Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Welcome to China – Home of the Olympic Games 2008!
China is one of my old favourites; last time that I came to Beijing was in 2003. The city seems to have changed in some ways, part of this may be due to the upcoming Olympic Games in summer 2008. At least some of the major road signs are now bilingual, and the number of English speakers in bigger facilities has increased at little. But then - just VERY little. :-)
What hasn't changed, unfortunately, is the Chinese's unability to pay attention to people around them. Nobody has ever heard about the concept of queuing up, and in crowded places at least the European mind sometimes feels reminded of ants running all over the place in a confused manner. Add to this the uncommon habit of spitting in public (to name just one; you will find this in a number of other places, too, but less perfected; the coolest is if your taxi driver stops, opens the door, spits, and then drives on), and there you have it - an interesting, fascinating Eastern culture. Don't let's talk about things like human rights and intellectual property, but let's concentrate on the terrific food and happy, friendly and diligent people.
With over 1.3 billion people, the People's Republic of China is the largest people in the world, and the economy grows at a startling pace. Together with India and Vietnam it has the potential to become one of the leading global market players, and it will be interesting to see what the situation will be like 50 years down the road. There isn't one China, by the way - in fact, the seemingly uniform country consists of countless "states" with their own languages, their own traditions, and their own unique way of life. This is what creates a difficult political situation, but it also accounts for one of the richest cultures and a long history.
Our good friends Dong Yu and Shen Dong are currently in Texas/USA where they had been offered a good postdoc position. This leaves us a little more to our own devices; it cannot be denied that communication is a REAL problem. Even in large cities like Beijing (which, after all, happens to be the capital) virtually nobody understands or speaks English, so it is difficult to order food, go to places by taxi, etc. Thought the menu in restaurants is bilingual? Nope.
Funny story: I had been looking forward to one of the famous "Peking ducks", but we simply didn't manage to find a place where they serve it. So we drove to one of the biggest hotels in town (I happened to have the name in Chinese letters on a name card so we could show it to the taxi driver); I knew they have it, and I knew they speak English. We walk into the lobby - very impressive! Turn left where the restaurant used to be four years ago. Hmm, no restaurant there, just a number of smaller rooms with tables, plus posters showing delicious dishes. It is 9:30 PM; a lady spots us and addresses us in Chinese. We try to tell her what we've come here for. Totally blank look, she does not understand a single word. OK, so we point at the food posters and rub our stomach. "Aah!" she makes, puts on a bright smile and points us the way --- to the hotel's business center! Heh?! Why do you think people come to a restaurant and rub their belly? "No no, look, food!" We make gestures and sounds like we're eating and drinking. "Aah!" she makes again and points upwards. Hmm, second floor?
The escalator did not work; we couldn't help but had a hunch there wouldn't be any open restaurant upstairs. Yep, right, this time we found ourselves in a conference room! The people there spoke no English (what a surprise!) and we went downstairs again to talk to the guys at the front desk. Bad English, but they got the point. The restaurant had been moved over to the other side of the stairs, about 50 m away from where the nice lady had sent us to every part of the hotel - except the restaurant! You think this is an exception? Nope again, this happens dozens of times every day (and there is times when it's hard to see the fun side of it).
Before we close this post there's three more things we'd like to pass on to you:
1) In China the internet is censored. We cannot view or access this blog - nobody can do it from within this country! It's equally impossible to address many .com domains. The reason is that blogs had become an important means to share free and unbiased opinions, so the government eventually cut it. We are lucky that through a back door we can at least post these lines - we just cannot see the result!
2) ROTOR 11/2007 should be out be now. We recommend buying the issue! It reveals most interesting details on how exactly this complex trip was planned and prepared; you'll be more than amazed!
3) Tomorrow (31st of Oct.) it's Nicolas Kaiser's birthday - we'd like to extend our best wishes to him! :-) If you get the chance, why not do the same?!
With over 1.3 billion people, the People's Republic of China is the largest people in the world, and the economy grows at a startling pace. Together with India and Vietnam it has the potential to become one of the leading global market players, and it will be interesting to see what the situation will be like 50 years down the road. There isn't one China, by the way - in fact, the seemingly uniform country consists of countless "states" with their own languages, their own traditions, and their own unique way of life. This is what creates a difficult political situation, but it also accounts for one of the richest cultures and a long history.
Our good friends Dong Yu and Shen Dong are currently in Texas/USA where they had been offered a good postdoc position. This leaves us a little more to our own devices; it cannot be denied that communication is a REAL problem. Even in large cities like Beijing (which, after all, happens to be the capital) virtually nobody understands or speaks English, so it is difficult to order food, go to places by taxi, etc. Thought the menu in restaurants is bilingual? Nope.
Funny story: I had been looking forward to one of the famous "Peking ducks", but we simply didn't manage to find a place where they serve it. So we drove to one of the biggest hotels in town (I happened to have the name in Chinese letters on a name card so we could show it to the taxi driver); I knew they have it, and I knew they speak English. We walk into the lobby - very impressive! Turn left where the restaurant used to be four years ago. Hmm, no restaurant there, just a number of smaller rooms with tables, plus posters showing delicious dishes. It is 9:30 PM; a lady spots us and addresses us in Chinese. We try to tell her what we've come here for. Totally blank look, she does not understand a single word. OK, so we point at the food posters and rub our stomach. "Aah!" she makes, puts on a bright smile and points us the way --- to the hotel's business center! Heh?! Why do you think people come to a restaurant and rub their belly? "No no, look, food!" We make gestures and sounds like we're eating and drinking. "Aah!" she makes again and points upwards. Hmm, second floor?
The escalator did not work; we couldn't help but had a hunch there wouldn't be any open restaurant upstairs. Yep, right, this time we found ourselves in a conference room! The people there spoke no English (what a surprise!) and we went downstairs again to talk to the guys at the front desk. Bad English, but they got the point. The restaurant had been moved over to the other side of the stairs, about 50 m away from where the nice lady had sent us to every part of the hotel - except the restaurant! You think this is an exception? Nope again, this happens dozens of times every day (and there is times when it's hard to see the fun side of it).
Before we close this post there's three more things we'd like to pass on to you:
1) In China the internet is censored. We cannot view or access this blog - nobody can do it from within this country! It's equally impossible to address many .com domains. The reason is that blogs had become an important means to share free and unbiased opinions, so the government eventually cut it. We are lucky that through a back door we can at least post these lines - we just cannot see the result!
2) ROTOR 11/2007 should be out be now. We recommend buying the issue! It reveals most interesting details on how exactly this complex trip was planned and prepared; you'll be more than amazed!
3) Tomorrow (31st of Oct.) it's Nicolas Kaiser's birthday - we'd like to extend our best wishes to him! :-) If you get the chance, why not do the same?!
Labels: Beijing, censorship, China, communication problem
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Indonesia Island Flights
At 10 AM we met up with Ken at the Harbour front and bought the tickets for a fast ferry transfer to Batam/Indonesia. The check-in was a similar procedure to that at the airport; after all, you are entering a different country, even though it somehow doesn't feel that way.
