The 2024 edition of the Northwest Xtreme Rocket Show (NXRS) is approaching fast! The four-day event runs from Thursday morning, June 20 through Sunday afternoon, June 23 at the Brothers launch site. For this event, in addition to the usual $20 range fee for non-member flyers, there is also a $20 fee for spectators (no charge at other launches). On-site primitive tent camping and RV parking is available but will be tight, and there will be at least one rocket vendor available (no food vendors… bring your own, although drinking water will be available at the Registration table).

The waiver is activated for the normal 25,000′ MSL (20,460′ AGL) with calling requests to add enough to that to cover the limits from any launch pad on site. (Reminder, if you need the high waiver active, talk to RSO, LD or a board member an hour before you’ll be ready to fly – or the day before if you want to fly first thing – so that we can call up to Seattle to activate the high waiver. generally speaking if you think you have a flight that will be going over 20,000′ AGL and haven’t already alerted the BOD, please do so ASAP.)

We do have some fighter wing shutdowns on Thursday (morning and early afternoon) and Friday (morning) at least, and possibly more. We also will have windows for night flights Friday and Saturday. We have already heard of a few large projects that plan to fly, so it should be an exciting weekend.

The weather forecast is looking pretty much normal for NXRS: highs in the 80 to 90 range, lows in the mid 40s. Pollen and UV indexes are both high. Looks like clouds and rain will not be much of an issue, but winds will be, especially in the afternoons…. Sunday afternoon is calling for nearly 20mph winds! Assuming the county has not banned fires, campfires will probably be permitted in the existing fire rings in the evening, expect an announcement at the flier’s meetings, which are 9am Thursday – Saturday.

As with all launches, we need volunteers to work LCO and FSO, since this is NXRS we will be doubling up those jobs during the peak hours. And since it’s been so popular, we will be continuing the 1 hour blocks, though as usual folks are welcome to sign up for two in a row if they want. As a reminder: LCO needs to be high power certified with either NAR or Tripoli and be familiar with our launch gear, site operations and pad layout. FSO needs to be Level 2 certified with either NAR or Tripoli. We will be attempting to do some training sessions for both jobs, plus we welcome folks who are qualified and interested to shadow someone who has done it before… ask any board member if you are interested in shadowing and want help finding someone to shadow. Additionally, if you are able to stay a bit on Sunday to help tear down and load up it would be greatly appreciated. Finally, If anyone has a truck that can tow the fire trailer, we will be wanting to have the fire truck and fire trailer separate during a few launches to pre-stage them out near the pads, so talk to Dave Armstrong on site.

Finally, there are a couple things we need to remind everyone of as we’ve had some complaints the last few launches about camp etiquette:

1. The road through camp is still fairly new and dust prone. Keep your speed at or below a walking pace at all times when driving in camp or around the launch area. Please do not take motorized vehicles off road at the launch.
2. Pets must be leashed when outside your car/trailer/camper in camp.
3. Generator hours are 8am to 10 pm. If you will need to run an engine or generator for a prolonged period of time every day, especially during flight operations, please camp to either END of the flight line and ideally on the south side.
4. NXRS is our longest, largest, and most popular launch, please help contain the sprawl by being mindful of how much space along the camping area you are using, especially near the middle. Those of us bringing trailers, please consider parking them North to South rather than parallel to the camp road. You may need to park your tow vehicle beside your trailer rather than keep it attached. Consider also camping or parking on the south side.
5. There needs to be a 10 foot setback between sage and camping. On the north side of the camping area, along the flight line, this is marked out with a set of ground spikes (Yellow I think?) and we keep this space open both for fire safety, and as a walkway for folks to walk along the flight line. Please ensure your vehicles, canopies, guy wires, tent stakes, etc are clear of this area. On the south side there are not spikes placed, please ensure you keep your camping activities 10′ from any vegetation. Camping and RV’s are permitted along the flight line in the cleared areas only. No camping in the sage.
6. Porta-potties are available, but no water, electricity, or dumping. Bring your own water and shade, take your own trash out. And as a reminder: the porta-potties are only to be used for bodily outputs and toilet paper… use the provided trash bag for anything else. We have enough trouble getting a company to come out and service them as is, we do not need another incident of clogging their pumps with trash.

OK, with those unpleasantries aside… see you in the sage!

The link to join or renew your 2024 OregonRocketry membership is now available. Go to the Membership page (see the menu bar) and look for the “Click Here For Online Membership Application” link. For those who prefer to complete a hard-copy application and mail it to OROC with a check, we will have the 2024 application uploaded shortly.

Remember, the application period is for the calendar year, January 1 through December 31, 2024. It is not based on the 12 months since you last joined the club. Those who joined at Rocketober 2023 will be grandfathered for 2024.