NARAM 40...

    This was the highlight of my summer. The 40th National Association of Rocketry Annual Meet (NARAM-40) was held at the AMA National Flying Site in Muncie, Indiana from August 8-14. It took my dad and I nearly two days to get there and back. But as I found, it was very well worth the drive. We got there about a day early, long before many other people began to arrive. We took advantage of the extra day by working on some of our competition models inside of the hotel room. We checked out our sport models as well, since there was going to be a lot of sport flying on Saturday and Sunday.

    On opening day, we headed out to the field very early in the morning But since the range had not yet been set up, there was at least an hour and a half delay before sport operations got started. But once things got going there were many exciting flights indeed. The weather most of week was very humid, cloudy, and hazy. There was at least some sun that broke through the clouds, so visibility was not as big of a problem as it may have seemed. We could at least see our sport rockets in the air, which was all that counted, Recovery was not much of a problem since the field was 1,000 acres big. (All mowed grass!!)

    The first rocket that I flew was my repaired and refinished AeroTech Initiator. It was flown on an F40 motor. I decided to fly this rocket because of its long history. It was my first mid-power rocket, my first rocket flown without the need of recovery wadding, my first rocket with a nylon parachute, and the first rocket of mine to be sanded down and refinished after taking some damage due to a long delay on one of its flights. So it was making history again, it was my first rocket ever flown at a NARAM.  In all, I flew about eight total sport rockets with only one coming home needing repair. My Big Bertha had a very unusual failure where the parachute melted together, and the rocket came down hard and fast. Recovery wadding was a problem because it seemed to have expanded in the moisture. Therefore, it was important to be more careful about using the right amount of wadding and loading it in the rockets properly.

    I had many good sport flights, and so did my dad. He flew his Extended Alpha on a C6. Luckily, he recovered it after I had lost sight of it (he makes me help him watch his rockets since I have young eyes). He also flew his Mini Shuttle and his Sizzler. His Sizzler flight was rather interesting Its boost on a CS-3 got it up to about 400 feet where the shock cord separated. Since it is a rear eject model, the motor mount came down safely on its parachute while the main rocket body lawn darted about ten feet away from the launch pad It buried the nose cone in the ground, but surprisingly, the main rocket body was not damaged.

    I lost one rocket, my Estes Alpha. I flew it on a B6. It gained some real high altitude just as the wind picked up. Then it caught one of the biggest thermals I have ever seen, and it drifted off into a corn field I couldn't recover it, the corn was too tall. It wasn't the first rocket that the corn ate, and it won't be the last. Other people had great flights as well. Other interesting rockets appeared. but never flew. I was taking a look at a fleet that one guy had brought along which consisted of rockets that fly on L and M motors. One of his M motor rockets had an interesting finish which my dad and I thought was very appropriate; It was covered with dollar bills. Really! The largest rocket flown was a L3 certification flight on a Kosdon M1130. Very interesting to watch indeed! It had a CPR system, but it still landed pretty close to the power lines. There was one rocket that we saw in the power lines that greeted us every day when we drove into the launch site.

    Monday was the first day of competition, and a very important event of ours. This was going to be my first time flying any type of rocketry competition ever. And so, l expected to get creamed since I was competing against the best 14-18 year olds in the nation including Rachel Brower, Kristi Smith, Troy and MaN Leveron, Ryan Coleman, and many other good competitors. "I/4A" Parachute Duration was a very important event for us since we had test flown models and had proven our ability to do well in this event. My dad already had previous competition experience (he took first in the eggloft duration event at the last contest our club had). My rocket was an Apogee Centrix. I stuffed in a 12" thin chrome mylar parachute from Aerospace Specialty Products. My dad's rocket was the same. On both of my flights, the parachute deployed, but did not fully open. But, they qualified the flights since the parachute did provide enough drag in order to have a safe recovery. And, the rocket got so high, that both times were above 40 seconds. I was in second place, but then Rachel Brower had a second flight that had a longer duration than my second flight in which she put me down to third. I finished third, Kristi Smith got first, and Troy Leveron placed fourth. My dad's first flight was a great one. The parachute opened completely and wind carried it almost off the field I ran a very long way to chase it. But, the timers only saw it for a minute and six seconds, which didn't please my father very much. It didn't please me either, after running that far to recover it. My dad wasn't as successful the second time. The shock cord seperated at ejection disqualifying the flight.

