2/22/2018
Hello everyone! After the early morning fog lifted, we had some great weather for the February launch and a great turn out. Congratulations to our local colleges for their continued work on their programs. They had some great flights! Pictures are posted! Thank you to Jimmy Yawn for the photos and videos.
I'd like to thank everyone for their patience with the new fence at the launch site. Your continued support is appreciated.
See you at the field!
Rick Waters
4/08/2018
Hello everyone! Please mark your calendars...our spring 2 day launch has been rescheduled for May 19-20, 2018. We will have a food vendor on Saturday and some great raffle prizes.
There have been some minor changes at the field as many of you may know (The new fence). Thanks to everyone for cooperating and please remember to keep it to 10 MPH.
I would like to talk about a recent incident that has caused us quite a bit of grief. If you lose a rocket or land it in a tree, YOU MUST NOTIFY ONE OF THE OFFICERS. We will help you recover your rocket.But this needs to be done in a manner required by TTRA and the landowner. This is a no-tolerance policy. Do not take it upon yourself to stop any of the landowners that may be out on the property.
Our own Jim West has been at the NSL (NASA STUDENT LAUNCH) competition this week with the USF SOAR group in Huntsville, AL. It will be exciting to hear how they and the other local colleges did.
Robert Synoski has been working on our new wireless system that we have used at the last couple of launches which has worked flawlessly. Looking forward to getting it all completed. thank you Robert.
With the summer months coming upon us, last year we opted for a TTRA outing (bowling). If anyone has any suggestions or ideas instead of bowling, please contact me. If you haven't paid your memberships by now, please see Mike Nipper at the field.
Look forward to seeing you all at the field!
Rick Waters
12/9/2018
Hi everyone! We had a great club meeting on Saturday and many things were accomplished.
- Officers were elected for 2019, they are as follows:
- President - Jim West
- Vice President - John Mackiewicz
- Secretary - Mike Nipper
- Prefect Secretary - Mike Nipper
- Treasurer - Robert Synoski
- Launch Director - Dan Schwilatta
- Range Safety Officer (RSO) - Jim Harris
- Launch Control Officer (LCO) - Chris Bankston
- Range Manager - Gary Horwood
- Prefect - Rick Waters
- It was discussed to move the low power pads to the proper safe distance away.
- It was unanimously voted to strictly enforce Tripoli's guidelines regarding no one allowed to the high power pads unless they are 18 years of age AND a Tripoli member. Signage to be made.
- Membership fees to be increased to $40 per year. Anyone joining or renewing at the January launch, your $15 launch fee will be waived for the January launch.
- If everyone could please pitch in to help bring water for the bathroom, it would be greatly appreciated. There are plenty of empty water containers in the bathroom to use.
- Let's make a better effort to control the amount of people going out to put rockets on the pad.
- We are going to keep the 2 day launches in March and October and work harder to get donations for raffle prizes in lieu of spending so much money.
- Quickbooks to be purchased to track club finances.
If you weren't there you missed a very informative meeting, hope you can make the next one! Now that the cooler weather is here we can get started on the club rocket again without sweating our butt off in the shop :-) I certainly want to thank those of you who have stepped up whether it be set up/tear down at the field or some of the new positions we have created. It's great to see more people getting involved.
And as always, thanks for your continued support, see you at the field!
Rick Waters
11/24/2018
Hi everyone! We had a great turn out for the 11th annual Buc Blast 2 day launch, and finally some great weather to boot! There were some great flights and really enjoyed seeing everyone there. If you have any photos or videos, please send them to rusty8398@gmail.com. Our November launch also brought in some great flying weather. There were quite a few certification flights, congratulations!
For those of you who were at the November pre launch safety meeting, I spoke to you all about having a club meeting on December 8th. Everyone is invited. I would like to discuss some further structuring of the club and we have some new people that have really been stepping up and would like to get everyone involved. We will meet at 10am Saturday, December 8th at my office/shop. It is located at 10770 46th Street North, Tampa, FL 33617. We will also be nominating/electing officers for the upcoming year. Hope to see you there.
I would like to sincerely thank you guys for thinking of me with the spray gun. I was truly speechless which doesn't happen often! It will certainly go to good use.
Last but not least , as you can see from Mike's post on the front page we need everyone's help with bringing some water for the bathroom. And we do appreciate those of you who have been helping.
And as always, thanks for your continued support, see you at the field!
Rick Waters
PREFECT'S CORNER
2018 Archives
7/13/2018
Hi everyone! I'd like to start by giving a big shout out to everyone who attended the recent Jimmy's Fight Launch. We raised $500 for the cause.
Stay closely tuned in to the website and facebook as it seems it has rained every afternoon in Plant CIty for the last 40 days and 40 nights! Mike and I are going to the field tomorrow afternoon 7/14/2018, to make an assessment. We will make a decison tomorrow evening for next Saturday's launch. We certainly don't want anyone getting stuck and/or damaging the field.
Thanks for your continued support, see you at the field!
Rick Waters
Tampa Bay Rocketry Association
TBRA
5/06/2018
Hi everyone! First of all, our condolences go out to Mike Nipper and his family. Mike's mother recently passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, please send a donation to Good Shepherd Hospice in Lakeland, FL (http://www.chaptershealth.org/give).
May 19-20 Launch:
We will be setting up at the field on Friday May 18, 2018 around 5pm. Anyone that can come out to help would be greatly appreciated. There will be a food vendor onsite Saturday ONLY. We will be having 2 raffles. The first raffle will be for prizes, $1 each or 6 for $5. The second raffle will be the 50/50 raffle, $1 each or 6 for $5.
June 16th Launch
The June launch will be the Jimmy's Fight Launch. One of our local heroes firefighter/paramedic Jimmy Riley has been diagnosed with GBM, the single most aggressive type of brain tumor there is. All of our proceeds from this launch will be going to assist this family. We need your help Please visit www.jimmysfight.com for more information. Stay tuned to see the Jimmy's Fight Rocket that will be flying for Jimmy.
July 21st Launch
Stay tuned!
August 18th Launch
Mark your calendars now for the 2nd Annual Beat The Heat Bowling Outing. In lieu of the heat, last year we chose to go on a bowling adventure. Everyone had a great time. We will be doing it again this year. Time and place TBD.
Thanks for your continued support, see you at the field!
Rick Waters
10/18/2018
Hi everyone! Seems like this is the only picture I've seen heading home from work to Plant City. Maybe we are finally getting a break. As most of you know, this weekend marks the 11th Annual Buc Blast of TTRA.
We have some great raffle prizes lined up, check them out here. USF will be on site Saturday cooking burgers and hot dogs. If you would like to see or participate in the night launch, please check out the info here.
I know of quite a few larger flights that are coming, should make for an exciting weekend! I look forward to seeing everyone there.
And remember, please respect the landowner's wishes and drive SLOW when entering and leaving the property
Thanks for your continued support, see you at the field!
Rick Waters