May Launch in Geneseo
Hey CENJARS flyers!
Over the Memorial Day weekend this May there will be a big launch event up in Geneseo, NY (about 6 hrs northwest of our field). The event is "National Sport Launch - East" (NSL-East), which is a NAR event, and hosted by the Monroe Astronautical Rocket Society (MARS) club. The field is a WWII museum/airfield, with a ceiling of 8,000ft. So this will be a big event with rockets of all sizes! The event runs Saturday thru Monday, including a night launch on Saturday night. Website and registration info here: https://marsclub.org/welcome-to-nsle-2026/
Note that the MARS club is offering a reduced registration fee for a few weeks, PLUS a FREE rocket kit from Fliskit - but only for the first 50 registered. So if you want that deal, get on it ASAP!
A number of CENJARS members are already registered and planning to attend. The last couple of years we have gone up to URRG, not too far away from this location, but we are looking to change it up a bit. It should be a fun weekend. Aside from the rockets, there is the National Warplane Museum at that location, and it is just a nice area of NY to wander around. I'm sure there will be other Memorial Weekend events in the region as well. So if you are so inclined, it should be a great weekend with lots of BIG rockets flying. You can spectate, but there will also be lots of the "smaller" rockets like we have at our field too, so don't be shy about bringing those up there and flying them. Some of us also have hotel reservations at the "Hampton Inn Geneseo" if anyone would like to meet up.
Hope to see plenty of CENJARS members up there!
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Thanks for the heads up Eric!
Rye and I will be attending this event and he is wanting me to get my HPR Level 1 certification. I have a Loc Precision Yank Iris that is being completed in hopes of doing so at this event. I was going to push it, also attempting Level 2 if successful and I can coordinate the right certification team members. Is someone from our club going that is NAR certified and willing to be a part of the certification team?
Quote from SPilitowski on May 12, 2026, 7:59 amRye and I will be attending this event and he is wanting me to get my HPR Level 1 certification. I have a Loc Precision Yank Iris that is being completed in hopes of doing so at this event. I was going to push it, also attempting Level 2 if successful and I can coordinate the right certification team members. Is someone from our club going that is NAR certified and willing to be a part of the certification team?
I'll be there as will others from CENJARS and we're all certified. You will need to take the L2 exam before you attempt L2 certification flight. You now take that exam on-line but you need your proof of passing it to fly. There will be rocket motor vendors on-site if you should need to purchase an applicable motor.
Well, NSL-East has come and gone. There was a good contingent of CENJARS folks who made the trip up to Geneseo. Unfortunately, the weather frustrated everyone who attended. Saturday was a washout, but seeing that coming, they opened up the range on Friday afternoon for anyone who arrived early. Saturday was best enjoyed touring the nearby National Warplane Museum as rains fell most of the day. Sunday saw very wet field conditions and only a few hours of afternoon flying. Rain came again overnight, which meant a soggy field and delayed opening on Monday as well. Only 3 hours of flying Monday, but it was the best flying I've seen in a long time. Pleasant temps, mostly sunny skies, and light, gentle breezes. Far from a perfect weekend, but if you could get ready on short notice, you could get some flying in. And there were some pretty good vendors at the field too, selling low to high power kits, parts, and motors.
Among the flights made, Neil flew his big AGM 33 Pike, and a couple of Bullet Bobby flights with interesting chutes. Brian had his full scale ARCAS to over 7,000ft. Eric finally flew his Gemini DB with fall-away boosters to a perfect flight. Jo Ann's Harry Potter flew on H motors - twice! Joe made another nice flight of his big V-2. And Jeremy also had a 7,000ft flight with his Darkstar Extreme. But the highlight of the weekend was Charlie's drag race of 3 large "rockets" that looked more like giant batteries. The attention of the entire field was on his flight, and folks couldn't believe what they were seeing. They all flew well (although one chute didn't open), and it was quite a sight.
Check out some pictures in the Gallery's "Away Cell". More may be coming, plus videos from Joe.
Battery power !
Charlie designed, and tested small scale models over a few months. Then he built these rockets. We had some fun w the energizer bunny too!
yeah, launch windows were tight, weather not the best. The new star wars movie mandalorian n gogru was meh, once was enough.
the club didn’t do well with the aerotech altitude contest… my open rocket sim was way off
the field grass was thick!
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