Awesome list and greatly appreciated. I much prefer "unofficial" records - less bs to deal with and still reasonable facsimilies of what's been accomplished or claimed. Most of the altitudes reported by NCR members, at least on our home flying fields, are generally verifed by someone else listening to the beeps. Still not "precise" but good enough for most.

Thanks Joe.!

That's really gratifying to hear. I've been checking to see how NCR has been doing from time to time, and gasp at all those many impressive flight numbers. NCR is truely one of the rocketry hotbeds and you guys should be very proud of that fact.

Continue success!

Rockoon Rick

Rick,

NCR stopped tracking our club altitude records at the end of 2009. Primarily because the volume of traffic had gone way up due to a number of very active flyers and a webmaster (me) who just didn't have the time to deal with it anymore. Secondarily because of what were becoming rather heated disputes over methodology and altimeters that threatened to cause too much angst among club members. As a result, it was somewhat unilaterally decided by myself (as contest director and webmaster) that it would be detrimental to the club to continue.

You are more than welcome to scrape the records we have in our Contests page, however do be aware that there are at least 4 or 5 newer records that have not been recorded since I stopped posting them.

Thanks for the information WMusselman. I can understand how the friction/discrepencies can cause this subject to be quite heated 'tween communities. This can get very competitve.
Maybe that's where I can arbitrate, and since I carry no bias throughout the rocketry communities. I'm just a data collector and screen for proof.
Well, if there's new records that can't be found, I'll have to keep looking and keep asking I guess.

thanks NCR!

Thanks again for posting your list, Rockoon.

Different people get hooked on rocketry for different reasons. For me, the idea of flying a rocket higher than anyone else has flown for that motor class is kind of an irresistible challenge. If it weren't for the NCR and Triopli record lists, I probably wouldn't have built half of the rockets that I have, or produced and sold altimeters at all. So I was quite disappointed to find out, months after the decision was made, that the NCR records list would no longer be kept up-to-date. And I've also been disappointed to have record-breaking flights of mine rejected from the Tripoli list, simply because I'm an altimeter manufacturer. Despite that, I'm still having fun breaking records because most of the satisfaction just comes from knowing I achieved my own goal, regardless of whether someone else acknowledges the accomplishment. Accuracy and completeness have been not been as high of a priority for some of the gatekeepers as I would want, but there's only so much I can do about that. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, etc.

Rockoon, I'm glad you're making a list so that there's a place where someone starting out, who has some good ideas about how to squeeze out some more altitude, can learn the complete story about what has been accomplished. Not very many rocketeers are altitude junkies who care about the records, but for those of us who are into it, an accurate list is a great thing.

So much effort and worry is spent by the various list gatekeepers on keeping out bad applications, that they have made the lists more inaccurate by keeping out legitimate achievements. I know a couple of altitude junkies who are so put off by the hassle, aggravation, delays, and lack of trust implied by the application process, that they have stopped bothering making applications altogether. I'm almost there myself. But I keep sending them in so that I'm doing my part to keep the lists accurate. If the gatekeepers would just take a deep breath and trust the integrity of their fellow rocketeers, then I think that we would have a more vibrant and active community of people going for records, as well as more accurate lists. John Wilke had the right attitude when he told me when I was starting out: "Come on in, the water's fine."

Adrian,

You couldn't have summed it up better. This part of rocketry is so goal-oriented beyond the build and beyond the flight, that I have always found an elite place for it.
After my first rocket I launched in 1982, I immediately wanted to know, "How high did that thing go?". Isn't that a normal reaction?
So in 2006, with the help of the Internet, I could finally see what the world is doing.

If there are rocketeers that go and cheat the science of "Fact" which to most of us would find extremely annoying and fairly easy to spot, they would only be cheating themselves and no one else.

Even though I have unofficial records, the passion and the dedication and the honest people I hear from all over the world, it cannot be denied what they've accomplished. It just means too much to them in the stories and proof I've gotten.

I think for the ones that "Get It" and see the bigger picture of what the lists are about, I guess I'm doing this service for them...

Achievements should bring rocktery communities together no matter what kind they are.

I still think NCR is very amazing Club and hope they can keep listing their achievements.

Please consider "The List" when you hit your next achievement.

I love it! "Altitude Junkies"
😀