BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nevada USA — The scene, a vast expanse of flat dry lake bed. The location, prominent for the players gathered to pay homage to the rocket gods. One in particular, somewhat of a legend himself, a founding member of the Tripoli Rocketry Association.

Tom Blazanin and his "Forced Certification," which successfully flew at BALLS16, netting Tom his Level 3 certification.

Tom Blazanin, Tripoli member #003, was going to set a precedent that may be difficult for other members to follow.

While attending Tripoli's national launch, LDRS 26 in Jean Dry Lake this past summer, the harassment became too much and Tom broke down, vowing to obtain his Level 3 certification at Tripoli's national experimental launch, BALLS 16, held on the Black Rock Desert outside Gerlach.

So gathering pieces and parts from old used rockets at friend Jerry McKinlay’s shop in Las Vegas, Blazanin proceeded to design a rocket that would be suitable for a Level 3 trip. He had Jerry machine special aluminum parts like the boat tail motor retainer and the aluminum centering rings to be used as recovery anchors. He also had Jerry machine-trim various fiberglass parts and then stole two 5-foot parachutes from him before departing.

Back in at home in Pennsylvania, he visited friend and business partner Dave Rose, who lives in Pittsburgh, where he obtained the needed hardware like quick links and screws. Blazanin and Rose together operate Graphix N Stuff, a signage and apparel store that caters to the rocketry crowd. Keeping with tradition, he stole a small drogue chute before he left Rose's to add to his project.

An old Dynacom nose cone was selected to top off the project, which measured 4” x 102” with a liftoff weight of 32.5 pounds. Two Perfectflite altimeters were called into action to handle the recovery work, with the drogue being pushed out at apogee followed by the two main chutes at 900 feet.

Scott Ulrey, of Just Rockets fame, agreed to supply an Animal Works M-2500 and let Blazanin borrow a motor case. According to Blazanin, he "couldn’t steal anything from Scott!"

Appropriately dubbed “FORCED CERTIFICATION”, which Blazanin said roughly translated into “OK. Now get off my back!”, the rocket was launched on September 28th, where it reached 18,850 feet and had a safe landing 2.5 miles away.  Blazanin successfully received his Level 3 certification, 10 years after becoming a Level 2 and much, much, harassment from his fellow Tripoli members.

All of this places Blazanin in a club by himself, being the only person in Tripoli whose certification level matches his membership number, to which Tom added, "OK, now what about the rest of the old timers?"

10-05-2007 09:20 PM  #1
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 4157	Congratulations, Tom! A hearty congratulations, Tom! No one believed that story that you didn't fly rockets anymore. Who would have guessed that little rocketry club from Pennsylvania would one day be worldwide?