Clarifies And Moves Amateur Rocketry Out Of The "Balloon" Section

The FAA has updated 14 CFR Parts 1 and 101 "Requirements for Amateur Rocket Activities", which corrects errors in the FAA regulations regarding amateur rockets, effective June 6th. According to the document:

"A section concerning unmanned rocket activities was inadvertently placed in the subpart for unmanned balloon activities. This correction moves that section to the correct subpart, so all the information relating to unmanned rocket activities will appear in the same subpart. Additionally, we are making minor editorial corrections.

On December 4, 2008 (73 FR 73768), the FAA published the final rule "Requirements for Amateur Rocket Activities." A new § 101.29 was added in the final rule. However, the section was inadvertently added to Subpart D—Unmanned Free Balloons. It should have been added to Subpart C—Unmanned Rockets, since the new section concerns amateur rocket activities, not balloon activities. Moving § 101.29 to the correct subpart will make it easier for readers to find all the information relating to unmanned rockets in one place. In § 1.1, paragraph (2) of the definition for Amateur Rockets, the word "statue" is changed to "statute". In the first line of § 101.25(b)(5), the number "8" (kilometers) is changed to "9.26" to correct the metric conversion when the word "statute" is replaced with the word "nautical". Lastly, in the second line of § 101.27(c), the word "statute" is again replaced with the word "nautical"."

Got that?

Balloon?

Back in June, ANN reported that an ExpressJet pilot in Texas reported a "rocket or missile" flying near his airplane shortly after takeoff from Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. It was noted at the time that an area near the airport was often used by model rockety hobbiests, but it was not known if any were using the field at the time of the incident.

FMI: www.faa.gov