The best picture of a rocket is the moment of liftoff. The second best is a nice static pose after the decals are on and before it’s worn by flight. That’s what’s here of various finished kits. Can you match the name with the model? Arcon Hi, Astro-1, Avenger, Honest John, Outlander, Photon Disrupter, Protostar, Red Shift and Skonk Wulf.
It was a foggy morning June 12 when the launch began but the ten finalist teams from Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee attended and made all twenty allowable flights. When all the scores were tallied nationally Russellville High School Team One from Russellville, Alabama came in fifth and won $8500. Tharptown High School, also from Russellville, made ninth. Alabama was the only state besides California to have two teams finish in the top ten. Hosted by the Birmingham Rocket Boys NAR section and led by President Ronald Dunn plenty of volunteers were on hand to set up, run the range and score the flights. It was an admirable performance by NAR to complete the TARC program for the pandemic year by spreading the finals out to ten regional fields. HARA was represented by Vince, Bill and Duane, who had fun with various timing and scoring duties. No eggs were broken by the teams, but two flights ejected the motors and unfortunately had to be disqualified.
Here are the finals scores of the schools at the Birmingham launch.
Place School City State Total Flight 1 Flight 2
| 5 | Russellville City Schools (Team 1) | Russellville | AL | 23.6 | 21 | 2.6 | |
| 9 | Tharptown High School | Russellville | AL | 25.56 | 4.74 | 20.82 | |
| 32 | Creekview High School (Team 1) | Canton | GA | 56.68 | 7 | 49.68 | |
| 35 | Russellville City Schools (Team 2) | Russellville | AL | 62.68 | 31.56 | 31.12 | |
| 41 | Winfield City High School | Winfield | AL | 68.48 | 36 | 32.48 | |
| 44 | Hackleburg High School | Hackleburg | AL | 75.62 | 54.62 | 21 | |
| 46 | Creekview High School (Team 2) | Canton | GA | 77.7 | 20.62 | 57.08 | |
| 62 | Lincoln High School | Lincoln | AL | 113.82 | 73.38 | 40.44 | |
| 88 | Stone Memorial High School | Crossville | TN | 9.24 | DQ | 9.24 | |
| 89 | Hewitt Trussville High School | Trussville | AL | 13 | DQ | 13 |
In a very anomalous TARC season that began in 2019 these teams from Alabama scored in the top one hundred ranking nationally and will compete in the finals to close out 2021. It’s almost the same group that made the finals last time. http://hararocketry.org/hara/six-alabama-tarc-teams-going-to-finals-in-virginia/
The schools and cities are:
Tharptown High School T1, Russellville
Lincoln High School, Lincoln
Russellville High School T1, Russellville
Russellville High School T2, Russellville
Winfield City High School, Winfield
Hewitt-Trussville High School, Trussville
Hackleburg High School, Hackleburg
Other Alabama teams selected as alternates are:
Tharptown High School T2, Russellville
Civil Air Patrol – Redstone Composite Squadron, Huntsville
St. John Paul II C.H.S., Huntsville
The cutoff score for making the top 100 this year was 37.06, which is respectable considering the contagion circumstances. It was 36 in 2019, the last “normal” year. There were 615 teams in TARC-2021 and although many of them were never able to get together, build, and fly due to COVID, TARC still ended up with 282 teams submitting qual flight scores.
Rather than have the finals with all 100 teams in Virginia as usual, the finals will be broken down to eleven regional sites with fewer teams present on each field. The Birmingham Rocket Boys NAR Section will host TARC June 12. The results from those flights will be sent to TARC headquarters which will compile the scores and announce the winners at the TARC 2021 Awards ceremony (online) on June 28.
Congratulations to these teams for their success and the opportunity to represent the state. Russellville High won first place in TARC in 2015.
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 13th 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!
by Vince Huegele
The temps were barely nudging the upper thirties and the sun was too shy to show its face but the field was dry and HARA was out flying on a January day. Not as many attended this launch as the one in November which had fifty more flights than today’s 38. With last month’s December launch and last year’s January launch rained out the cold air and 12 mph wind was acceptable. Masks were worn by most people to keep their noses warm. Families brought the kids which bundled up like little snowmen were always thrilled to chase descending parachutes through the corn stubs. The biggest flight of the day was a K motor sparky shown below.
Butler Mill field – please help set up and take down the range
The prospects for a Saturday launch are iffy – even though no significant rain is forecast, low temperatures (high around 41), winds close to the limit
(15-20 mph), and heavy clouds are projected.
The officers are continuing to look at the forecasts, and a GO/NO GO decision will be announced on Friday.
The current forecast is for clear and cool weather on Saturday, but the Thursday/Friday rains may result in fields that are too muddy to support a launch. A check of field conditions will occur Friday afternoon, after which a GO/NO GO decision will be made
It’s a new year (hopefully it will be better than last)! The virus still runs amok, so we will once again have a virtual meeting this Thursday night. January meetings are always important because we draft people… er, solicit nominations for… officer positions. We are not above nominating people who are absent, so be sure you are there! Anyway, here’s the agenda:
January launch update
Virtual NARCON details
January giveaway
Officer reports, including possibly hosting NARCON 2022
Officer nominations
Show and tell
HARA wireless controller status
Connection information is available by contacting officers@hararocketry.org
See you there!
