02-01-2015, 07:29 PM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Bernomatic's posting above just reminded me of another thing that would be helpful to include in any presentations to politicians and officials. As G. Harry Stine pointed out in his "Handbook of Model Rocketry," the fact that our model rocketry activities can be insured *at all*--and at a rock-bottom rate, to boot--is nothing to hide, but something to point to with pride; if model rocketry was dangerous, it couldn't be insured at *any* price (or at best, at a rate that only the wealthy could afford to pay). Also:
The park flying experience of Frank Zaic (the famous model airplane designer and writer, see: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...le+Search&gbv=2 ) is instructive, too. When he was a boy, he and a few friends wanted to fly their model airplanes in Central Park in New York City, but it was prohibited at that time. Undaunted, he managed to meet with Mayor LaGuardia (or Mayor Walker--I forget which) and presented his case, and the mayor issued him an unlimited-duration permit. When he and his friends went to Central Park and began prepping their models, a police officer came over and told them that flying model airplanes wasn't allowed. Young Frank politely showed the officer his permit, and he was stunned to see the mayor's personal signature on the official NYC Mayor's Office stationery! He was so impressed that he even cleared an area for the boys so that they could more easily prep and fly their models! |