Friday, February 29, 2008
Aftermath & picture quality issue
Stansted Airport near London has changed a lot since last time I was here. It looks modern and the one thing that they now take very seriously is security and baggage restrictions. We've seen countless airports worldwide but Stansted may well beat them all. What certainly is a good thing on the one hand can sometimes become a little annoying on the other.
The flight back from Great Britain was fine; we landed at the EuroAirport in France late at night. "Remain seated with your seatbelt properly fastened while taxiing." Okay, here we are, no problems. "Be careful when opening the overhead compartments as any luggage may have shifted during the flight." I hand part of the baggage to Saskia and put the rest onto my seat. A few seconds later the doors are open and we can disembark the aircraft. As common at smaller airports that don't have that many gates the plane is parked somewhere near the terminal building and you have to leave the craft via stairs rather than an aerobridge. It is dark and the stairs are wet and surprisingly slippery. I'm almost down on the ground when trying to get a better grip of my backpack that I'm carrying in the one hand and one of our cameras in the other. And phhhffffliippp – gone! Damn, in the dark I grabbed the second belt of the camera instead of the backpack! It fell about 1.5 meters onto the concrete ground – and as you would expect from Murphy's Law it hit the floor in a way that our trusty little notebook computer got seriously damaged. Perfect, well done! I was in a killing mood with an air of desperation.
Later on in the terminal building we had a closer look at the device. The chassis was damaged in several spots and when shaking it you could hear small parts falling around. Turning it on did not work.
To cut a longer story short, we finally got the hard disk data back and the notebook is in a semi-stable operating condition at the moment. It is the unexpected and unnecessary things such as this incident that are the most annoying. It is amazing how important computers have become for everyday life and one's personality. Striking! But anyway, it's just a computer, and life goes on with or without it.
The picture quality issue
After returning from the continuous WSF trip around the globe we processed all the acquired data and sent out a compilation to our partners; as expected the response was very good.
While having a second look at all the pictures we found that some of them were pretty dark and the colours incorrect. Hmm … strange, because we had invested lots of time during the trip to select the best shots out of many and to make sure that white balance, etc. were as close to perfect as possible. Seeing the images on a regular tube monitor instead of a TFT laptop screen now revealed a number of flaws! Hell, really! I had always suspected this might be the case, and it was still a little shock to realize it was actually true! So that meant additional post production time … The images in this weblog are still unchanged, so depending on whether you watch them on a real monitor or a flat screen the result may vary significantly.
The first prerender verson of the WSF movie already exists and Patrick Damiani is working on the official soundtrack. We'll be back with details shortly!
Labels: notebook problem, picture quality issue
Monday, February 18, 2008
STONEHENGE
Scenic Flights anywhere in the greater London area certainly aren't a good idea after those terrorist strikes in recent history – especially since there are so many other suitable landmarks. We again asked all the people we could get hold of what sights they associated with Great Britain. The answers were varied, but one of the things we heard the most often was "Stonehenge".
Stonehenge definitely is English Heritage. It's basically concentric stone circles used for religious ceremonies, dated back to the Bronze Age (about 2,000 BC) and even further. The stones are really huge so many people today have their very own theories about Stonehenge and who could have built it – even aliens from outer space (no, not the French!).
Stonehenge is situated in the county of Wiltshere near the city of Salisbury. You cannot miss it when driving on the A303 or A344 – or maybe you can since the stones don't glow and are primarily not much more than some rocks in a meadow. We scanned the vicinity a little and found three large military camps plus at least one airfield. Certainly not the best of conditions for operating a remote-controlled model aircraft!
Today the stone circles themselves are fenced in; inside the area are marked footpaths which mustn't be left by any visitor. Right, this means you cannot go directly to the stones and touch them! There is security on the site to make sure everybody keeps to the rules; they are there around the clock to prevent madmen from sleeping on the stones or doing other nonsense. Too bad because this also keeps out the "good insane guys" like us! ;-)
At the Stonehenge ticket office we explained what we had come for and were a little surprised they could not really help us. We'd have to call the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) plus the director of the site to obtain an official permission. Since the director was on holiday there was no realistic chance to get an authorization within our limited time frame. On this occasion we also learned that there is a 200 m no-fly zone around the stone circles. Hmm …
Knowing that we are the good guys we showed up the next morning just after sunrise. The site is still closed at that time, only the security guys wearing bright yellow jackets are on patrol. We positioned on the hill across the street in a distance of about 500 m. Quite large but the only reasonable way to pull off the stunt without causing trouble.
