We're 4 pages in, and I haven't seen a single helpful post that informs WHY this is a fail.
A zipper is thisclose to detaching the recovery system from the airframe, and endangering members of the public. Think of any major piece of your rocket that detaches at apogee, and burns in. Anything that gets dangerous to the Public gets banned. Try to buy a chemistry set, or a pair of lawn darts. Tripoli and NAR are providing insurance for us for following the rules; as the risk of damage increases, so does the level of responsibility. The certification process is the natural progression of this need for responsibility.
yes, this ignores the members of the staff, but they should have enough sense to look up, lol. That's why you get experienced people to work events.
The only thing that keeps this hobby alive is being risk adverse, and keeping the public at large from thinking we're a bunch of whackos reliving the v2 attacks on London.
I'll admit, I joined Tripoli because I was interested in making rocket motors. I used to to a lot of chemistry, and apcp motors seem to me to be a lot safer than the old ways.
In the course of learning urethane chemistry, and a whole bunch of organic chem, I realized just how bad it could go wrong working with these compounds, either as a mix, or a finished motor.
The thing I've learned over life is that the more energy involved, the worse it is when it goes bad. This includes all forms of energy, kinetic, chemical, pressure, temperature, all can bite you hard. And our entire world is one of unintended consequences.
I had a colleague learn that LN2 will collect O2 out of the air, and a magnet will pull droplets of it out of the ln2.
Anything oily burns in LNo2. See why they say "No food in labs"
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Doing 140 down the interstate feels great, until your ponytail comes out of your leathers, lol. or you hit something; Newton is unforgiving.