After three scrubbed launches in a row the earth and sky were finally dry enough for HARA to get out and fly. With them came a ton of people wanting to be certified to fly high power. There were plenty from the UAH Space Hardware Club, but the real blitz was added by a new sport rocketry club of employees at Huntsville’s Blue Origin plant. A likely headline for this story could be, “HARA certifies Blue Origin for HPR,” but that would be too cool. Twenty-two fliers got level 1 with two more achieving level 2 keeping the officers busy all day with paperwork. Sixty four rockets flew and most of them were high power. The light winds kept all the models landing nearby. Pictures by Pat, Doug and Vince.

HARA got out on the field on day one of 2023 with an impromptu small model launch unable to resist the unseasonable 70 degree sunny day. See more photos, videos and notes at the HARA facebook page-

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064693116419

The next launch is scheduled for 1/14/23 at Woodville.

The scheduled launch day on 11/12 was rained out by a hurricane, but by the next weekend the November air was mostly clear, calm, cold, but good enough to fly. There were 38 flights in a fairly even distribution of motors from ‘A’ to ‘J.’ Several ever present school teams brought their birds and other club members brought theirs. As the sky went overcast in the afternoon, the rocket flames showed even up brighter.

HARA’s launch season began well with a two day launch on October 15 and 16,2022. Weather was a little breezy on Saturday and lower winds on Sunday and clear skies both days.  There were 62 recorded launches with a CTI K360 being the largest size flown. Sunday attendance was very light with only about two dozen flights. Models of all types tested the air landing in the freshly cut field.

It was only a month before the annual April launch of 2020 when covid came and NASA froze the Student Launch program and any flying. The next year the program was all virtual and this year it was still mostly remote, but half the registered teams decided to come and fly in Huntsville. The weather was great at Bragg’s farm on April 23 as high school and college teams revived the 22 year old tradition of launching level two motors on a NAR range. There was no rocket fair or NASA tours or awards banquet this time but the 27 flights encouraged everyone that the program was coming back.

As the weather came up favorable HARA pulled off two back to back monthly launches in both October and November skies to start the fall flying season. Both launches tested the new wireless control system, which apart from new operator familiarization, worked great. The first launch had 51 total flights of all sorts of motors as is typical of the HARA family and friends. The Geezer TARC contest brought out 4 competitors. Duane won with a new record score of ‘5’, followed by Bill with 166, Doug with 724, and Vince getting the flying pig trophy with 803, a new record bad for Geezer.

The November launch was a true high power day that had 46 flights with only 4 non HPR models lofted. It was a chilly day in Woodville and the cloudless sky favored the big motors. Many flyers came from surrounding states to certify at new levels or practice with their student team rockets, or both. They flew right up to sunset when the waiver expired and the range crew hustled to get the trailer packed before dark. Will the weather in December hold out for a third in a row scheduled launch and the Trash Panda Contest? Watch this page.

The frustration of having to cancel or slip launch dates due to bad weather or muddy field conditions prompted the officers to move the March launch up a week from the 13^th to the sixth to match a favorable forecast. The decision allowed the club to be out on the Butler Mill field for a beautiful day of flying; clear sky, mild temps and moderate wind. HARA had a diverse manifest with certs and college team flights, novel mid power rockets, a shuttle glider, a high-power 2 stage, and a high power drag race that was more eventful than planned.

For more photos and an awesome video from John Kraieski’s very upscale Mars Lander sparky ascent and four legged landing see https://www.facebook.com/HARA-Rocketry-182522918458853/  Thanks to Gene, Greg and Patrick for contributing pictures!

The autumn colors of red, orange and yellow decorated the trees in the mountains of north Alabama but also the flames of the rockets flying at the monthly HARA launch. After being rained out in October and waiting since March for the field to be cleared the club was out in full force to launch into a mild calm November sky. The pads were particularly busy with HP certification flights.  The crowd was present when the waiver opened at 10 am and was solid until sunset.

For a more detailed discussion of the day go to Bill’s blog at http://billsrockets.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-perfect-day-for-flying.html A multitude of rocket pictures are on the HARA facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HARA-Rocketry-182522918458853/

The bashful bride of good weather finally arrived for the anxious rocketeer grooms after running away from the past three months of scheduled launches. She was cold but calm, allowing many HP certification flights and other large motors to fly on the new field in Paint Rock. Here are a few scenes from the day.

The next launch is March 9.

HARA was represented at NAR’s 60^th annual meet and rocketeer reunion in Pueblo, Colorado in August by Allen Owens and Vince Huegele. Vince was there for the BOT meeting and Allen was there to fly his level 2 scale Tomahawk, the Long Tom. The weather was great and the field was greater allowing the launch and recovery of all manner of sport rockets. Allen’s flight was excellent, and higher than predicted. Vince made two nominal flights on a Spacemonkeys plastic V-2 converted to fly on 24mm motors.

Allen loads his rocket on the away pad rail with RSO help.

Long Tom ascends on its maiden flight.

All the pieces were recovered.

An N powered rocket takes off in the background, but from the camera’s perspective it’s the same size as the C powered models on the rack.

An imaginative hybrid of the Red Max and a Saturn V on the rack with the V-2.

Vince in the crowd after flying his V-2.