THOR-Dec-06

The morning of our December launch started out as any other slightly overcast Florida winter day, but soon
after setting up we got buzzed by a pair of 'flying ceiling fan men'. After a Klingonesque warning shot thru
their bridge they landed in the back end of our field soon followed by an angry officer of the County Sheriff's,
who first thought they were part of our road show, but after a friendly correction about park permits and FAA
notifications, he proceeded to yell their ears off and left us to our own devices...

As usual for a December launch, not that many people showed up, from left Astron Mike, Manuel, Bob with his
daughter Julie, Mark Morris and us. Astron Mike also was the first to successfully fish out his glider off of a
treetop
'Hey look guys - I caught a glider'

Well, that didn't slow him down, and next up was his scissor wing glider. The obligatory pose on the left,
lift-off in the middle and since it swooped above us right after the wing deployed, I even managed to get an
in-flight shot... Mike always looks so serious in pics, one of these days I'll photoshop a Garfield Grin in...

The carnage started! Manuels scratch
built design recoverd by the infamous
forward crumple zone method, while
my Patriot snapped a fin in landing.

Then Mike's big glider crumpled its nose
due to a weak Estes ejection charge,
you can see most of the clay cap still
in the motor...

While I was looking at that, Bob's
Estes RTF went scud when the boost
broke off the motor block sending the
motor to rattle around loose in the
airframe.

Red One took to skies on E18, and had one of my more successful deployments of the day but then
a gust of wind took her for a left turn at Albuquerque and she oh so gracefully floated in the middle of
what is known as the Orange Grove from Hades. Mike spotted her first nesting on a treetop, if you look
closely you can see the tip of a red and white fin poking out near bottom left corner. Out came the
telescoping pole again for yet another successful salvage operation...

While Mark's Vindicator (left) had one of the nicest flights of
the day Manuel was prepping a classic Centuri saucer...
Yes, it really landed neatly on its gear !