    The next day, we flew "B" Altitude. But I should say that Tuesday had the worst weather of the week The clouds were very low in the morning but eventually raised up as it got later towards the afternoon. But my dad's flight was early in the morning He flew his Estes Wizard and it went into a cloud He lost sight of it, but it eventually ended up in the return box. I decided to wait until the weather cleared, and then I got out my Apogee Centrix and put it in low orbit on a B2. But, I couldn't fit enough tracking powder in it, so they couldn't see it, resulting in no track My dad let his Centrix rip as well, but he had the same problem I had So we got qualified flights with our backup models. My backup rocket was my Apogee Blue Streak which I flew on a standard Estes B6 Out of two flights, my highest track was 268 meters which finished me in fourth place. My dad got two qualified flights with his Wizard the best at 302 meters.

    Wednesday wasn't my day. This was the day for the "B" Helicopter Duration event. The only rocket I had for this event was a Micro Rota-Roc I flew it on a B2 and the timers as well as myself lost sight of it. But, it ended up in the return box on Friday. However, it was damaged I didn't see it, but from examining the damage, I think it lawn darted My dad had better luck since he had a larger model that was more visible. It was am Apogee Heli-roc. But his first flight was with the same model as mime. The timers couldn't see it but I saw that it lawn darted The second flight was a modified Heli-roc on a B25 which flew for 134 seconds. Overall he placed 10th in this event.

    Thursday was a very busy day. We each had to make three flights for "B" Streamer Duration, and I had to make two flights for "A" Boost Glider. I did my two "A" Boost Glider flights first. I flew my Edmonds Deltie on an Apogee A2. The first flight was outstanding, flying for 78 seconds. I was im first place, but I had a red baron the second flight. But, to my surprise, I still finished 4th. I finished 5th in "B" Streamer, making two qualified flights out of three possible. I DQed the first flight because my streamer shreded. My dad had a Wizard which flew for a 114 seconds, but it was disqualified because it spit the motor. His second flight did a 180 second max. The model for this flight was a 13mm diameter Centrix flown on a B2. The same model flew out of the timers! sight on the third flight, so he got his Wizard back out which disqualified because the streamer didn't deploy properly.

    Friday, the last day, ended with the Sport Scale event. It was the best weather of the week. My rocket for this event was am IQSY Tomahawk built from an AeroTech kit. I earned 655 static points. Mine was the highest scoring IQSY Tomahawk of all that were entered which really surprised me. Peter Alway, the "B" Division judge, didn't exactly like IQSY Tomahawks very much Before mme flew, I heard him say "Oh yeah, this is the nice IQSY Tomahawk, which made me feel good The flight was on an F40 which took it to aroumd 2100 feet. It was a most impressive flight. There wasn't very much wind so l recovered it about 150 yards away from the launch pad. I only lost five points after it was discovered that part of the paint had been chipped off of the nose cone. I bad a total of 750 points putting me in third place. There were some other fun things going on during the Sport Scale event. Rachel Brower had returned with the Vostok that she flew in Arizona the previous NARAM. The rocket lawn darted twice. But, she repaired it both times, and got a qualified flight the 3rd time. She got first place, and the "B" division National Championship.

    NARAM was one of the most fun events I have ever been to! We're already making plans to attend next year's NARAM in Pennsylvania. We hope to get it here in Colorado in the year 2000. If you ever have the opportunity to go to NARAM, by all means, go! It will be one of the greatest experiences of your life, even if you don't compete!