latest Insanity - This Time the Cops Showed Up
 

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141663313.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141663454.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141663515.jpg

You do know that Estes "F" engines are now classified as WMD's, right?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141663645.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141663780.jpg

The officer was actually really cool. My son told him that we were firing off a rocket. The cops concern was based on a fire danger.

Here is the exchange:

Cop: Sir, are these rockets powered by black powder?

Me: No sir, they are ignited by an electrical impluse which ignites a sulfur based rocket motor resulting in an exothermic reaction propelling the launch vehicle.

Max: Ya! Didja see it! I went like a thousnad miles high!

Cop: Yes son I did see it. I did go rather high. Like a missle.

Max: no sir, a missle blows stuff up. This is a rocket like that kind they use to shot stiff into space.

The cop smiled and saked to see the charge.

Max: Thats called a motor cuz it moves the rocket but it don't got no moving parts on it like a motor in your car but they call it a motor cuz it moves the rocket real fast into the sky like 1000 miles!

Cop: (laughing) Well, I just wanted to make sure there was no chance of a fire. It's pretty dry around here and the last thing we would like is a bruch fire.

Max: No problem sir. We don't want to make a fire here do we Dad? Cuz that rocket burned the launch pad see!

Me: OK lil dude, I think we should pack it up.

Max: Look! See how hot it got!!!

The cop and I just looked at each other and relized that sometimes the less said the better off you are.

Cop: OK, just be safe. Boy, thats a heck of a shiner you got.

Me: Rocket accident. No, just kidding.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141664434.jpg

Is flying model rockets illegal now?

I don't think so, at least the cop didn't think so as long as it didn't have black powder. In the states that allow fireworks it is OK as long as there is no fire ban but the states that do not allow fireworks it might be.

Everything is illegal. What ever it is that you are doing - you are only barely getting away with it..

You're lucky the Department of Homeland Security didn't classify you and your son as "enemy combatants"...

Yeah, everytime I think about what I used to do as a kid, and now that I have a son planning to do the same things with him when he's older. Then I realize that whatever it is, either the kid needs a helmet and body armor, or the CPSC has banned it, or it's illegal.

10 miles from the airport, the sats must have spotted us! Quick response from the local PD. I think if I had my laser pointer and a walky talky my Son and I would be heading to GitMo bout now.

LOL

great story.

. ... When your kid is old, he can tell storys about how, back in the day, he got away with model rocketry.

Lube... wait until you try to board a commercial airline. You are now on "the list".

The house in the country is near a trooper barracks when they train the newbies. These guys have no discretion and break balls 24/7. The number of folks pulled over has got to be 10,000% more (either by population or miles driven) than where I live in the city. I dont know how the locals put up with it... When I was a kid, the barracks was closed nights and weekends! They had an answering machine with the number of the next command 45 miles away.

(Actually - they are black powder motors - when I told the cop is was a sulfur compound, I was 1/3 there, carbon and potassium nitrate round it out)

Here are some of our local guidlines and requirements for rockets...these days kids just don't have it that good...

http://home.earthlink.net/~mebowitz/safety.pdf

Mike - Great story! You definitely look like you're having fun there... brings back all the memories of my kid and I and our model rockets. Lost many on neighboring rooftops.

Geez..when I was in grade school, my best friend and I use to go into the neighborhood hobby shop and buy our own rocket motors...and we shot them off at the school grounds...no hassels and no law to prohibit it as far as we knew....of course we were proabably in 6th grade at the time.

It's a shame how things have changed...shooting off those rockets was great fun.

Good story Mike...good thing you got to share the experience with Max...before they outlaw the product from US stores :(

Estes Motors have always been black-powder.
Step up to AP reloadables!
Or NO2 & rubber!
www.tripoli.org

dhoward - way cool site! The composites or hybrids need a constant heat source? The BP only need ignition so they are cheaped to run but appear less powerfull and more tempermental?

Lord, I miss my Mean Machine....

Nope.
Once lit, they stay lit. Multiple second burns. Cool smoke. I'll take a few pictures of some of the rockets I've got at home.
ATF regulations get pretty stupid for the big ones...