World Scenic Flights by HeliGraphix

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.

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?