LANDER, Pennsylvania USA -- Three, two, one — liftoff.

The model rockets will be flying high over Warren County this weekend as the Erie Rocketry Group presents “October Sky Over Lander III” on Saturday and Sunday.

The two-day event will be a hybrid launch, combining both solid fuel and liquid fuel rockets, according to club president Jim Blackman.

“It’s going to be all sorts of rockets,” club treasurer and launch chairperson Kathy Blackman said. “Low-, medium- and high-powered.”

Blackman is certified in Level II rocket launches, making her one of perhaps 100 women in the United States to reach such certification.

Amateur rocketeers can reach three different levels of certification. In order to reach level II, a person must build a rocket, fly it, retrieve it and be able to fly it again. In addition, they must pass a written test that deals with safety, regulations, physics and the theory of rocketry.

“She got one hundred percent,” Jim Blackman said. “She beat me on the test.”

According to Kathy Blackman, she wanted to be certified at level II in order to be able to attend various experimental launches.

“You’re not allowed to even be present if you’re not level II,” Blackman said.

Kathy Blackman is planning to launch a redesigned model of a EZI-65 rocket. She retooled the rocket’s motor from solid fuel to liquid and increased the length by two times for increased stability. The rocket contains an altimeter, which will deploy two parachutes to bring the model back to earth.

“Liquid fuel is hugely cheaper to fly than solid propellant,” she said, “and these aren’t dangerous rockets. They don’t blow up. They burn, they don’t blow.”

“And it’s going to go like a son of a gun,” Jim Blackman added.

According to the Blackmans, the rocket will go up approximately one mile during this weekend’s launch.

Jim Blackman has a little more ambitious plans for his weekend.

He will be putting up a full scale model of an ARCAS sounding rocket — used by the U.S. to test the earth’s atmosphere. The model rocket will break the sound barrier 50 feet off the launch pad.

“It’s going to just disappear,” Blackman said, snapping his fingers. “It will be gone. That should be fun to track down.”

This weekend’s launch is free to the public. The Blackmans said people are encouraged to bring their children. The launch will begin both days at 10 a.m. and end at 6 p.m.

The launch field is located on Rt. 957, between Lander and Sugar Grove. For detailed directions and more information on the launch, visit http://www.erierocketrygroup.org.