To regulars of this blog, long elaborations of radio-controlled (RC) plane failures ring a familiar tone. While much of my free time is indeed spent in such endeavors, there is an additional hobby of mine that I have barely discussed and yet has successfully consumed most (if not all) of my leftover leisure: model rocketry.

This isn’t by accident, of course. There is very little to write about due to regulations preventing my procurement of a launch site, something that’s sort of necessary to have. Here, I collate some of the frustrating processes I have undergone in hopes that someone might find it entertaining.

In search for a property to launch from, my mind naturally went to…

The most obvious option

The day before a board meeting of my local RC club, I sent the club’s membership officer an email, explaining my unique proposal.

Hi Mr. M,

I hope you’re doing well. This is Santino, one of the members at the RC field.

I was wondering if the owner of our flying field would allow me to launch an Estes model rocket on his/her land (specifically on land with no corn) or if the owner knows someone who would allow me to launch a rocket on their land. This is a small rocket, capable of an altitude of 600 feet and poses no danger to anything. I will carefully follow all of the safety measures that are recommended, be supervised by my father, and will only launch after it has rained in order to reduce the already small chance of a fire.

If you could perhaps give me the contact information of the owner or perhaps relay this message to him/her, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

  Santino G.

The next day, I received a very encouraging response from Mr. M, in which he stated that he would mention my proposal to the board, and that if it was up to him, he would approve it immediately.

The launch site started to look like it would be the easiest part of this famously difficult hobby. Later that day, however, I received another email from Mr. M. This time, apologetic.

When mentioning my project at the meeting, he was reminded by the board that both the Association of Model Aeronautics and our RC club’s by-laws restrict all flights to a height of 400 ft, 33% lower than my rocket would go.

He also said that, while the FAA is starting to approve fields for heights up to 700 ft., they have yet to approve our field.

The most obvious option, therefore, was now no longer an option.

Well, now what?

That’s exactly what I’m wondering.

With my local RC field officially out of the picture, I can no longer use my connections as leverage—leaving me stranded, more or less.

My best options now are contacting a local park or high school, but I imagine they would find the request to be borderline insane. I have delayed emailing them because of this.

Now, however, the time is perfect. We have essentially entered the winter season, which means open burning is permitted. Model rockets obviously aren’t classified as open burning, but I believe the season would make people more suggestible to the idea.

There is still lots more to go.

Ad astra!