Map of Helen Plum Library (Click to get Mapquest directions)

Meetings

The library approved our new start time. More time to share!

We meet from 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM (at the latest) on the first Friday of every month at the Helen Plum Library, located at 110 West Maple Street, Lombard, Illinois.

NIRA meeting dates and locations are occasionally subject to change due to other scheduled activities at the Library. Be sure to check for precise meeting information here or on the NIRA email list.

Meetings start at 7:00 PM and must be over by 8:45 PM. We try to keep the entertainment high and the business short. A typical meeting concludes with the Model of the Month contest. Members and guests bring their models for display, attendees look over the birds, people describe their models and techniques for building them, and then we take a vote for the monthly Youth and Adult category winners. Winners get bragging rights and their pictures in our newsletter, The Leading Edge. See our gallery for pictures of previous winners.

Club business consists mainly of event planning with a sprinkling of news about upcoming events sponsored by other clubs in the Midwest, and only occasional discussion of national rocketry-related politics. We close the meeting by asking folks if they have any rumors, tips, hints etc. to pass along, and then the group adjourns to a local restaurant for food and more rocket talk.

Our small set of bylaws describe the rather loose way we conduct the club's business, which is never very demanding. You can get more information on our meetings by emailing or calling our club officers.

Note: This club is not sponsored by or endorsed by the Helen M. Plum Memorial Library.

Regular Activities

NIRA encourages sport rocket flying of all types and does not have an overriding interest in any specific area of rocketry. NIRA members are involved in contest, sport, high power, and research flying.

Many of NIRA's members are active modelers who build accurate scale models of real commercial launch vehicles, military missiles, and research platforms. Ask around at any meeting or club launch to find the folks who know about scale modeling and how to get scale data.

Winter Activities

During the less hospitable months of December through March NIRA holds other activities in place of monthly club launches. We may have a Christmas party, visit a museum, or have some other group activity that is just for fun.

Most members use this downtime to add new rockets to the fleet or repair rockets from the previous season. You will see the best of the new additions at club meetings in April, May, and June.

We typically hold at least one build session at a member's home sometime in January, February, or March. For 2005 we held an equipment refurbishing session in March. The club racks, batteries, PA system, and other gear were all cleaned up and repaired as necessary. We also replaced the leads for the launch racks and added a keyswitch to the controller. We have added a cluster ignitor rig to the pantheon of club gear to support up to three engine clusters at our club launches. That turned out to be wise, since a slew of our members have built cluster powered rockets lately.

Demonstrations and Outreach

NIRA conducts demonstration launches for various youth programs such as Cub and Boy Scouts, YMCA groups, schools and airshow groups. Besides our scheduled Outreach launches we also respond on an ad hoc basis when called, and can always use more help on these fun events. See the contact list to determine who you can talk to about these events.

Competition

From 1981 through 1988, we were an active competition section with deep competition experience. At one time, we had six National age division champions as members. The club was crowned National Champion three years in a row, 1985-1987, long before Chicago's other sports dynasty. Since those 1980's championships we have flown several section meets. Some members travel to contests in Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. A small NIRA contingent always attends NARAM, the NAR's annual national championship.

You can find out about upcoming contests and also see records of our recent contests.

Other Sport Launch Activities

In the fall NIRA holds a special high power launch for club members and invitees only. We call this event Watch The Grass Grow (WTGG), since it has traditionally been held on a sod farm. NIRA is currently looking for a new venue for this event for 2006.

High Power Rocketry (HPR)

Since our local fields can't support HPR our members generally attend the Central Illinois Aerospace (CIA) launches in Rantoul, Illinois or the Wisconsin Organization Of Spacemodeling Hobbyists (WOOSH) launches at Bong State Recreation Area in Wisconsin.

NIRA also schedules one or two high power club launches at fields capable of accomodating high power rockets. Our annual HPR launch in September is known as Watch the Grass Grow because it has typically been held on a sod farm in far northern Illinois. In the past we also sponsored an HPR launch at the Bong State Recreational Area in southeastern Wisconsin, generally in late July or August, called Eat Cheese or Fly. WOOSH now runs this launch and does a great job.

Many of our members are NAR or Tripoli Level 2 (J/K/L) certified and can assist people seeking HPR certification.