The weather was cold and the frigid winds were blustering hard. It had to be a rocket flying weekend. I threw some rockets into the Highlander and made my solo trek to Higgs Farm. The field was too wet and muddy for parking and those flyers brave enough or stupid enough to try to fly in these conditions had to park along the driveway.

Most of us with common sense would have turn around and gone home, however, this was the first launch of 2016 which meant it was the annual Christmas Tree launch. Various flyers were decorating and prepping the trees for the drag race. Attendance was understandably low due to the weather. There were only three tree flights for Saturday.

The strong winds were swirling and carrying parachutes in various directions depending on altitude. Shaken, Not Stirred remained grounded and instead I helped with the launch and filmed the first round of the Christmas Tree Drag Race.

I returned Sunday morning to slightly lower winds but colder temperatures. Everybody knew that snow was working its way from the south and there was a mad dash to get as many flights up before the snow arrived.

I installed my already prepared Shaken, Not Stirred on the pad and waited for the button to be pushed. Shaken, Not Stirred majestically ascended to 1,303 feet before arcing over and ejecting its apogee recovery. Shaken, Not Stirred danced during its descent to 300 feet where the main recovery was successfully deployed with quite a report. Shaken, Not Stirred safely touched down without any damage. Click on video to see the great flight.

The snow started to fall heavily while the Christmas Tree flyers were installing the trees on the pad. The second round of the Christmas Tree Drag Race occurred in the heavy snow. The snowfall eventually became too much and viability was too limited to fly anymore. The launch was closed at 01:00PM. We packed up the field and started our journey home. The roads were not that bad and I arrived home without incident. Click the video to see the Christmas Tree Drag Race. Until the next launch . . .