December Launch Report
Whitakers, NC

                It had rained all week in North Carolina, and when it wasn't raining it was foggy or windy.  Saturday morning was cold and windy, but the sun was out and lots of people began to show up and prep rockets,  so we did what we came to do!

    First, a table to illustrate what was flown:  Saturday was our regular Sport launch and Sunday was our Experimental launch.

                Two people had heroic weekends at Whitakers!

         1.  Dave Morey has been attending launches at Whitakers for a long time and Saturday he had a day that can only be brought off with lots of practice and lots of careful preparation.  Dave took his level 2 exam and passed with a perfect score, he then prepped and flew his big Crayon rocket for a perfect level 2 certification flight on the extremely fine Cesaroni J360.   Congratulations, Dave!!  Most people would find that enough for one day, but Dave also flew his Fatboy on a D motor, his Silver Comet on an F, and sent up his upscale Arreaux on an I300T (an altimeter flight!)   My truck was parked next to Dave's car on Saturday, and Dave's wife was working her butt off that weekend, I suspect that Dave had a little help!!

      2.  Another person who had the weekend of his career was your correspondent, Alan Whitmore.  The air was clear and calm, and I set a few personal altitude records.  On Saturday, I put up the Higgs Boson (4" diameter) on an Aerotech K550W to an altitude of 7386 feet, recovered in the field.  At that time it was my own personal altitude record.  On Sunday I loaded my Flying Buttress (5.5" diameter) with a homemade L1450 and put it up to 8000 feet, beating the Saturday record.  The Buttress floated down from a mile and a half up, to the cotton field just across the road.  It hit on one fin and will require a little epoxy work before it will fly again.  Then I flew the Astro*Mollusc (3" diameter) on an 8-grain 38mm J motor.   The altimeter reported 5999 feet, another record for that rocket, and it fell in the field about 200 feet away.

 A fine weekend all around.   Thanks again to everybody who helped out at the RSO and LCO tables, and a special thanks to those who stayed to help pack up the trailer!