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!

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# posted by hg/tuw @ 19:05
Comments:
Did you take a case of memorial palques in case the helicopter does land in the water in the countries you visit? I hope you have a hairdryer with you also. This is a most serious question.........

Also, I do hope there is some helicopter left to throw off the Sydney harbour bridge :-)

All the best for your flight tomorrow.

Andrew
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 9, 2007 at 11:36:00 PM GMT+2
 
alles gute Tobias ! Was schlecht anfängt muss gut Ende ! Also weiter so, grüße Matt
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 10, 2007 at 9:04:00 PM GMT+2
 
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