The ride as such was smooth and really fast; about one hour later we disembarked and went to the immigration - you need to purchase a visa to enter Indonesia unless you are a Singapore resident or from a handful of selected countries. There was only one person issuing the documents, and even though there were just four people in the queue, he clearly couldn't cope. One visa required something like a hundred work steps, and the part we liked best was when the guy manually typed our passport numbers into two different computers, printed out dozens of different documents which he stamped, folded and tore off in a complex manner, and finally zipped (!) our passports through an automatic reader!?! What an amazing way to burn time!
Ages later we finally left the terminal, and our friend Lee was already waiting to pick us up with his car. Batam is an island off the coast of Sumatra and the home of many fishing villages. In recent history it is being heavily industrialized plus opened for tourism. Compared to Singapore it is a day and night difference, everything is very basic, from the roads to the housing and lifestyle. It immediately reminds you of countries like Egypt, Nepal and India.
We had lunch at some seafood restaurant which was built on stilts into the river/sea (like most of the houses on the whole island); you first had to choose the stuff you want to eat, then they fished it out of some basin for you and cooked it. Not really something I like, and especially not Saskia; however, the final product was quite good.
Just a couple of meters away from the restaurant was a half-sunken ship; together with some smaller boats, more buildings on stilts and the turquoise water this formed a unique and unusual scenery - perfect for flying! However, Lee and Ken pointed out this might get us into serious trouble as the villagers didn't like aliens. Lee reported about an earlier incident where insane amounts of money had to be paid to the corrupt authorities just to get out of such a situation alive.
Since the villagers were all Muslims and thus filming can be difficult (they sometimes believe that pictures take part of their soul away), we decided it was best to walk away with a bleeding heart rather than ending up in difficulties.
We continued to a kind of hill with a good overview over a wide river cutting through the endless green of tropical forests and a couple of houses in the distance. A good backdrop for a long pass with the heli, and we pulled out the machine and camera for a flight. Everything worked nicely, and a couple of minutes later it was all finished. The shot below was taken later and shows Ken, myself and Lee.
We sometimes regret not to be able to do some real hardcore 3D flying ?but this not what the WSF project is all about, and any kind of fun flying just puts the heli at stake. Damaging or crashing the machine could be the end of this tour; it may be hard to understand from a comfortable chair in front of a computer screen at home. But it becomes very real if you travel half way round the world, have to negotiate with security and authorities in half a dozen languages and feel like you haven't slept in three months.
Next we visited some other places on the island but found nothing that would have beaten the first scenery. So after a nice and all too short day Lee dropped us at the ferry terminal, and we went back to Singapore.
Ken had brought along his Dremel tool to cut a groove into the Three Dee MP's Jesus Bolt so we could use a normal slot screw driver to get the bolt out of the center piece. It turned out tricky so Ken had to go back home in order to fetch some heavy duty tools. In the meanwhile we started packing our stuff for air transportation plus transferring the latest data to our notebook and burn it onto DVDs.
Ken was back just after midnight, and we worked through things until about 2 AM; like mentioned earlier, he's an incredible person and a real man of action. Without him it would have been a serious problem to disassemble the helicopter. We hope to see both him and Derrick at next year's Toy Fair in Nuremberg/Germany - we'll do our best to arrange some hotel rooms right in the middle of Nuremberg's red light district for them. :-)
After just 1.5 hours of sleep we boarded the taxi to the airport ?next destination is China, and we'll be reporting from there!
Labels: 3D, Dremel, fast ferry, Indonesia, Jesus Bolt, Lee
Friday, October 26, 2007
Singapore Skies - VIDEO!
Ken Yap and I have an ongoing competition for who can pay for the most cabs and things. He seemed to win, but we caught him off guard a couple of times, so we are about to catch up. :-) In other words, Ken is a very big help in organizing things and making the WSF project a success both here in Singapore and in Indonesia; we're deeply indebted to him.
07:00 AM this morning we showed up at the waterfront again - and were lucky! The weather forecast said it would rain, but the sun had just come up behind the horizon, and the sky was clearing up. Ken and Derrick were there, too, and we discussed once more what the shots should look like, and what would be the best flying sequence. You usually have to fly a scene a number of times until you are familiar with the surroundings and the manoeuvers look smooth; the camera also needs time to get a feeling for when to pan and zoom to where without shakes. Since the city has quite a skyline, we had to use the wide angle converter again to get everything into the picture. The nice image below shows Saskia and me at work.
We still have to go through the material but think there's a couple of good shots. One of the coolest might be where the heli passes under the water jet coming out of the Merlion's mouth; the picture then opens and the machine spirals "up, up and away". We did this scene three times - the last one was pretty close, the blades actually hit the water jet, and I immediately pulled the heli back down. It's quite hard to see when exactly the model is through! What happens if you fly through a water jet is known from "The Water-Cutter" stunt on our "Remote Madness" DVD; you would not want to repeat that one!
Transferring all the image material to the computer and select the best shots always takes HOURS and is an exhausting procedure; most of the time it will cost you one full day. Add to this regular data backups, writing the blog, writing for ROTOR magazine, assembling/disassembling and packing/unpacking the equipment as well as cleaning and maintaining it, and you know how jam-packed our days are.
Derrick (he's the left one in the above picture) recorded a little fun video where we say hello to the great Singaporean nation; somebody already mentioned it in the comments to the last post - you guys are quicker than we are! :-) Derrick really did some incredible editing here, this is a MUST HAVE SEEN!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_6t_snRX4
Tomorrow we'll be going over to Indonesia by fast ferry. Our friend Lee Aik Heng will collect us at the port. That'll be another cool adventure, but before this we have to come up with a solution for the MP's Jesus Bolt. Like we'd feared before, the screw is now round and we cannot get it back out of the rotor head center piece. That's a problem because this way it will not fit into our box for air transportation. As always, we're under severe time pressure to find a solution.
Labels: Merlion, Singapore, video
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Singapore – City of Tomorrow?
"You are the worst guys I've ever met!" That was the bottom line of our friend Ken Yap after rushing through town with us for one full day and realizing he will need to get a Three Dee MP-XL for both himself and his friends. :-)
In fact, coming to Singapore was one of the best ideas in recent history. The city is great, and the people are even greater. We've known Ken for a whole while since he had contacted us regarding "Remote Madness" distribution in this part of the world. He has got his own little R/C mail order business and works almost according to European business hours; in other words, don't call before noon local time, but he provides excellent service until the early morning hours. That's perfect for R/C enthusiasts because you usually crash in the evening hours after work, and not after breakfast, right?! :-)
If you ever need stuff from South-eastern Asia, then check out his website at http://www.radiocontrol-sports.com/
Singapore is one of the few city states in the world; it spreads over several islands and has a diameter of roughly 42 km only, the population being about 4.5 million. The speed limit is 80 km/h, but there is roads where you can go faster: 90 km/h! :-D
Many people of Chinese origin live here, as well as people from India and Malaysia – in other words, it's a true melting pot. Consequently, you will find all languages, but also English (or rather the local version of it, called Singlish) since this country, too, used to be a British crown colony. Singapore is a modern country; having said this, they still have a long way to go reworking their system of draconian punishments and death sentence – there is points where it gets close to a violation of human rights.
