|
|
Home / Archives / News Archive 2000 / Georgia loses largest sanctioned-use launch site
|
Georgia loses largest sanctioned-use launch site |
|
|
|
|
2000 Archived News by Tripoli Atlanta
|
|
Monday, June 26, 2000 |
|
PERRY, Georgia USA — Struggles to maintain launch sites in Georgia have been dealt another blow this week with the official announcement that the Super Sod site at Perry, Georgia has been closed to any future launch activities. The word was delivered from Super Sod's corporate office late last week while negotiations were underway amid recent allegations over experimental launch activities held there.
Local Warner Robins hobby rocketry dealer Leonard Boswell and GAMMA rocketry club representative Bill Davenport had begun damage control discussions with sod farm manager, Larry Johnson, over the use of the 400 acre tract of land that has been the regular home of hobby rocketry launch activities for Atlanta and surrounding northern Georgia flyers after holding an experimental launch on the site back in May of this year.
The incident at the center of the controversy is the legality of experimental launches held in the state of Georgia - launches held with non-commercially manufactured rocket motors, motors manufactured by the individuals themselves. The event was held under the banner of Tripoli Experimental, a research clause in the Tripoli Rocketry Association corporate charter which allows the organization to conduct experimentation for research purposes. The question here is about the ability to conduct these types of launches based on Georgia's state fire code, a question some individuals say is answered a resounding "No."
John Cato, a resident of Nicholls, Georgia, is an architect by trade and says knowledge of the state's fire code is a requirement of his profession. According to his investigation of the state's thousands of lines of fire code, the conditions for which one must adhere to be able to legally conduct an experimental launch in the state of Georgia were not met by the launch organizers or participants at the Perry launch.
Cato, the first person in Georgia to secure a launch site using Super Sod property, secured a large sod farm site in Nicholls for the purposes of holding launch activities and still maintains his relationship with Patten Properties, Super Sod's owner, for those purposes today. To him, it was a question of his reputation being put on the line when he knew the Perry launch organizers hadn't been fully forthcoming with that sod farm's management about the legal issues surrounding experimental launches.
"I took it upon myself to advise the landowner that there were activities occuring on his land that he would obviously be distressed to know were probably illegal - clearly negating any insurance that may protect him from liability. I took it upon myself to give him a chance to make an informed decision about the risks he was being exposed to and decide for himself if he wanted to be exposed to those risks." Cato stated in a public post on the UseNET News group, rec.models.rockets, in mid-June. The public expose on the newsgroup ignited a heated exchange between Cato and other flyers, which is still being exchanged today. Cato defended his position, adding "My relationship and agreement stands unaltered with this landowner."
Combined with years of complaints from area residents about rockets landing in their trees, Super Sod decided to cancel rocketry use at the Perry site, the last field in Georgia where insured launches sanctioned by the two national rocketry organizations were held. Super Sod also owns the field that will host this year's Tripoli LDRS 19 launch over the July 4th holiday, and according to sources, there have been no repercussions surrounding that launch site or the LDRS event.
Until a new field can be secured, an alternate site has been located about 45 minutes further south of Perry in Andersonville, Georgia. Mac Hodges, owner of Hodges Hobbies, owns a large tract of land he wishes to make available for rocketry launches and efforts are underway to secure a controlled flying area (CFA) status for the site. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Users Currently Online
We have 33 guests and 2 members online.
|
