Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

April 3rd meeting minutes
Trails West Library

The last meeting minutes were attached to the agenda for all to read.

Treasurer’s Report
Date Description Amount Balance
11/22/03 Balance Forward $596.62
1/03/04 Pizza & a movie night ($16.87)
1/03/04 Tim Burger - 2004 dues 12.00
3/1/04 Club charter & insurance (55.00)
3/1/04 Contest Sanction fee (5.00)
3/1/04 Alan Shaffmaster - 2004 dues 20.00
4/03/04 Ending Balance $610.15
We are clearly missing some items here; this is a fault in my note taking not the book-keeping, and I’ll get it corrected as soon as possible. Tim

Our president, Dave Bucher, called the meeting to order with a few comments on rocketry and showed us a couple of his new projects.

    Old Business

  1. NAR Legal action:
    The letter from Mark Bundick regarding the legal action was read. We discussed the current status of the NAR/TRA and the BATFE litigation. Updates can be found on the NAR website.
  2. Club Checking Account:
    The club is chartered and registered for 2004 with NAR and the State of Missouri with the goal of acquiring a new checking account for any future transactions. This account has been established and is working.
  3. Spring Contest:
    The April contest has also been sanctioned with Lila Schmaker and listed on the “launch windows” of the NAR home page.
  4. Fall Contest:
    The fall contest notification and fees will be taken care of by the months end to be listed in the Sport Rocketry Magazine.
  5. Team America Status:
    Tim gave a brief status of TARC teams in the area and indicated that last year we had four teams show up at the special launch and attempt to qualify. Since the 10th (next weekend) is the last one available, Tim suggested that we fix the date for the 10th. The motion was seconded, and carried unanimously. Tim will contact the field owner and verify that it’s OK, contact the FAA and file the necessary paperwork, and attempt to contact teams. He went on to say that the Olathe team has had good success already but that have indicated that they’d like to make a second attempt. The Raytown team has been making a lot of test flights and should be ready for a real attempt. We’ve heard from the Baldwin City team earlier in the year, but they’ve stopped communicating so we’re uncertain of their status but are hoping they will make an appearance and try to qualify. The Rock Creek team, being unable to overcome some technical issues, has dropped out of the race (heard from Nick Stich via George Scheil.) We also discussed who would be able to help, and what equipment would be available. Looks like everything is covered!

    New Business

  1. School Assistance:
    Christian indicated that he will be meeting with Mrs. Dailey at Piper Middle school and follow up of any others needing help in launches or aspects in rocketry with her at the school. We’ve heard not a peep from Clardy elementary this year; Christian will attempt to contact Mrs Dailey or someone there. We have also not heard from Blue Springs, but hope to help them with rocket day this year as well.
  2. April Contest Planning:
    Contest Directors: Alan Shaffmaster and Christian Bruggeman.
    We discussed jury members: the first three NAR members on the field are usually drafted (willingly). Bob admonished to get the forms filled out, jury members detected and selected before the first flight is flown!
    Prizes and ribbons are already in possession of the club
    We discussed how we normally handle fees, and Bob made a motion that was too complicated for me to get written down (sorry Bob). We discussed this a bit and simplified it to be: launch fees of $3 for members, $5 for non, and $7 for contest fliers. Tim asked if the $7 fee included launch fees, as per standard club practice. The answer was “yes!” and this second motion was seconded by Dave with the motion carried.
    The theodolites were discussed, and Tim suggested setting a fixed time for altitude flights to avoid having problems getting enough people to ‘man’ them. Tim also offered a programmable calculator to reduce the data with. Bob volunteered to do the data reduction and help with the theos.
    Timers are usually pretty easy to get, so there should be no problem with that.
    The contest director pro-tem thanked everyone in advance for all of the help and volunteers.
  3. Launch Schedule:
    Tim reminded the club that the launch schedule for the second half of the year was still tentative. He also indicated that in speaking with James last time that the neighbors to the South are currently on good terms with the Cases and shouldn’t have a problem with us nor cause trouble. The Cases are also not “making hay” this year so the field is available for May and June. And finally, the new neighbors to the North are not only rocket friendly, but have offered to allow us to launch once from the 200-acre field just on the other side of 150 Highway! This was discussed, with Dave B. making a motion to move the Shawnee Mission launches to the Case Farm. Tim pointed out that we usually try to launch at SMP at least once a year for exposure to the community. Dave asked if anyone had any preference for moving one of the two scheduled launches to the Case Farm, but no one did so we flipped a coin (proverbially speaking) and amended the motion to be just the May launch. Seconded by Tim. Motion carried.
    Tim made a motion to pursue the field north of Case Farm. It was seconded by Bob and carried by the rest. We discussed what might be needed to make the field owners more comfortable and will offer to purchase insurance for the field. We also discussed the fact that this is a crop-producing field and will only be available at certain times of the year; and that the owners have at this time offered it available once.
  4. Launch Equipment:
    Next on the list of new business was the clubs launch equipment. AWOL battery will take further investigation by Tim as well as better tarps and status of clips.
    Bob motioned for a new stop watch not to exceed $10 due to a working but a super glued back of one. I seconded the motion and it carried by the group to buy.
    Another purchase motioned by Tim were for the screw in tent stakes picked up by Alan. A seconded was made by Dave and the motion carried.
    The trailer discussion was tabled until later when Alan could bring details to the next meeting.
  5. The last and final item of new business was to check into a new domain name on the Internet. Tim and I will investigate the names of KCAR, KC Rockets, Kansas City Rocketry, and others. As of this report KCAR is already taken by a car dealer but others will be open to review at the next clubs meeting.

Adjournment was made by Dave as we officially welcomed Jon & Ben Cohen from Leavenworth as new members. The club then dispersed to purchase rockets from (?) and grab a bite to eat from McDonald's.

Submitted by:
R. Christian Bruggeman NAR #82573
Secretary/Treasure

and

Tim Burger NAR #78486 L1
Sr. Adviser

These minutes were recorded from notes and memory. Feel free to point out any inaccuracies or mistakes and make clarifications that you might feel are needed. Thanks!

Return to Meeting Minutes Index
KCAR Home Page
Email: nar505@yahoo.com

Page created on:May 1, 2004