Assembling the helicopter was a problem this time; our hotel room is so small that in order to fold back the blades you need to put the helicopter onto the bed. The reason may be that the rooms are quite "functional" in a way that our hotel is situated right in the middle of the local red light district – that's one of the things they don't tell you when booking over the internet. Anyway, there's lots of things going on all day long (especially when the police are coming and all the street are running like the lemmings); quite cool, and no safety problem at all.
What might become a problem, though, is the fact that every second stop I need to use a new Jesus Bolt for assembling the heli. I've almost run out of spares and next will have to use the screws for the skids; those are also M4 and have pretty much the same length and properties. Maybe Nicolas will have to send me a couple more with the next shipment.
The most famous monument in Singapore is the Merlion right at the waterfront – as the name suggests, it is a mixture of a mermaid and a lion. Ken had done a fantastic job preparing the location for us, and so the three of us showed up there yesterday in the wee hours. Unfortunately, so did the security, and all explanations were in vain – no way to lift off!
Ken did a couple of phone calls, and some time later we ended up at the SBT (Singapore Tourism Board). We did a lot of clever talking – and finally got clearance for the flights! So the only thing which could stop us now is the weather (we're real close to the equator, so the climate is hot and very humid, and especially during the monsoon months there's ample rain).
Open space is a problem in Singapore, but we finally found a place big enough to at least take off and see if the heli was ok. After the many cab rides in KL where the heli was just in its carrier bag, it had been necessary to change the tail shaft. Saskia has taken a nice shot of Ken & me testing the machine. As you will expect, it was a lot of fun. :-)
We spent the evening together with Derrick and Mike; both are great guys, and while Derrick is also into the R/C business (http://www.skyhobbies.com.sg/), Mike is the founder of the most prominent internet forum in this part of the world (http://www.daddyhobby.com/).
Hopefully we'll manage to get back to you tomorrow night to report about the flights. Stay tuned!
Labels: city state, Jesus Bolt, Ken Yap, Merlion, SBT, Singapore
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Kuala Lumpur City Flights
Finding a suitable location for flying with a good view of the famous Petronas Twin Towers turned out to be a problem. The only accessible places are parks, but security is ultra strong here. We got the phone numbers to do it the highly official way, but since we were pressed for time, we tried hard to find another solution.
To protect our sources and the many people who helped us, we cannot talk about details. But what counts is the result, and it is nothing short of brilliant: :-)
Right now we are on our way to Singapore and are looking forward to seeing our friend Ken Yap. He will collect us at the airport and has the spare battery pack as well as some image material with him. Let's see what this country is like!
Labels: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Monday, October 22, 2007
Kuala Lumpur/MALAYSIA – City above clouds
After landing in Malaysia, we took the KLIA Express (Kuala Lumpur Intl. Airport) to the city and tried to get a taxi to our hotel. The question where exactly it is, how to drive there and what it would cost drew the attention of five people, all of them Arabs. Europeans are usually lost in such situations (like in many others) – they have never seen real poverty, they don't know natural disasters except floods, they live in a stable political environment, dangerous animals are only known form the zoo, and everything is labelled with the price it actually costs.
"The ride will be 30 Riggits." – "Hmm, I will pay you 20." (I had no idea what it costs, but negotiating about the price is perfectly normal for this society) – "It's far away, you have to pay at least 25!" – "Come on, it's not really far, 20 is ok!" – "Hrrrgh, ok, you go for 20."
So the driver and I walked out onto the street where Saskia was waiting with all the baggage on an overloaded trolley. I called out to the driver and pointed to her. You could literally see his jaw dropping. "No – no – no! You tricked me!" He couldn't believe it. "Look, you have a big car anyway, it doesn't make a difference." – "You tricked me!" He really couldn't believe it; we obviously were the first Europeans in his life who ever got a better price than he was willing to give. :-)
The other four guys showed up and also started talking to me; the baggage would be extra. "Now it's really 30!" – "Like I said, I will pay you 20, and that's a fair deal, Sir." – "Make it 25." – "22 is fine." – "Ok." :-)
I really hated this kind of negotiating until some time ago; it eats up precious time and is simply a pain, and if you're not used to it, you will always have a bad conscience – and that's their trick here! Unless you are in a public place where there are dozens of other potential customers, simply walk away if you're not satisfied; this usually helps. And the last tip: NEVER give the impression that you really need or want something, because then it's over.
Kuala Lumpur is just incredible! You cannot really compare it to other big cities; the citizens are mainly Malaysians, Chinese and Indians, and quite a number speak basic English; probably one of the results of British, Dutch and Portuguese colonial rule (they left in 1957). Other languages are – as you would expect – Malaysian, Indian and Chinese. There are many Hindus here, only 55% of the population are Moslems – still, the Islam is on the advance, and discrimination against other religions is a reality.
Flying in KL (it is always abbreviated this way) will be a problem! There is almost no spaces where you could take off and fly, because security in town is strong (especially in parks); also, if there's tall buildings all around you, you don't see the wood for the trees! And then, almost every day in the early afternoon as well as in the evening there are heavy rainfalls (you're really worried you could drown in the street) plus some impressive lightning.
There are some hills outside the city, and we drove there (see the "funny" sign we found inside the taxis; pic. below) – but while the view is incredible at night, the vision is totally blurred during the day because of the high air humidity. Hmm, so unfortunately flying against the skyline will not work.
We addressed the security around the world-renowned Petronas Twin Towers. They had been completed in 1997 and were the tallest buildings in the world until 2003 (452 m); the weight is app. 270,000 tons per tower, and they are built on the world's largest foundations. Petronas is the state-owned oil company, BTW, and the towers were a prestige project. The ground plan is an octagonal star – for Islamic cultures this symbolizes order and harmony. The building cost were app. 950 million EUR.
After some discussion we managed to get the chief of security in all KL on the phone. He was nice and understood the WSF project, but pointed out that all activities related to the Twin Towers required clearance by the PR guys sitting in the tower. He said that any attempt to lift off would be immediately stopped by the security forces. About this we have no doubt, because they're really everywhere. Hmm, we'll have to see how to cope with this. It's really a hard nut to crack. We'll keep you posted!
Labels: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Petronas Towers, taxi ride
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Magic of Wat Chai Watthanaram
The next afternoon we arrived with our Tuc-Tuc, cameras, transmitter case and heli in a special carrier bag; the latter one works great, by the way. We walked up to the booth to buy our entry tickets – and it's all big eyes! "Gaa-gaa-waa-aaa-agaahaa?!" – "It's the toy model helicopter, we talked about it yesterday, all is fine!" – "Waa-aagaa-na-aahaag!" You don't have to speak Thai to realize something is just about to go terribly wrong. Our Tuc-Tuc driver happened to at least understand basic English, and after lengthy discussions we found out that the heli was NOT the problem – but the transmitter! In such cases where communication is a pain it's very important to stay extra calm and to be exceptionally friendly; else the discussion will heat up, because the employees only want to do their job, and it's equally hard for them to cope with the situation.
