Building a better rocket

Here is a BBC report on amateur rocketry. Getting up to less than 3000 feet doesn't sound very impressive, and other types of engine would still work well at that altitude.

One way to go higher and stand a better chance of getting to space would be to attach the rocket to a balloon, which it would then be released from once the balloon had reached it's maximum altitude, but balloons are not easy to control and would presumably need to be quite large to lift a significant mass. A better way of doing things might be to mount the rocket at the centre of something like a large quadrotor helicopter. The multiple rotors could be spaced some distance apart to ensure stability during the ascent, then at the maximum altitude the rocket would fire and the helicopter could either descend back to earth in a controlled way, or merely just free fall and autorotate. The gliding descent would ensure that nearly all of the helicopter's fuel could be spent getting it as high as possible, with power only being used during the final landing phase.