night launches, I make them from rubylith photo masking film, or Transparent Ruby Red 1/8" acrylic. Our racks have 20watt halogen bulbs in 15mm Ruby red tubing. and we use red lens on all the lanterns and lights used to see by at the range head check-in etc.
Keeping good night vision, is very important trying to spot in coming GA light planes. Even with the city glow, and street lights a short distance away it never hurts to try to keep as much unnecessary White light as possible off the field

 

[Micromeister]

another of my favorite converted models for Night flights is my old NRC BrightHawk. Many know I don't fly APCP but I liked the design of the Brighthawk so purchased on and proceeded to convert it into a 5 D12 cluster model. Great flyer that way but later I decided to add LED's the the solid foam nosecone tip and around the payload section and outline the NAR decals I'd added to that section. All powered by 2 AAA batteriest installed in a fold out door crudly added to the existing payload section.
Here a lights on and off pic of the lite section, I don't have a decent flight photo of this model. for some dumb reason I alway get fuzzy pics of this one in flight at night

 

[Micromeister]

here's a flight pic of the model in the daytime anyway.... Man I wanta catch those 5 flames in a night shot!

 

[Micromeister]

for those intrested in how to wire up a snitch (UFO) or saucer
here with under side of my Nite (estes) UFO. I'm working on a couple paper UFO night flyers but once the shells are closed it's hard to show the workings. but very similar to this arangement

All the wiring is left exposed (we're only running 3volts). so as long as the wiring doesn't have any way of crossing added insulation isn't necessary. Saves a little weight
This perticular used all the cheapy little LED's I had left over from other projects ranging from as little as 6.8mcd greens up to 2000mcd reds. by adjusting the resistors all these value LEDs can be run for about 4 hours on a single 3volt lithium CR-2025 20mm coin cell, longer on CR-2032's

 

[Micromeister]

here's a flight pic of the model in the daytime anyway.... Man I wanta catch those 5 flames in a night shot!

 

[shockwaveriderz]

Has anybody got a faa waiver for hpr night launches yet? I wonder if I should try and apply for one to see what happens. I was thinking that flying model and HPR at night should be safer as you can see moving objects at night in the sky.

I wonder if you could do some form of competition rocketry at night? For example, do PD and have a small led beam into the underside of a mylar chute during descent?

It would also be pretty easy to do altitude reduction at night.

Perhaps we need to conside a "black" book for nighttime operations?


hey micro, on our faa waivers I use, I get 14 CFR 101.23(b) and (c) wavived... for night launches would you just add (h) between sunset and sunrise to the parts to be waived?


terry dean
nar 16158

 

[Micromeister]

Pretty much Terry:
We fly up to G motors 3.3lbs at all the Narhams Night launches, but our FAA waiver is a FULL Waiver. we are limited by flight paths to 2500 feet after dark but that about the only restriction If you go to the Night launch yahoo group in the files section I uploaded copies of the forms and letters we've used for over a decade now...even this year after the changes, which you may find helpful.
Our FAA regional office is in NY, They've been extreamly helpful in every way since the very beginning in getting our Waivers for all the Narhams night launches.
Way back in 1989 or 1990 some folks got me started on this Night flying kick with a HRP rocket somewhere in florida IIRC.
They were the folks that steered me to contact the regional office FIRST. to get both info and help on setting up a Night Launch, since then FAA and Narhams have been cooperating very well, We've never had a launch denied or even postponed

I'm working right now on an LED up light canopy illuminator, should work fine regardless of the canopy material. mylar would reflect a lot more but with the added weight of most night vehicles most of us use nylon chutes for just about all our model larger then BT-20s

If you've never attended a Night launch you might be supprised at the thing that can be seen and others that are not. ejection being one that isn't as pronounce as one might think. It's sometimes a few seconds after ejection before the cloud or whatever disapates that the Lighting system again becomes visible. also after burnout, you'd better have a good light source to follow as it gets very dark, very quickly. Some of our Night flyers have started added LED's to the bottom motor bulkheads to add in visibility after burnout. blues are especially nice for this

 

[Micromeister]

While digging though a bunch of family photos over the weekend, ran across several mis-filed Mod-Roc photos, some of Narhams 1999 Night launch that Had the most Gorgeous sunset I've seen in years!
Heres a 3 pic of my Nite BrightHawk 5 D12 cluster 3 pic liftoff but its really the Sun-Set that makes this photo worth looking at

 

[Micromeister]

From the Same 1999 launch the Upscale 4 D12 Nova Payloader pretty kewl lift off shot

 

[Fred]

Hey micro it's night Nice shots and awesome rockets
Cheers
fred