Quote:
> Mark,
> Not a good idea! There are a number of problems here:
Absoultely, strongly, adamantly disagree in the strongest possible
terms.
On the contrary, it is a VERY good idea.
At a recent UROC launch there were a couple of girls who liked flying
their Alpha's separately, but when they found out they could launch them
together--
<Gasp> Wee can doo that? <12 year old girl squeals>
Launch after launch and the girls were hooked (they burned up 16 A8-3's
between them)! For some young girls being able to launch at the same
time is important because it is a 'together' thing. For some young boys
it's a drag race sort of thing. In any case the kids love it. So do
the ***s.
Quote:
> 1) Confusion over who tracks what in the air.
Easily solved: "Kids, watch your own rocket". Also this is best done
with A or B motors so they don't go too high.
Quote:
> 2) Potential mid-air collision. Keep in mind if one rocket knocks another
> one off course badly enough or dislodges a fin you have an unstable bird
> coming down fast.
I've seen dozens of drag race launches without a single collision. I
think the chances of it happening vanishingly small.
Quote:
> 3) Teach the boys safety first and a safe flight is one where everyone is
> watching the same bird. Remember a typical 2 stage rocket with C engines
> will hit a max velocity of Mach .5.
Safety is important, but our safety rules exist to keep things safe
*when* things go wrong. If the rockets flew perfectly every time you
could stand right next to the rocket and launch it with impunity.
Minimum launch distance, minimum launch site, audible five count, light
weight materials, all of it is designed to keep things safe when things
go wrong.
Let the boys and girls experiment. Let them fail. Tell them that it is
more useful and honorable to try and fail than to not try at all.
"A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for." -- Admiral
Grace Hopper
Quote:
> 4) Get more boys involved in doing the other chores at the launch site.
> Have some track altitude. Appoint a range safety officer.
These are all good things too. No need to have one exclude the other.
Quote:
> 5) Potential ground collisions. Ever see two kids run to catch the same fly
> ball? Now have 2 or more kids trying to catch two converging rockets on
> streamers.
Two, three or more boys and/or girls fall down and start laughing.
Maybe one of them starts crying. *** comforts child. Child gets over
it and won't even remember that it happened the next day.
--
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"Cal quarterback, Joe Kapp, used to call audibles that were just
obscenities directed at the other team. I liked that." -- Greg Ennis
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