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Alabama man loses life retrieving model rocket |
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2000 Archived News by Huntsville Area Rocketry Association
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Wednesday, July 05, 2000 |
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ARDMORE, Alabama USA — The Independence Day holiday was marred by the death of an Alabama man attempting to retrieve a model rocket from overhead power lines at the Ardmore, AL field normally used my the Huntsville Area Rocketry Association (HARA).
Robert Hays, 46, of Harvest, Alabama, suffered fatal electrical burns Tuesday when the metal pole touched the high-tension TVA power lines at a rural Madison County field. The rocket was apparently launched the previous week at a regularly scheduled sports launch at the field, which was recognized by several HARA members as being a level 1 certification flight at that event, but it is unknown whether the victim was the owner of that rocket.
Local farmers notified the local fire department, who discovered the man's body lying in the field, where he had been attempting to recover the rocket using an aluminum pole. After being airlifted to Huntsville Hospital, the victim died with burns to over 90% of his body before he could be transfered to Birmingham, where critical burn patients are normally treated.
Nationally-recognized rocketry organizations normally operate under a strict safety code to prevent events such as this from happening if a user will adhere to the code. The safety code of the National Association of Rocketry states, "If a high power rocket becomes entangled in a power line or other dangerous place, I will not attempt to retrieve it." Other organizations have similarly worded statements.
Brian Day, HARA president, dispatched a notice of the event, asking flyers to use good justment. Even though the victim in this case was operating on his own, on private property, alone and in a hazardous manner, Day asked each member to please refrain from doing anything such as this, and added, "there are more important things in life than a cardboard tube." |
