Mar 17, 2020
NAR President John Hockheimer announced a policy on NAR and Section activities in response to COVID-19. All NAR Sections (this includes SoAR) shall postpone or cancel Section launches, meetings, and other group activities through April 28. This may be extended. At this point, that means that the April Dawsonville launch is canceled. At the moment, events in May are still on, but that too may change based on federal and state guidance.
Apr 6, 2020
The April RocketTalk meeting that would normally be held at the Tuxford Subdivision in Alpharetta, will be held online instead through the facilities of Zoom. The meeting will start at 7 PM as usual and feature more-or-less the same format. This will be the perfect chance to participate in RocketTalk for those of you who can’t normally attend due to distance.
This is a video conference, so it’d be nice if you have a web camera, but if you want to just be heard and not seen, that’s cool too.
Invitations will go out through the SoAR Groups.IO groups, so keep an eye on them. Instructions will go public shortly before the meeting starts, at the RocketTalk page. (As of 6PM, the instructions are up. Note that you’ll have to sign up for a free Zoom account if you don’t already have one, so start a few minutes early if you need to do that).
May 20, 2019
The teams from Creekview High in Canton, GA finished fourth and fifth overall at the TARC Finals in The Plains, Virginia.
Creekview Team 2 had a first flight score of just 6.0, putting them in good position for the second flight, but couldn’t quite hit the second flight as well, and ended up with a score of 27, while Team 1 was outside of their landing window with the first flight, but were consistent with altitude and finished with 25.96.
Team 2 from Madison (WI) West High School won the event with a score of 10.0 (8 on the first flight, and 2 on the second flight). They will be going to the Paris International Air Show to compete for the International title.
The goal is to take three large Hens eggs (the number chosen as tribute to the Apollo 11 aniversary!) to as close as possible to the target altitude (which was 856 for the first flight and changed by 25 feet for the second) and return them safely to the ground between 43 and 46 seconds after liftoff.
Congratulations to Creekview High for their efforts this year!
Mar 12, 2019
SoAR has an opportunity to try out a new field that can possibly eventually be used for small high power launches.
We’ll start today, Sunday, March 24 from 10AM to 5PM with a Low/Mid power launch at the Creekside Firing Range located in Taylorsville, GA, west of Cartersville. This is within a couple of miles of where SoAR got its start in 1997!
Launches at this field will only be held on Sundays, as this is the only day the firing range is closed. There are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT RESTRICTIONS on recovery that, if violated, will get you banned from SoAR AND possibly from clubs across the Southeast. We can’t stress enough how important this is.
If a rocket lands south of the field in the adjoining sod farm, it should be considered LOST FOREVER*. The sod farm has made it clear that NO ONE goes on its property for any reason.
We’ve now been told we have permission to recover from the sod farm, by foot only.
From April to October, corn will be planted on a large part of the field, which will limit its usefulness, but we may schedule other low/mid power launches during this time. If a rocket lands in the corn, it should be considered LOST FOREVER*. During months when the corn has been harvested (November to March), that area is fair recovery area. This is when the field will operate as a high power field (except this launch, as we don’t yet have a waiver).
* We are attempting to work out ways in which we can get wayward rockets back from the landowners. Let us deal with this. Do not attempt to contact the landowners yourself.
WEATHER UPDATE: Looks to be a beautiful day, mostly sunny, mid 50’s when we start but peaking at nearly 75 degrees by the time we wrap up. Winds will be five to eight MPH mainly from the south, so the sod farm probably won’t come into play anyway.
Here are the directions to Creekside Firing Range:
- From Atlanta, take I-75 North to exit 285, Red Top Mountain Rd. and turn left.
- Continue as it merges with Old Alabama Road SE.
- After about five miles, turn right on to GA 61 (you’ll have Cartersville Airport on your right).
- After about a mile, turn left onto GA 113.
- After about five miles, turn right on to Covered Bridge Road.
- In half a mile, turn left onto Old Alabama Rd. SW.
- In just over three miles, Creekside Firing Range will be on your left.
Jul 29, 2017
(minor updates, April 2017) A dilemma faced by many: “I, or my son or daughter, received a model rocket for Christmas (or birthday, or graduation, or other occasion). Where do we go to launch it?” So here is a very short guide to flying a model rocket in the metro Atlanta area.
First of all, know that most park systems in the metro area have rules against flying objects of all types. Sometimes you can go fly a rocket or two in your local park, but at some point a friendly police officer will come by and say you can’t do that. That said, there is one park where we have gotten assurances that model rockets are allowed: Garrard Landing Park on Holcomb Bridge Rd near the Chattahoochee River. The entrance to the park is in front of the Johns Creek Environmental Campus; just follow the signs back to the park. Garrard Landing is suitable for the average Estes beginner rockets.
Schools, church athletic fields, and, of course, private property can sometimes be used if you approach the appropriate people first.
The best advice we can give is for you to wait and attend one of SoAR’s launches, where you don’t have to worry about permission, or even whether your launch equipment works, since we provide it, along with free recovery wadding! We try to have two launches a month, usually one in Alpharetta for smaller model rockets, and one at another location for all model rockets. And then we have our GRITS launch in south Georgia at Thanksgiving for rockets of all types.
And keep checking the web site. You never know when we’ll find other locations where we can fly.
Jul 28, 2018
For the July 28th work day, our club’s valuable asset (the one on two wheels) received a thorough scrubbing and scouring in preparation for its upcoming trip to the paint shop. All remaining sticky residue was removed using solvents and some light scraping then the entire outside was hand-washed to remove years of oxidation streaking and grime. Once the trailer has been painted, our next step will be to make final decisions on the SoAR club logo placement and contact information to be applied to the sides and back.
The teams from Creekview High in Canton, GA finished fourth and fifth overall at the 
SoAR has an opportunity to try out a new field that can possibly eventually be used for small high power launches.
(minor updates, April 2017) A dilemma faced by many: “I, or my son or daughter, received a model rocket for Christmas (or birthday, or graduation, or other occasion). Where do we go to launch it?” So here is a very short guide to flying a model rocket in the metro Atlanta area.