re big amateur rockets in article c ky y mkk raistlin udev cdc com pbd runyon cim cdc com paul dokas writes anyhow the ad stated that they d sell rockets that were up to in length and engines of sizes f to m they also said that some rockets will reach feet now aside from the obvious dangers to any amateur rocketeer using one of these beasts isn t this illegal i can t imagine the faa allowing people to shoot rockets up through the flight levels of passenger planes the situation in this regard has changed considerably in recent years see the discussion of high power rocketry in the rec models rockets frequently asked questions list this is not hardware you can walk in off the street and buy you need proper certification that can be had mostly through tripoli the high power analog of the nar although the nar is cautiously moving to extend the upper boundaries of what it considers proper too you need special faa authorization but provided you aren t doing it under one of the lax runway approaches or something stupid like that it s not especially hard to arrange as with model rocketry this sort of hardware is reasonably safe if handled properly proper handling takes more care and you need a lot more empty air to fly in but it s basically just model rocketry scaled up as with model rocketry the high power people use factory built engines which eliminates the major safety hazard of do it yourself rocketry all work is one man s work henry spencer u of toronto zoology kipling henry zoo toronto edu utzoo henry