Okay, nobody there had ever seen a somewhat advanced transmitter before, and it looked frightening to them. So we played the mime game to show them how the flying would work. After a while, the ice was broken, and we were allowed to take both the heli and transmitter onto this ancient site.
STOP! STOOOP!!! Stop? What's now again?
This time they were pointing at our tripod and camera equipment. It was not allowed! Heli, yes. Cameras, no. Hell, things had looked so simple this time, and now it was all problems and we had to go through that lengthy discussion again. We understood that next door was the king's summer residence or something, and they were very concerned about paparazzi. To resolve the problem, we were offered to buy a disposable Fujifilm camera (the kind you use once and then give away as a whole for developing the film) – it happened to be available at the booth for two dollars. Hmm, after a quick glance at our several thousand dollar camera and photo equipment, we decided the little single-use camera was not exactly what would help us. :-)
We finally did manage to get clearance and walked to the designated flying area we'd chosen the day before. Before attracting a crowd by flying, we decided to shoot another AFD panorama. The view is simply breathtaking! You will love flying there in your computer simulator! We'd like to describe things in more detail, but this is something you simply have to experience – words are not enough.
After fetching our bags and the heli (you need to hide them behind trees/objects so they're not visible in the AFD shots, but in a way nobody can steal them), it was time for take-off. The shadows of the trees behind had come pretty close to the temple by now; that's something you don't want, because if the heli is first lit and then flies into the dark section, this gives a bad contrast – a general problem of filming, no matter what equipment you use. That's why in film productions artificial lighting is so important! The only way for us to deal with the situation was to move a little closer to the structure and to use a special wide angle lens on the camera.
The flying itself started smoothly – I felt the machine was lacking power, but then, it was really hot, and as we know from Egypt, electric models have some problems with that, too. So we continued and tried to create a scene where the heli first dives down out of the sky, the camera picture following closely. When it comes through the towers, the picture suddenly opens and – woooaah! – the full size of the monument becomes apparent. This leaves you breathless! The heli continues down towards the camera, after a short pause the picture follows and zooms in just a little bit. Then a quarter flip to the left, and up it goes in a cone. The camera follows at first, but stops when the machine has reached the outer left position, and the picture then fully reopens. The viewer is left with a fantastic full shot of the scenery while the heli spirals out of the picture into the sky.
For all the R/C pilots among you it will be clear that flying such a sequence over a terrain with obstacles is not the simplest thing. If, in addition, you have to get a good film shot, then one battery pack is damn short!
Having said this, the Hacker (Flight Power) 12s 4900 mAh pack we were using seemed to be flat after just five minutes of moderate 3D; when really pushing it, 4 - 5 min. is okay, but in this case, 7 - 8 min. should have been no problem. All of a sudden, the heli lost head speed, so quite obviously there was a problem. I switched to throttle hold and brought it down in an autorotation. We took off the canopy to have a look, and – uuhh! – everything was incredibly hot, especially the battery pack. I pulled it out and immediately saw that the six cells in the back were ballooned! Okay, put it in a safe place so it won't damage anything if it goes off! We imagined what would have happened if it had caught fire in flight, and if we had crashed into this world cultural heritage site or the king's summer palace next door …
Having said this, the Hacker (Flight Power) 12s 4900 mAh pack we were using seemed to be flat after just five minutes of moderate 3D; when really pushing it, 4 - 5 min. is okay, but in this case, 7 - 8 min. should have been no problem. All of a sudden, the heli lost head speed, so quite obviously there was a problem. I switched to throttle hold and brought it down in an autorotation. We took off the canopy to have a look, and – uuhh! – everything was incredibly hot, especially the battery pack. I pulled it out and immediately saw that the six cells in the back were ballooned! Okay, put it in a safe place so it won't damage anything if it goes off! We imagined what would have happened if it had caught fire in flight, and if we had crashed into this world cultural heritage site or the king's summer palace next door …
Anyway, we kept the simile and put in the second pack to take some cool photos. No problems this time, so right after the landing we packed together and left for the hotel. The whole action had taken about two hours; it's insane how much different things there are to do besides the flying as such.
Back in the hotel we informed our home base around Nicolas Kaiser, Lukas Grunauer and Samual Hänger about the battery problem. Next we talked to our friend Ken Yap in Singapore (the next but one stop) if he was willing to accept an international express shipment for us; no problem, and we forwarded the address to Nicolas Kaiser. You sometimes get the impression this man acts faster than his own shadow – less than 30 minutes later he informed us by SMS that the spare pack was already on its way to Ken Yap in Singapore. Thanks a lot – and well done!
Okay, that's it for Thailand.
+++ mission completed. end of transmission. +++
Labels: Ayutthaya, battery pack problem, Thailand, Wat Chai Watthanaram
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Coming to Ayutthaya/THAILAND
We had a cool flight with Thai Air – during the take-off in Nepal, some beverage cans came rolling along the aisle, plus the front video screen came down on all of us sitting in the first row. We prayed that the rest of the airplane was in better condition and that we'd make it to Bangkok safely. :-)
The new Bangkok airport is built exactly how you imagine a futuristic architectural building style – almost artificial. The immigration was not much of a problem, and after leaving the arrival hall and getting rid of all the guys offering taxi rides at unrealistic prices, we found a good one to take us to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya? What's this?!
Ayutthaya has a lot more tradition than Bangkok since it was the capital for over 400 years. So if you are looking for great historical sites, this is the place to go.
The countryside in this area reminds you of Florida/USA in some ways. The climate was hot and humid, and there is lots of swampland. Many of the houses are built on stilts, and there is lots of water and many canals. Unlike Florida, the water level varies from year to year.
The people themselves are friendly, the language is funny and very different from what we'd heard before. It's hard to articulate for speakers of Western languages, there is not much melody in it, and it all sounds like "waa-gaa-goo-chiiaa-gaa-gaack"; one cannot help but it reminds of hens picking corn out of the dirt in the backyard. So it is no wonder that for Thai speakers it is equally hard to articulate the sounds needed for proper English. Just like in China, only very few people speak English at all, and to a) realize that they now communicate in English and b) understand what exactly they are saying, some fantasy is needed.
Incidentally, Saskia was addressed by an elderly woman; quite obviously she really wanted to tell her something. It took several minutes, and it was all pointing and gesturing until the lady had successfully communicated her concern: She was an English teacher in Thailand! :-)
We rented one of the famous Tuc-Tucs (see picture), basically a trike with open trunk and modified for transportation of people; in Europe they'd sue you for driving around with this and lock you away forever. :-) We'd marked the most famous temples in a map and shown it to the driver. The aim was to screen all the locations for WSF appeal and the possibility of R/C flying. The driver was a nice lady, and after a while she somehow accepted that we were probably the strangest tourists she'd ever seen. "Yah, yah, please go to the next temple!" – "Waah-gaa-gaa-wachkaaah!" – "Yes, whatever it is, please go there, thank you!" Then jump out of the car, walk around for five to ten minutes only, hop on again, and off it goes to the next one.
