Model Rocket Launch NOTAM

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Tokirbymd

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Tokirbymd
Have had several instances of being on flight following around the KHSV area where they have vectored me around an area of model rocket launches. I have looked everywhere (including the FAA NOTAM site) I can think of and haven't yet found those NOTAMs. I asked around and several others have noted the same thing but haven't seen them either. I am sure they exist otherwise ATC wouldn't know about them and I have seen the form for a request to the FAA for one. If this isn't showing up in my standard preflight briefing I wonder if there are other things I may be missing as well. If I am just tooling around on a VFR sight seeing day I will plug in my home airport and 1 or 2 others close by to check NOTAMs in Foreflight and also NavMonster.
 
I am into model rocketry. My understanding is that for some of the larger club events, the event coordinator will call ATC to get a “launch window” of time. That way the air traffic is not locked out for an entire weekend. At least that’s my understanding. I never have to worry about it cuz my rockets are small. You should check out these events sometime, they are amazing.
 
How high can those things get to need a NOTAM/TFR? I used to mess with the Estes (I think?) models as a kid but for all the higher they got an aircraft that low would've already been scraping trees, hilltops, towers, etc.
 
Todd82 said:
How high can those things get to need a NOTAM/TFR? I used to mess with the Estes (I think?) models as a kid but for all the higher they got an aircraft that low would've already been scraping trees, hilltops, towers, etc.
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Not height, weight. More than 53 ounces or 4.4 ounces of propellant requires notification. 101.27
 
Todd82 said:
How high can those things get to need a NOTAM/TFR? I used to mess with the Estes (I think?) models as a kid but for all the higher they got an aircraft that low would've already been scraping trees, hilltops, towers, etc.
Click to expand...
I found a website that lists three classes, by weight as the good Captain Thorpe pointed out. The big ones require an FAA waiver of some sort, the medium size require notification, and the little ones don’t require anything. As far as height goes, Estes sells rockets that claim 3,000 AGL. I do a lot of flying below 3,000 AGL. Meanwhile, amateur rocketry has reached 200,000 feet, so even a U-2 pilot would want to know when major launches are planned.
 
There's the "Estes" types that would be hard pressed to get to a height where they'd be an issue. There are some far more serious folks that have bigger, heavier rockets that can reach altitudes in the 10's of thousands - these are the ones you want to avoid.
 
iamtheari said:
I found a website that lists three classes, by weight as the good Captain Thorpe pointed out. The big ones require an FAA waiver of some sort, the medium size require notification, and the little ones don’t require anything. As far as height goes, Estes sells rockets that claim 3,000 AGL. I do a lot of flying below 3,000 AGL. Meanwhile, amateur rocketry has reached 200,000 feet, so even a U-2 pilot would want to know when major launches are planned.
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Evidently those kind were beyond the budget of a geeky 8th grader in the 1990's :D

Never knew they got that high/big. Interesting. Thanks folks.
 
I had a Cox rocket that would routinely go to 1000' with the medium motor, The big motor would take it to over 3000. Bought it at Woolworth.
 
Doug F said:
How high? This high
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I actually opened this thread because I thought it would be about that, and I was going to ask if it belongs in the mishaps forum. The really bizarre thing is that he was planning to use a rocket to get to about 5,000 feet and then a balloon to go the rest of the way up to 62 miles. The rocket part seems completely unnecessary and, with it only going up 5,000 feet, could have been more safely accomplished by jumping out of an inverted helicopter.
 
I’m bummed. There was a cool video for the Indiana Rocketry Association event called Thunderstruck (no longer held). I can’t find it any more.

It may be here, but it says I can’t access it from my location:

 
I'd cancel flight following, do some low passes and check it out.
 
Tokirbymd said:
Have had several instances of being on flight following around the KHSV area where they have vectored me around an area of model rocket launches.
Click to expand...
You must have been flying around the same time I was flying...I was near MSL and heard the same thing on the Approach freq.
I'm not sure exactly where they were...there used to be a model rocket club at the "old airport" but don't know if that's still where they do it or somewhere else.

Another thing to watch-out for: I've never heard a Laser warning but just this year (last 2 months) I've heard approach warn about unauthorized laser activity north of the airport.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
I’m bummed. There was a cool video for the Indiana Rocketry Association event called Thunderstruck (no longer held). I can’t find it any more.

It may be here, but it says I can’t access it from my location:
Click to expand...

Given the title of the video and the notice "This vido contains content from SME..." I am guessing there was background music from AC/DC. I ran into the same issue with one of my youtube videos where "Thunderstruck" was playing in the background for about 15 secconds. It was taken down by youtube re: copyright violation. I successfully argued "non-monitized coincidental usage" and they restored the video.
 
ChopAndDrop said:
You must have been flying around the same time I was flying...I was near MSL and heard the same thing on the Approach freq.
I'm not sure exactly where they were...there used to be a model rocket club at the "old airport" but don't know if that's still where they do it or somewhere else.

Another thing to watch-out for: I've never heard a Laser warning but just this year (last 2 months) I've heard approach warn about unauthorized laser activity north of the airport.
Click to expand...
This was halfway between HSV and guntersville
 
Todd82 said:
How high can those things get to need a NOTAM/TFR? I used to mess with the Estes (I think?) models as a kid but for all the higher they got an aircraft that low would've already been scraping trees, hilltops, towers, etc.
Click to expand...
The NOTAM per ATC was up to 13,000. Still, nobody here has commented about where these are found?
 
