Uggh, lack of a good place to launch is killing the hobby for me!

[kuririn]

Just by way of update on this now old thread, I was just starting to pick up some good leads from various people who contacted me but then I got sidetracked by some other things and next thing you know, the pandemic hit. Add to that, that my dear wife fell and broke her ankle and then learned she had further issues that required some major neck surgery plus long recuperation and I'm just now getting around to thinking about rocketry again.
Where there's a will there's a way though and I decided to order a Micro Maxx setup the other day as well as putting out some feelers on some rocketry and local general interest facebook groups. I have a tentative possibility of meeting some folks in a couple or three weeks at the Perry Ga. Fairgrounds but I still wish I had something close by. There's an RC club in Gray Ga. but they don't allow rockets unfortunately.
Anyway, was just poking around here after a long while of not checking in and I thought I would let everyone know how I am doing!

If you have some MicroMaxx rockets and a fairly big back yard you're all set buddy.
No laws against launching on your own property.

 

[Five]

I'm back at the forum after a couple of year absence from when I got back into the hobby after many years out. What motivated me to write this post is my sudden belated discovery that Estes has chosen to discontinue the biggest "must have" item on my wish list which was the PSII Mega Der Red Max. Yes, duhh I know, I'm very late to the party. I'm looking at my shelf with several built and painted rockets and unbuilt kits ranging from an Estes Mercury Redstone to a Fliskits ShadowLord. My last attempt at a Launch was at a small "boat launch ramp" area just down the road with a "Frankenrocket" cobbled together from the fins and nosecone of and old kit and a new body tube. It was airworthy but maybe a bit heavy as an A8-3 barely got it high enough to get the chute out good. The next flight with a B6-4 was great and very promising until a light breeze carried it into the outstretched limb of a tree that was way to high to retrieve it from. Eventually weather took it's toll on the shock cord and I was able to retrieve the nosecone and badly deteriorated body tube.

I just don't know of a suitable place to launch in my area and finding one is not easy for me as I'm very shy and don't have a lot of self confidence around other people. Approaching a land owner or some local official and asking permission is a daunting prospect to me. I'm in Central Georgia on Lake Sinclair and the nearest NRA sections are in Atlanta about two hours away and Macon about an hour away. I don't really even know the point of this post besides just to vent or maybe it's a cry for help. My childhood and teenage days in the Atlanta area where I could just bike up to my neighborhood school field and launch anything up to C power are long gone. Even though I had no place even close to launching something that big, I really wanted that Mega Max...sigh
Michael

Im with yah, I can relate.
Most of the time I dont feel like driving an hour( some of that drive is a rocky dirt road) to a club launch that is held only once a month. Im spontaneous when it comes time to launch my rockets. I like to just get up and go, if I get the sudden impulse.
Las Vegas grows and grows every year. Within the last ten years all the vacant lots I used as launch sites are now homes. It sucks, it really does.

 

[RocketMike]

If you have some MicroMaxx rockets and a fairly big back yard you're all set buddy.
No laws against launching on your own property.

I actually have an acre and a half of land but the problem is that it's not all clear. It's partially wooded and has some tall trees as well as the power lines to the house coming right down the side of the driveway. There's an area that's big enough for the MicroMaxx though.

 

[MidOH]

Rockets are an excuse for me to travel to far away club fields in areas I'd never go.

Great plains, desert? I'm game. I'd never go there for any other form of recreation. Embrace the travel. If I do rocketry too often, it would get boring. It's a special treat in moderation.

I gave up on trying to find fields, and being disappointed by trees and power lines every time. It's easier to just make a trip a few times a season to real fields.