Because of this swampland character, there are lots of mosquitoes in some places – not nice, you never know if and which diseases they communicate. The last site we visited was quite an impressive structure – a white pyramid-like building, but surrounded by lots of trees. We thought it would be nice to climb up the stairs to the top so we had a good view over the city. – BAD idea, since there were some wild dogs, and they made very clear it was their territory, and that it had already been closed for today.
The site we liked best was the so-called "Wat Chai Watthanaram". Some other people also thought it was nice, and that's why it has been declared world cultural heritage by the UNESCO. So no flying here!?
We found the chief security officer, and by chance there also was a German-language guide that day. We explained the WSF project, and after some discussion they all agreed this was the greatest project they'd ever heard of, and that the flights would be ok the next day. Very nice, things usually don't fall into place that easily.
Unfortunately, appearances are deceptive …
Labels: Ayutthaya, Thailand, UNESCO world heritage
Thursday, October 18, 2007
NEPAL – Gateway to the Himalaya
We got up at 04:30, just in time for another power outage, and left for one of the local mountains just after 05:15 AM. The goal was to fly right after sunrise and not to be seen by any locals or the many airplanes carrying tourists for scenic flights through the Himalaya; there's Maoists everywhere, we'd been told, and this might land us in serious difficulties.
NOW WHAT'S THIS?!! Believe it or not, at 05 AM ALL Nepal were on their feet! The streets were crowded just like during daytime. How's this possible? We were told this was kind of a morning sport.
Whatever the reason, it meant problems for us. We continued through army checkpoints and finally made it to some high-up viewpoint. It was still dark, and we could easily smuggle the heli (I had completed it during the short night under candlelight conditions) covered with a blanket to the only suitable place for take-off.
About one hour later around 07 AM, the sun came up behind the mountains, and far down to our feet lay a mountain valley, partly covered with clouds. What a look! The bad thing was, a number of other tourists also showed up, and the Himalaya was still hidden in the clouds. We had chosen Pokhara for two reasons: First, you could go there by car (most of the cities in Nepal are not connected by streets), and second, you have a great view of the glowing Himalaya, first and foremost of the famous Machhapuchre mountain. Very distinct shape, and similar to the beautiful Matterhorn in Switzerland (from the South it's even hard to tell the difference).
The bad news was: The clouds were thick, and we had a clear view only for half a minute every now and then. The problem was that after lift-off the time was ticking, and we would have to leave the spot within minutes for reasons of safety. So we finally decided to not lose more time and reveal what's under our blanket. After all, we still had another 6 hours of going back to Kathmandu before us.
The flight was smooth without problems, and the people were much more civilized (or reserved, if you will) than in India. We had brought sweets for the kids, but that wasn't even necessary. We think we have a few worthwhile shots which will look good in the final WSF film. We shot no AFD panorama this time since the location would have made an unusual place to fly, but the magic of the glowing Himalaya was blurred by overcast skies.
Nepal was quite an experience and there's certainly something to it, but we never really felt safe. When returning to Kathmandu it started to rain, and the next day it was just pouring. After all, we think we got the maximum out of Nepal and we were glad to finally board the plane to Bangkok/Thailand. That's where we are right now – and the adventure continues …
Labels: Himalaya, Machhapuchre, Maoists, Nepal, Pokhara
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
NEPAL – times of upheaval
The political situation in Nepal is complex, and there have been many changes since 2001. The king has only got representative functions since last year, and the seven major parties have formed an alliance to establish democracy in the country. The only exception is the communist party of the Maoists (rebels) who fight for abolition of both the caste system (actually there is several in Nepal) and the monarchy. In late 2006 the 12-year long civil war has officially been ended, but discrimination and exploitation of minorities, the lower castes, women and children still create a war-like situation at least in some parts of the country. The German foreign ministry as well as many local voices warned us not to leave the capital Kathmandu.
Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries, and except from the tourist quarter Thamel in Kathmandu, this is visible all over the place. The staff at our hotel advised us that attempting to fly a toy model helicopter :-) in Kathmandu was not a good idea; we might get shot easily, or at best have to stay in the country for weeks or months until all formalities had been cleared. Having said this, except for the royal palace and the monkey temple there was nothing suitable for the WSF project anyway. What's more, Nepal is famous for something else, and that's what we came for: The Himalaya!
Several people told us the world-famous mountain range was visible from the capital – well, this is not true at all, and so we were suddenly pressed for time to find a good viewpoint. Very unfortunately, this turned out to be a big, big problem.
We'd initially thought of Mt. Everest which is the highest mountain of the planet (depending on how this is defined), but you'd have to travel up to 2.5 weeks into the Himalaya until you can see it, plus it involves going to places that are controlled by the Maoists. Travelling into a war zone is nothing that would have stopped us, but the time span was totally unrealistic; and second, Mt. Everest looks like any plain mountain – nothing special about it at all. If you look at a panorama, you will not be able to tell which one it is; so this is a WSF knockout criterion.
Instead, we decided to drive to the city of Pokhara, the second largest of the country. It's only 150 - 200 km away, but it takes 6 hours to go there. The ride was bumpy and bad, sometimes the road had been washed away by a landslide, sometimes we had to cross small rivers with our taxi. It was almost an off-road trip, and our transport cases and parts of our equipment got damaged. Our guide spoke almost no English which made things even more complex, and it didn't help either that the engine of the car quit every now and then (we think it was running too lean :-) ). The driving itself was even worse than in India! We'll most likely comment on this in ROTOR 12/2007. The picture below shows a part of the road that had been cleared after a landslide.
We arrived in Pokhara late at night, and while still checking in at the guest house, there was the first power outage. Quite funny, the city was totally dark, like if it didn't exist, and the staff in the lobby were using their mobile phones as torches. Nobody lost a single word about the situation, and this tells you it is nothing uncommon. The picture below shows our lunch + dinner that day.
Labels: Himalaya, landslide, Machhapuchre, Nepal, Pokhara, safety problem
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Hell of Agra
Namaste!
When thinking about monuments representing India, the first thought will always be the Taj Mahal in Agra. Since for the past years there has been a constant wave of terrorist attacks shocking the country, the government is (probably justifiably) worried about this national monument. What's more, India faces serious problems with Hindus and Moslems fighting each other – about three months ago there was such an incident in Agra, and the remains of the battlefield are still visible today. It's an issue which will most likely never be resolved; that's one of the real problems when it comes to different religious backgrounds, combined with poverty and little education.
Even before we left for India, we knew it was practically impossible to fly at the Taj Mahal. Still, we drove the 230 km from Jaipur to Agra to have a look at it ourselves; driving in India is something you could write a book about – we'll reveal stunning details in ROTOR 12/2007. Just this much for now: It took one full day to get to Agra; we may add another little video some later time.
Some people think that planning limits spontaneity; that's not true – on the contrary, it shows you the alternatives! However, in situations where the relevant factors are not or insufficiently known, detailed plans are of little value. What you should have then are two things: An aim, and one or more strategies.
