handyeman, I decided not to go for DD in my cert. attempt... I believe in KISS and figured it wouldn't be hard to send 'er up to 1,200 feet and retrieve. That makes the odds more in my favor of getting my certification.
I can respect that. I just think that KISS is really an engineering term. I don't think KISS should apply to goals, only the building/operating/engineering and technical means to achieve those goals.
In other words, if your goal is simply to get the cert, then do it by the simplest means, baby H and motor deploy in a simple low flying rocket. If your goals are to fly high, learn DD, and the ground testing and everything that goes with it, then use an altimeter in it's simplest dual channel mode, do your ground tests as simply as possible with commercial ematches and fly the DD for the cert on an I motor that will get you the moste altitude. You can apply KISS to either goal, I just don't believe you should apply it to the goal itself.
Every flight is an oppertunity to learn more about rocketry. I think that applying KISS to your goals reduces your oppertunities to learn.
Just my :2: