Launch!

The last day to fly NRC events in the 2024-25 contest year is Friday, June 13. To state the obvious, we have not seen much NRC flying this spring and given the time remaining, I guess we will not be seeing any more in the rest of the contest year. Still, despite the limitations of the spring, we have 2 members who are well placed in the results table.

Despite rather sketchy performances in some events, I am actually standing 4th in the C-Division overall list, while Mike Sherrod needs to fly one more event to qualify. Alas, timing being what it is this will likely not happen.

The 2025-26 NRC Contest Year begins on Sunday, June 29. Events for the coming year are:

1/2A Parachute Duration FAI

1/2A Streamer Duration FAI

1/2A Helo Duration FAI

A R/G FAI

C Eggloft Altitude

A Altitude

No real surprises here given the changes that were made to the 2024-25 event slate. NAR flying has now been captured by FAI flying. I expect that it will stay this way for years to come. Good news is that the building requirements are far simpler. One 40mm FAI style rocket now works for 3 events.

A final note for those interested in competition, the Contest Board is hosting a monthly Zoom meeting to discuss competition with the meeting for June scheduled for Saturday, June 14 at 21:00. The link to register for the meeting is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsceGgqT4rG90eSqEj2Za0TAcGNxykF9Ug

My experience with these meetings is that if you are not one of the anointed your questions are ignored, but the meetings at least provide some insight into how the anointed view NAR competition.

Regards,

Stephen

Thanks again for taking lead on the NRC flying for CMASS, Stephen. I'm looking forward to getting started flying the events for the new contest year.

Weather permitting, of course!

Mike,

Do you still need help posting your A R/G flight to the NRC Scoreboard. If you can get me the engines used and the times I can get it posted.

Reply sent by email, I think. Let me know if you didn't get it!

Mike, No sign of an email. Try again or just post the info here.

No worries, Steve, about the R/G flights. I'll need to redo them for better times at a future date.

I will be unable to make our launches on 8/17 and 8/31 due to various travel plans.

If you fly NRC flights on those days, please take a picture of the flight card after the flight and send it to me. I will set up the results to be posted on the NRC Scoreboard.

For those who have been watching the discussion in the NAR about the NRC and NARAM flying you will have noticed that NRC events are now dominated by FAI-style events. The FAI flying enthusiasts in the NAR argue that this will attract and hold more Junior members and will bring new life to NARAM. There is a clear split within the NAR about this, to the point that a group of NAR members have formed another competitive group known as the USRC. I presume that USRC stands for US Rocket Competition. The format is similar to the NRC with 6 events and another 3 events added for a national competition.

The scheduled events for this year are:

A RG

C Eggloft Alt

A Alt

1/4-A PD

B Superroc Alt

1/2-A SD

To these will be added 3 more events for a national competition, dates and location tba:

D HD

Precision Fragile Payload with 150m altitude and 45 second duration

Sport Scale

As you will observe, 3 of the USRC events match the NRC events, so a flight flown in one would qualify for the other. Moreover, one can fly USRC 1/4-A PD and 1/2-A SD with an FAI-qualifying airframe and submit those results. Rules for flying under the USRC and NRC both follow the USMRSC (Pink Book).

Reporting of USRC flights follows the same methodology as reporting NRC flights. I have yet to learn where the scoreboard will be maintained, but expect that information to come soon. If you wish to fly a USRC event, please fill out an NAR flight card for the event as you would for NRC flying and I will submit the results to the USRC scoreboard.

I have asked the USRC organizers if they can give the section a series of provisional flier numbers so that non-NAR members and attempt a contest flight and see their results posted. I am waiting for a response on this from the organizer.