Well, once in the country we talked to many people about flying at the Taj Mahal site – and learned, it won't be possible, like one had expected. Having said this, since the media interest in the WSF project was high from the beginning, we came up with one of the most insane ideas ever: To become national celebrities in India within two days and then show up at the government offices responsible for the security in Agra (no, this is not a joke)! :-)
It would lead too far to explain in detail how it worked, but what counts is the result, and this was more than impressive: We were featured in several newspapers nationwide (including Nepal), plus invited to TV studios in Delhi to give an interview for the best-known Indian TV evening news. :-)
The good thing about the Taj Mahal is, it's fully symmetrical; this means you don't have to fly in the "front yard", but you can approach it from the back. Now there are three major problems: First, it's hard to get there since you have to cross the Yamuna river – and traffic around the only bridge is a nightmare; it takes almost one hour to drive over it, and combined with the incredibly heavy smog you sometimes think you won't make it. Second, the thick smog blurs the vision of the monument (no kidding!). And third, there is an 0.5 km no-flying zone around the building; we went there twice, first to take a look, and later for some stationary shots with the heli. No way! The military liked the heli but made clear they will shoot us even if we showed up without transmitter. Okay, clear stand. So it was time for the joker.
With a couple of current newspapers under the arm, plus a confirmation we work for ROTOR magazine, plus a certificate of an international insurance (with insanely high coverage, we could have blown up almost half the building), plus a writing from the German foreign ministry that we have a clean record, plus many documents explaining the WSF, we showed up at the Indian Government Tourism Office. Due to the unbelievable traffic, we had no choice but to walk; funny thing, we guess no-one's ever appeared with an R/C helicopter in the streets of Agra before (did we mention it was really HOT and there is plenty of dust and smog everywhere?!). The officials were friendly and got the point fast – but couldn't help because this no-flying zone thing was issued by the Indian Supreme Court. I suggested we call them and claim it's a matter of national importance; well, you may frown now, but it's all a matter of definition. The WSF do represent the country – and it's the only way to get such VIP persons on the phone. If you succeed, then you usually can say a maximum of three sentences until they realize what's going on; so better choose your words wisely!
Anyway, we couldn't get the phone number fast enough, so we continued to the Department Tourist Office; they're responsible for all the monuments in Agra. A lengthy story … but they couldn't help us either, even though everybody liked the WSF project a lot and tried hard. Next stop was the Tourist State Office – closed on Fridays … (the Sat./Sun. weekend is only common in Western countries, but not in Asia!). Okay, what's left? The Archaeological Office; this had helped us in Egypt, but they have not much to say in India. This was clear to you? So it was to us, but don't forget one thing: Federal offices are often interconnected; we managed to persuade the guys there to call the Ministry of Defense – unfortunately, no-one answered the phone, so we finally called the security forces at the Taj Mahal. They simply said we should show up with the heli, so we jumped back into the car and headed for that famous monument.
Did we mention the Taj Mahal is closed Fridays? This means you cannot go there by car! New plan? Rickshaw! It is worth mentioning that part of our trip was followed by the press. The really striking thing was: We left the guy of "India Today" behind at the Archaeological Office; less than 10 seconds after sitting in the rickshaw he materialized in front of us and took pictures (we had the heli with us). We have NO IDEA how the guy did this!?! He can't have been faster than us, also he didn't know where we were going!
The talk was nice, the weapons impressive, and the result: No flying within 0.5 km radius, but a little further would be tolerated. Okay, better than nothing, and since the light started to fade already, we now had to find a suitable location fast … that's a story of its own, and we'll reveal a few more cool details in ROTOR 12/2007.
With a couple of current newspapers under the arm, plus a confirmation we work for ROTOR magazine, plus a certificate of an international insurance (with insanely high coverage, we could have blown up almost half the building), plus a writing from the German foreign ministry that we have a clean record, plus many documents explaining the WSF, we showed up at the Indian Government Tourism Office. Due to the unbelievable traffic, we had no choice but to walk; funny thing, we guess no-one's ever appeared with an R/C helicopter in the streets of Agra before (did we mention it was really HOT and there is plenty of dust and smog everywhere?!). The officials were friendly and got the point fast – but couldn't help because this no-flying zone thing was issued by the Indian Supreme Court. I suggested we call them and claim it's a matter of national importance; well, you may frown now, but it's all a matter of definition. The WSF do represent the country – and it's the only way to get such VIP persons on the phone. If you succeed, then you usually can say a maximum of three sentences until they realize what's going on; so better choose your words wisely!
Anyway, we couldn't get the phone number fast enough, so we continued to the Department Tourist Office; they're responsible for all the monuments in Agra. A lengthy story … but they couldn't help us either, even though everybody liked the WSF project a lot and tried hard. Next stop was the Tourist State Office – closed on Fridays … (the Sat./Sun. weekend is only common in Western countries, but not in Asia!). Okay, what's left? The Archaeological Office; this had helped us in Egypt, but they have not much to say in India. This was clear to you? So it was to us, but don't forget one thing: Federal offices are often interconnected; we managed to persuade the guys there to call the Ministry of Defense – unfortunately, no-one answered the phone, so we finally called the security forces at the Taj Mahal. They simply said we should show up with the heli, so we jumped back into the car and headed for that famous monument.
Did we mention the Taj Mahal is closed Fridays? This means you cannot go there by car! New plan? Rickshaw! It is worth mentioning that part of our trip was followed by the press. The really striking thing was: We left the guy of "India Today" behind at the Archaeological Office; less than 10 seconds after sitting in the rickshaw he materialized in front of us and took pictures (we had the heli with us). We have NO IDEA how the guy did this!?! He can't have been faster than us, also he didn't know where we were going!
The talk was nice, the weapons impressive, and the result: No flying within 0.5 km radius, but a little further would be tolerated. Okay, better than nothing, and since the light started to fade already, we now had to find a suitable location fast … that's a story of its own, and we'll reveal a few more cool details in ROTOR 12/2007.
It took us several hours to go back to Delhi; on the road we stopped and packed the equipment for air transportation since our flight to Nepal was leaving in the early morning hours (check-in at 05 AM). At 02 AM we collected the Three Dee spare parts, at 03 AM we were at the airport, and at app. 03:20 was the attempted kidnapping (see last but one entry).
Still anyone thinking we're on holiday?
Still anyone thinking we're on holiday?
Labels: Agra, newspaper, strategies, Taj Mahal
Monday, October 15, 2007
VIDEO flight preparations in Jaipur/INDIA
The Indian people are extremely friendly and helpful – a wonderful country which we can only recommend. The interest in the WSF project was high, and there was not just press, but also many people showing up at the flying sites. This didn't really make things easier …
Here's the little YouTube video we promised to give you an impression:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec1M4YLIwt0
Labels: flight preparations, Jaipur, video
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Attempted Kidnapping!
The good news is, we are still alive and reasonably well. We have gone through hell the past two days and are now seriously out of sleep. We look like directly out of the jungle, so better no photos here. What's more, very unfortunately there was a terrorist strike near Jaipur the day before, and thus police and army are very alert which means there are road blocks everywhere on the big streets. Not the best time to show up at public monuments with an R/C helicopter!
