AARG Meeting

January 5, 2003

Meeting convened at 2:15 p.m.

The following slate was listed as nominees:

• President: David Urban
• Vice President: David Ivey
• Prefect: Rick Vanvoorhis
• Treasurer: Lou Catozi
• Secretary: Deb Randolph
• Contest Directors: Luis Salinas And Carl Johnson
• Senior Advisor: Carl Johnson
• Junior Advisor: Mollyanne Randolph

Upon unanimous vote the above slate was elected to their respective positions.

Launch Schedule:

Launches will continue at the hutto site until March 1. Thereafter launches will move to a proposed Taylor site until Labor Day. The proposed site has up to an "I" capability. The status of the Taylor site is not as yet finalized. The club is still seeking other possible launch site locations comparable to the Hutto site.

Contests:

A late spring regional is proposed for the first week in june. this would put the AARG sponsored contest at the end of the contest season. It is proposed to include craftsmanship events, but is also proposed to have no commonality to NARAM events. This contest is still in the planning stages.

Discussion was had with regard to non-regional smaller events to promote participation.

Treasury:

There was no treasurer's report, as Lou Catozi was not present for the meeting.

It was proposed and agreed to by all that maintaining the membership list be turned over to the function of the secretary.

Prefect Report

Rick VanVoorhis reports that communication is not as good as it could be, but Tripoli is healthy.

With regard to regulatory matters, he reports that with the homeland security act, apcp could be regulated out of existence in 18 months. in this regard, action can and is being taken on two fronts.

• 1) The Tripoli/NAR suit is in the hands of the judge.
• 2) The Wickam initiative. John Wickam is looking for Congressional support and executive action to declare amatur rocket use as exempt from the Homeland Security Act. (Technically, use of black powder for ejection would be regulated under the HSA.).

General Discussion

- Discussion was had with regard to what, if any, action should be taken by AARG with regard to members who are in bad standing with vendors (i.e., have longstanding outstanding balances). it was suggested they not be allowed to fly at launches. The legalities of such an action were questioned. It was also suggested that if legal charges were filed against such member, they would then violate the bylaw of being a member in good standing, and only at that time could any action by the club be taken. The discussion remains open.

- James Duffy raised the issue of the Taylor airport and the Cross Country Estates private airport being approximately 3 nautical miles from the Hutto site. While appropriate waivers are obtained for launches, he suggested notifications to the managers of these airports also be provided as an additional courtesy. The membership was in concensus with such notifications.

- David Urban raised the issue of possibly increasing the safety checking at launches. While the club is certainly in compliance, it was mentioned that it would be helpful to have two people at the launch head, as it sometimes becomes very busy. An idea was voiced to develop a color-coded sticker system to delineate people who had paid launch fees and their level. It was noted that even the best safety check is cursory. The other caveat is that more launch administration would cause higher launch fees in the long run.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 P.M.

Deborah Randolph
Secretary