 

[Ez2cDave]

I gave up on trying to find fields, and being disappointed by trees and power lines every time. It's easier to just make a trip a few times a season to real fields.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lexington,+OH+44904/@40.6809041,-82.5893546,13115m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8839bf0a4e06d529:0x2ab847f9e2161ae7!8m2!3d40.6786691!4d-82.5823931

Make a few phone calls to local landowners ( some ideas below ) . . . The worst thing they can say is "no".

https://www.google.com/maps/search/farm++Lexington,+OH+/@40.739573,-82.8952558,26206m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1

Dave F.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Can easily launch those Micro Maxx from your backyard.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lexington,+OH+44904/@40.6809041,-82.5893546,13115m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8839bf0a4e06d529:0x2ab847f9e2161ae7!8m2!3d40.6786691!4d-82.5823931

Make a few phone calls to local landowners ( some ideas below ) . . . The worst thing they can say is "no".

https://www.google.com/maps/search/farm++Lexington,+OH+/@40.739573,-82.8952558,26206m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1

Dave F.

Some of those farms look like they've been turned into housing developments. I wouldn't bother calling the State Farm agency.

If the OP is a NAR member, be sure to mention the included insurance that's provided.

 

[RocketTree]

All this talk about local clubs.... I would gladly drive an hour to a club launch. Unfortunately, the nearest one is 20+ hours away. For some of us, its not an option.

Try google earth to locate possible launch areas, such as sand pits, clearing, abandoned spaces, farm fields... etc. From there, you can work on the more difficult task of acquiring permission from the land owner. I use frozen lakes in the winter, sand pit in the summer.

 

[RocketMike]

I don't mind driving a bit to find launches but it depends on the type of driving involved. I don't do well anymore in busy city traffic which kind of rules out the Atlanta Ga. area. On the other hand, Perry Ga. where I might soon meet some guys is a long way but it's lesser traveled country roads where I still do fine.

I keep looking and hoping to find other folks nearby my area because I feel like there would be strength in numbers in trying to find a field and acquire permission because as I said way back at the beginning of the thread, I don't do so well with that kind of thing.

 

[kuririn]

I keep looking and hoping to find other folks nearby my area because I feel like there would be strength in numbers in trying to find a field and acquire permission because as I said way back at the beginning of the thread, I don't do so well with that kind of thing.

I think that would be your best bet.
Maybe posting to this and other rocketry forums and on Facebook looking for rocketeers in the mid Georgia area interested in forming a club or NAR section. Ask one of the more extroverted candidates to spearhead a search for launch sites and obtaining permission.
Also consider posting some videos to YouTube, You might see a few interested parties coming out of the woodwork. When Ron (rklapp) posted to You Tube he was contacted by two enthusiasts who have since joined our group.

 

[RocketMike]

I have been posting on local facebook groups and every once in awhile I float a post on one of the broader area model rocket groups. So far all I've turned up is an RC club I already knew about but they don't allow rocketry. It just seems weird to me that there is not an NAR section in this area. SoAR covers the Atlanta Ga. area but there's a lot more to Georgia than just that. I remember there being a Macon Ga. area based section at one point but it's apparently now defunct. I want to say it went by the acronym GAMMA or something similar but I can no longer find any record of it anywhere.

 

[PayLoad]

Related, but not an answer - Search for launch clubs on the Tripoli website, then the NAR website. NAR site does NOT list all available clubs (MDRA for example)

 

[tim cubbedge]

It just seems weird to me that there is not an NAR section in this area. SoAR covers the Atlanta Ga. area but there's a lot more to Georgia than just that.

SoAR has an HP launch every year in Tifton. Thanksgiving weekend. Turkey & Grits.

 

[tsmith1315]

Hey Michael.

GAMMA was indeed the middle GA section of NAR. It wasn't a really large section, Leonard/Sky-High rocketry was the vendor. I haven't seen him here, or other Macon area flyers from back then.

Feel free to send me a PM and we can talk. I know the anxiety you speak of pretty well.

I'm a couple hours south of Macon now, close to the site of SOAR's Turkey and GRITS launch. Last year, that was the first launch I had attended in nearly 20 years. But it was a great launch with lots of flyers and a great vendor.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

I had a pretty nice place in my town to launch small BP rockets until they built two new schools and a fire-department/emergency response training facility and a new recreation building on the land . . . you know, all those silly things that nobody needs or wants . . .