We'll give you more details once we've sorted our things; it's pretty much a mess at the moment. Right now we have another nightmare behind us. Right after collecting the spare parts that Nicolas Kaiser and Jan Henseleit sent us by FedEx Express to our Delhi connection, we had our driver drop us at the Indira Gandhi Intl. Ariport in Delhi. Just before the flight to Kolkata [Kalkutta] (East Coast, near Bangladesh) we discovered that in our flight data the wrong terminal was listed. No problem? Think again! The other terminal is 20 min. away by taxi. So we went for a pre-paid and registered taxi; this means the transport is safe and you don't have to worry about the driver taking you to the nearest bad neighbourhood and mugging you.
Well, we jumped into our taxi, the ride was listed by an official, and after those two days lying behind us we were just glad we din't have to worry about any more things. Right after the first corner, the cab stops, somebody approaches the passenger side, opens the door and wants to board. --- OK, HIGH STATE OF ALERT! THIS IS A KIDNAPPING!
The same old story that you always hear about – we were prepared to encounter this kind of thing in Latin American states, but not really in India. Now in this situation you have a maximum of a quarter second to think and react, else it is over. Saskia tried to open the sliding door on her side – locked! Mine I had closed myself, so this one was open. Put one foot out of the car and SHOUT at the driver so the sound pressure literally smashes him against the wind shield. This buys you precious time; Saskia now had unlocked her door and also had one foot out of the car. DO NOT GET OUT! If you do, your baggage is gone!
So what's next? Continue shouting violently and make clear you are willing to use force to end this nonsense. If they still decide to drive away with you, strangle the guy so the car will bump into the next street lamp; since nobody wears safety belts in these countries, this will be an effective measure. In our case, the second guy was so shocked that he ran away. The cab driver then attempted to step on the gas but gave up due to our shouting and hitting him.
The story is even longer, but we'll most likely talk about it in one of the next ROTOR issues. Anyway, we're safe, just very exhausted.
Lost my RM cap yesterday and am in bad mood; it seems as if part of the madness will stay in India …
We've just arrived in Kathmandu/Nepal; the political situation is complex here, and we'll do our best to stay out of the line of fire. The next post will feature one of the most incredible stories about our attempts to make the impossible possible: To fly at the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Thanks also to all of you for the good wishes and tips, this helps!
Labels: kidnapping, lost cap
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Back in the Air over India!
After over 55 hours with very little sleep and without food (no time!), we got serious headache attacks and thus swallow pills all the time. Even the last people will have understood by now that this is no holiday but three months of working non-stop.
Last night we found that the tail drive train of the Three Dee MP was a lot more damaged than it had seemed to be at first view, and that repair would take quite some time. So we had no choice but skip all other tasks and start repairing with our poor emergency tools. One part to be replaced was the front bevel gear – a rare sight, but luckily we did have one at hand.
In the early morning hours we sent a pre-warning to our home base in Basel/Switzerland; Nicolas Kaiser was quick to respond, and after it was clear that no further parts except tail blades were needed (in case the same problem would occur again in the future), he and Jan Henseleit prepared our first FedEx Next-Day-Air shipment (see ROTOR 11/2007 for all the details!). In the meanwhile we called an Indian friend to find a suitable address in Delhi/India to which the parts could be sent. After a while he got back to us, but the phone line was bad and the address sounded complex (at least for European ears), so he suggested to send it by email. Good idea – and WHUMP! – power outage in our part of Jaipur. That's normal, we were told, and it would take at least 3 - 4 hours until electricity was back …
A couple of minutes later we were rushing through busy traffic; our driver nearly killed a couple of people and animals. Half an hour later we stopped in another part of town where electricity was still available and went straight into an internet cafe. We chose exactly this one because they had the fastest connection in town. Hmm, blurred screen with 640 x 480 pixels resolution and "lightning fast" network – we think the statement is true in its literal sense if lightning had struck the server and it was now running in a failsafe mode … It took 20 eternal minutes to open a simple text message, and to forward it to Nicolas Kaiser and Jan Henseleit. Really, you have to take a few more of the headache pills to survive this one …
Later on we continued to a small backyard for testing the repaired helicopter. It worked, so we notified Nicolas that no further parts were needed and jumped into the car to drive back to the "Lake Palace". The sun was still high, so it was the best time for a panoramic shot at the designated flying site. Of course, people around recognized us as the heli pilots, and it took less than a minute until we were surrounded by the first 15 guys. Now how on earth could you do a 360° panoramic shot with so many people here?!
Ah, the cat's out of the bag now – we do panoramic shots for Aerofly Deluxe by Ikarus! AFD may be the most advanced flight simulator, at least the graphics is phantastic and in HD resolution so you will be able to use it with large screen display devices and video beamers without compromising quality. The really, really cool news is: YOU will be able to follow our trip and fly where we have flown – maybe with better weather conditions and more than one try :-) but the same obstacles around. OK, you also won't have to duck away under the camera and to worry about dozens of people squeezing you, or about police forces arresting or shooting at you. Still, the "HeliGraphix Worldwide Add-On Package" will take computer simulators to the next level – forget about the odd flying field, it's now having fun at the most beautiful and well-known spots all over the planet! We have no idea about pricing and availability but expect the upgrade package to be available in early 2008. This is a MUST HAVE, and we don't just say this because it was our idea!
Anyway, we convinced the people to move with us around the tripod and keep their shadows out of the pictures – looks funny if a crowd of grown-up people moves around a camera in a circle again and again. :-)
We hadn't really finished the AFD shots (you also have to measure distances to all obstacles and paint them into a sketch) when the first press guys and loads of more people showed up – it was so many you couldn't even count them. "Helicopter, helicopter, helicopter!" Had we refused to fly, I think they would have killed us. So we explained a few basics, patiently answered questions of the press and have an hour later did the first flight.
It is quite hard to please photographers, filmers and the crowd at the same time. But right after take-off – even though we urgently warned them not to approach the landing and pilot's area – there was a big round of applause ending in people jumping over the fence, coming to us, cheering and talking and asking questions. I had to kick one of the press guys off the stairs since he blocked my vision – I could not see the heli anymore! The next post will feature a little video to give you an impression what flying in public is all about.
Okay, is it always this bad? No, not always – but in those cases where it isn't, there is usually a strong presence of police or army. So the choice is yours what you prefer!
Then two more things:
1) Marc Endres from Germany sent us an email and volunteered to translate the blog into good German. Now what a cool offer! That's simply great, and you will find it here: www.helimaniax.de
We'll add a permanent link in the menu later when we have better internet access; also, Marc wants to build a menu structure soon so navigation is as comfortable as here.
2) We receive a lot of emails; since many of the question are of general interest, it would be better to leave them as a comment so we can answer them in the blog. Please always add your comments to the most current blog, not to older ones; it doen't matter if the topic fits or not – it's just that this way we won't miss it.
For those of you reading the German blog, please also leave your comments here in the original version, no matter which language!
We'll be back with more news shortly.