Tokirbymd said:
The NOTAM per ATC was up to 13,000. Still, nobody here has commented about where these are found?
Click to expand...

I have always seen them during normal NOTAM searches. Do not think there is a special "model rocketry NOTAM" repository...
 
Browse on over to: https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html

In the "Type" dropdown, select "Space Operations", hit "GO".

As of this moment, there are three. All in Kodiak, AK. All for "Rocket Launch Activity" SCF-FL6000.
 
Tokirbymd said:
Have had several instances of being on flight following around the KHSV area where they have vectored me around an area of model rocket launches. I have looked everywhere (including the FAA NOTAM site) I can think of and haven't yet found those NOTAMs. I asked around and several others have noted the same thing but haven't seen them either. I am sure they exist otherwise ATC wouldn't know about them and I have seen the form for a request to the FAA for one. If this isn't showing up in my standard preflight briefing I wonder if there are other things I may be missing as well. If I am just tooling around on a VFR sight seeing day I will plug in my home airport and 1 or 2 others close by to check NOTAMs in Foreflight and also NavMonster.
Click to expand...
Were you flying on Saturday? I heard HSV Approach talking about it a few times
 
smv said:
Given the title of the video and the notice "This vido contains content from SME..." I am guessing there was background music from AC/DC. I ran into the same issue with one of my youtube videos where "Thunderstruck" was playing in the background for about 15 secconds. It was taken down by youtube re: copyright violation. I successfully argued "non-monitized coincidental usage" and they restored the video.
Click to expand...

That’s exactly why then, yes AC/DC.

Is there anyway to find it archived somewhere on the internet? I’d love to save it.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
That’s exactly why then, yes AC/DC.

Is there anyway to find it archived somewhere on the internet? I’d love to save it.
Click to expand...

Might be on Vimeo... They seem to be a lot less copyright shy.
 
Todd82 said:
How high can those things get to need a NOTAM/TFR? I used to mess with the Estes (I think?) models as a kid but for all the higher they got an aircraft that low would've already been scraping trees, hilltops, towers, etc.
Click to expand...

They fly REALLY high out in the desert. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...lusive-high-powered-rocketry-event-in-america

There’s a big launch in Orangeburg, SC every year also. They get FAA waivers to 10000’. Nowhere near how high they fly them in the desert, but plenty high enough that pilots should avoid the area during the launch window.
 
smv said:
Browse on over to: https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html

In the "Type" dropdown, select "Space Operations", hit "GO".

As of this moment, there are three. All in Kodiak, AK. All for "Rocket Launch Activity" SCF-FL6000.
Click to expand...
I see that under the TFR also in Foreflight. I don’t remember it being there when I looked around KHSV last weekend and it certainly didn’t show up graphically on my map- I keep the TFR layer in view at all times. Good to know though. Will keep an eye out for it.
 
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I built a 3-stage model rocket in middle school. I believe it had one E, one D, and a final C motor. I don’t recall what it measured out height wise, but it was surely well over 2,000ft. It ended up hanging from the gutter of a house in the neighborhood behind the middle school, lol. Everyone else just built the minimum single-stage Estes model from Hobby Lobby.

I’ve seen the rocketry Notams pop up periodically in an area southeast of Tulsa. I believe it was for sfc-10K. I’ve seen smoke trails a time or two as well, but never witnessed them in-flight. I’d actually like to go and see them launch some day.
 
When a NOTAM comes up for a rocket launch at Fort Wingate, east of Gallup, they mean it.

I can hear the rockets from my house west of Gallup.


A few days before a scheduled launch there will be a red Huey parked at the airport. Their job is to find any debris that falls from the rocket, if any.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I built a 3-stage model rocket in middle school. I believe it had one E, one D, and a final C motor. I don’t recall what it measured out height wise, but it was surely well over 2,000ft. It ended up hanging from the gutter of a house in the neighborhood behind the middle school, lol. Everyone else just built the minimum single-stage Estes model from Hobby Lobby.
Click to expand...

I once bought an Estes 3-stage rocket. I think it was a D and two Cs, or maybe it was two Ds and a C. Es were too big for hobbyists at that point (mid-1980s).

Well, would ya look at that. It looks like Estes never stops selling anything! LOL It was the Comanche 3. I recognize some of my other old rockets, still available for sale on their site! I do note a couple that are missing, like the one that had a 110 film camera on board to take a picture from up high, and the one I built that had a wing that was parallel to the rocket fuselage during launch and would rotate to be perpendicular after the engine cut off, then glide in circles for recovery. I never launched it, though I can't remember why.

Looks like the best you could do with the Comanche was a D12-0, C6-0, and C6-7 combo.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I once bought an Estes 3-stage rocket. I think it was a D and two Cs, or maybe it was two Ds and a C. Es were too big for hobbyists at that point (mid-1980s).

Well, would ya look at that. It looks like Estes never stops selling anything! LOL It was the Comanche 3. I recognize some of my other old rockets, still available for sale on their site! I do note a couple that are missing, like the one that had a 110 film camera on board to take a picture from up high, and the one I built that had a wing that was parallel to the rocket fuselage during launch and would rotate to be perpendicular after the engine cut off, then glide in circles for recovery. I never launched it, though I can't remember why.

Looks like the best you could do with the Comanche was a D12-0, C6-0, and C6-7 combo.
Click to expand...

The rocket I was referring to started off as the Comanche-3. I just modified the internals of the last stage to fit an E-motor, then used the regular D/C stages. Not sure that it made much difference in overall height, but it sounded cool at the time, lol.
 
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