NYT: A Cult of Backyard Rocketeers Keeps the Solid Fuel Burning

[Steve Schear]

In the late 90s on CPs I wrote a bit about my launchings in the desert 
there and other locations near Edwards AFB.  In those days no FAA 
permission was required but only coordination with Edwards, which tracked 
our flights and told us the altitudes achieved and gave us a clue as to 
whether the chute had deployed and where it had fallen.

We mostly used ZnS and later APCP.

Steve

Does anyone know which federal law prohibits any sort of guidance?  We did 
experiment with guidance systems but this was in the days of detent RC, 
before servos, and quite challenging.  Instead we used a mortar, powered by 
the rocket's own exhaust, to aim them are reduce target dispersion.

Steve