Labels: AFD, Jaipur, Lake Palace, press, repair
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The Stealth Concept - and how we end up on national TV
After a pleasant 7-hour flight without much sleep we arrived in Delhi just after 07 AM local time. The entry into the coutry wasn't that much a problem for a change. "What's in that box?" - "It's a model airplane." - "??!?" - "But just a very small one ... :-)" After a couple of minutes talking, the guys told us to simply move on and don't cause any work. A second later we had already vanished into thin air - and entered the Incredible India! :)
Our driver Ajay was already waiting and a big help in keeping the hundreds of people trying to get hold of our luggage away; the first ride took us directly to downtown Delhi - some business regarding the next days to talk about. Everything ok, brilliant service, and off we went for the famous city of Jaipur a couple of hours to the South. We saw some cool animals like wild monkeys, also a vast number of holy cows. If you kill one of them with your car (and given the way they drive (left-hand side, by the way) we should be surprised if this doesn't happen occasionally), then first of all you will be beaten up by all the people around, and after this you go to prison for 6 months!
Somewhere on the way we pulled over to assemble and test the helicopter - there was no tranportation damage, so 20 minutes later we were ready to try and lift off from Indian ground! By this time a crowd of 30 people had gathered out of nowhere, and we got the impressian it was the first R/C helicopter in history coming to India - the enthusiasm was just unbelievable!
In the evening hours we arrived in Jaipur - and the only thing we had planned for today was to take a look at the famous Water Palace. Can you fly there at all, how about security, how about tourists, when would be a good time to do this, etc. We usually have a detailed schedule for such missions and try to come, fly and leave before anyone has got the time to react - after all, we're not doing anything bad here, it's just we cannot afford all the time and trouble we went through in Egypt. We call this the "Stealth Concept". Quite cool, although a little dangerous at times.
Anyway, when showing up at the designated flying area, it took a couple of minutes until there was 50 people around us asking questions. And what nearly floored us: Word about the test flights early this day had spread, so there was Indian press, too! And not the local one!!
So we had no choice but to do a demo flight - range check ok, keep the people in reasonably safe distance, have two or three guys make sure they won't come near during the flight (else this always happens), final statement, and off it goes. --- Unfortunately not this time! While revving up, we either had a serious lock out, or there was something wrong with the electronic speed controller. While still on the ground, the heli all of a sudden made a violent 180° pirouette and smashed its tail into a concrete step. We were lucky: It did not tip over and fall into the water ...
The damage seems to be minor - and if it's true what the press guy said, then this story will appear in the national newspaper tomorrow! Plus the hint that we'll give it another try tomorrow. Then there will not just be the paper, but also national TV - the broadcast will be seen by several million people!! --- Did we mention we wanted to be unnoticed?! And now the eyes of the whole nation are on us!
Phew, we haven't really slept in 40 hours, and it will be another short night repairing the heli. The big question now is, should we do a spirited 3D flight and thus risk the whole mission, or is it wiser to fly a more average performance despite so many people watching. Hmm, we'll put this off until tomorrow, maybe the machine won't work and all the people will show up in vain ...
We'll keep you posted!
Labels: crash, Jaipur, press, TV, Water Palace
Monday, October 8, 2007
On the way to Delhi
First of all, thanks for all your good wishes by email and through comments. Some people even called to express their sympathy. We want you to know that we appreciate this very much!
We will read all comments and mails and do our best to respond.
Right now we're sitting at Munich Airport in Southern Germany; we're checked in to Delhi in India with all baggage – a total of 57 kg, not counting hand luggage. That's a lot to move around all the time, but not that much if you consider that 2/3 of it is heli stuff only, and without the weight of the backpacks and boxes itself, it's just a few kg left for personal belongings. And we're not on holiday in a big hotel, we fly around the world!!
There has just been an announcement that the flight is overbooked and that not all passengers will be able to fly today; a compensation of 600.- EUR per person plus hotel is offered to those flying tomorrow – but certainly no option for us. Our schedule in India is tight, and our driver will be waiting at the airport at 07:20 tomorrow morning.
Why isn't this live blog bilingual? Well, HeliGraphix is German based, and these are our roots. The website statistics say that Germany is still the largest group with 20 - 25%; adding Switzerland and Austria, about 30 - 40 % of all visitors are German speakers. The larger portion of 60 - 70% are spread all over the world, and we assume most of them do not speak German, but the common base is English.
Since on the whole trip we most likely won't have much spare time, we won't be able to write a bilingual blog. So the logical consequence is to keep it English! BUT: The in-depth coverage of this venture in ROTOR is all-German! So for those of you having problems following these lines, the magazine will provide you with a wealth of information. Maybe not the day-to-day stuff, but all the backgrounds plus details regarding the helis, etc. If you want the full load, read both! :-)
Someone commented when are we coming to England? Well, it's not included in this trip, but it's definitely in the planning! We'll post a map of this trip on the HG website with the next update; if you need to get an overview right now, have a look at ROTOR 10/2007, it's all there! ;-)
OK, it's boarding time now, let's hope for enough volunteers who're happy about the cash.
Cheers,
Tobias + Saskia
Labels: check in, Delhi, Munich
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Adventure Begins - Final Preparations
Hello Ladies & Gentlemen,
This is HeliGraphix, and today it will be completely insane! :-)
After weeks and months of planning and organizing and sometimes working more than 20 hours a day without breaks, we are quite exhausted and look forward to finally boarding the plane to India on Monday. This first stop could turn out quite tricky already; there's a number of reasons for that, and we'll discuss details with you once we're there. Right now we're pretty much absorbed by final preparations and try not to think about it too much; this just makes you nervous, and since there's nothing more you can do about it than we already have, you can as well forget about it for the moment.
1) Is this a big holiday?
Well, at this point we sometimes just smile and refuse to answer. Nobody with a fair level of intelligence and experience with helicopters, travel and how this world works could reasonably believe this. So the short answer is: No, it isn't. We'll be risking our lives more than once, as we have done it in the past. You may remember we nearly got shot due to a misunderstanding in Egypt.
2) Since there is this live blog and the cool HeliGraphix website – why should I also read ROTOR magazine?
Through this blog you can follow each of our steps around the world live and learn how things are developing and what problems we encounter; you will see through our eyes and even be able to interact with us by leaving comments.
The article series in the magazine (October 2007 – February 2008) provides you with much more in-depth information on how this trip came to be, how exactly it was planned, the technology we use, what problems there are, all the many details one has to pay attention to, and much more. All of this comes close to a thriller, and you will shake your head more than once in disbelief. So don't miss these issues!
3) Is this a commercial venture?
No, it is privately funded and non-commercial.
4) Then who pays for it?
We are fortunate to have five big partners who cover part of the cost; for the "rest" we pay ourselves. Please have a look at their websites (follow the links in the menu on the left); it's great companies with great products!
5) Can I leave comments in this blog?
You're welcome to do this in both English and German language! You're free to express your opinion or ask questions in a constructive way, no matter if it's a single line or a whole paragraph. We'll post answers if time permits. Any nonsense, however, will be removed.
Okay, there is still a hell of a lot of things to do until we board the plane to India; we'll be back with details on Monday.
Take care,
Tobias + Saskia
Labels: final preparations, first questions
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