What actually matters for WSF pictures is the size of the heli in relation to the monument; the further you are away from it the further also the distance between heli and pilot needs to be. This in turn has two major consequences:
1) The camera angle is very acute which means the corridor in which the heli can move is ultra small.
2) It's easy to end up with blurred images or a shaky video.
The sloping terrain was a problem for the helicopter. Taking off fast was okay, but landing was definitely impossible. So we had to allow for two extra minutes for running (!) up the hill and landing on a more even surface. Sounds funny, but it isn't! Running like hell with the heli in front of you, flying low over the ground to not make it an obvious target in the sky is quite exhausting. The small 2.4 GHz aerial is a big help here; we're not sure if you could have done the same thing with one of the long 35/72 MHz antennas.
Taking the above explanations into account there was not much we could actually do to have both Stonehenge and the heli in the picture. We tried to drift sideways inverted in direction of the stones; unfortunately this meant flying in greater distance and thus close to or even over the busy street. This puts even more load on you – bad feeling! Add to this the cold and strong wind, and there you have it, another real adventure!
WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! All of a sudden it happened! It hit us like a bolt from the blue. There was nothing I could do – I worked the controls like wild, but no effect! The machine did not respond to any transmitter commands. It just sat there, in 150 m distance, inverted and not too far from Stonehenge. But wait! Why does it not crash?! We cannot believe it but there seems to be a faint glow around the silhouette of the helicopter. And then it happens! Off it goes with full negative pitch, 90 degrees up into the sky, then another sharp turn to the right. Next is two loops, followed by a vertical descent and another horizontal section. NOW WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! It looks like if it is trying to communicate with us by painting letters into the sky: "F – O – O – L"! Heh?! What does that mean, some kind of abbreviation?!
Heh heh heh, just kidding folks, sorry. :-) But it was too cool, we just couldn't resist! ;-)
There is nothing mystique at all about Stonehenge, at least nothing stronger than robbe/Futaba's 2.4 GHz FASST system. ;-) Sorry again! The heli behaved well and the footage we shot was quite good given the circumstances.
Salisbury is a nice place which could also be classified as – well – "typically English". They have a famous cathedral there, and it is really --- WOW, big! We had inspected the site the day before and found that despite renovation works on two sides of the building there was one angle from which it looked good and where it was possible to fly. The light situation was bad, though – overcast skies usually mean that any larger structure will just appear as a black silhouette against the bright white sky. Sure, you can do something about that, but then smaller contours like the helicopter will fade away. It's pretty much the same kind of high-contrast problem we discussed at the Grand Canyon (you may want to reread that interesting post). Anyway, we chose a suitable contrast and ended up with some useable footage.
The nice watchman in the picture below first explained to us that it was not possible to fly near the cathedral. Then we explained to him what a great project the WSF actually are – and were allowed to carry on under his supervision. Isn't that fantastic?! :-)
Right now we are undecided whether to use the Stonehenge or the Salisbury flight in the final WSF movie. If you have an opinion, why not let us know?!
So after a little odyssey we are about to leave the British island again. Maybe it's not the most brilliant footage we've ever shot, but it's definitely cool and we will cherish the memories of this adventure. There is not much left to say except: Great Britain has become a successful part of the World Scenic Flights project; it was a great trip!
Labels: Great Britain, military camps, no-fly zone, Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge
Saturday, February 16, 2008
BBC – The Big Brother Country
It's been a while since I last visited Great Britain. I've been on the island a couple of times, and judging from my own personal reflection I'd say not much has changed. People are still driving on the wrong side of the road (there is only the RIGHT and the WRONG side, isn't there?!) and it's one of the unexplained miracles why there aren't countless accidents due to visitors from countries where they drive on the right-hand side. I've more or less gotten used to driving also on the left, but shifting with the left hand is still a funny feeling. The potentially most dangerous thing is to make a right-turn – one tends to look left first and to roll onto the street already. Fatal!
We have travelled more than 150,000 km around the whole world and talked English most of the time. Especially eastern cultures often have their problems with the language – and ironically, so do the Brits! :-) It depends on where you are, but the pronunciation varies greatly throughout the country, and there are parts where it gets difficult to understand people. At least for those who are used to BBC English or the American version of the language (whatever that may be).
Talking about BBC: That may well stand for "Big Brother Country". Wherever you go, there are loads of electronic eyes watching you. Every place, 24 hours, no escape. People may have gotten used to it; they seem not to see the signs anymore: "CCTV surveillance – for your protection". It's a good question whether or not the extra safety outweighs the loss of personal freedom. Some will now cry "of course!" while others may think twice and frown. Matter of fact, everybody has to decide for himself. But the truth is: It won't make a difference! And on the long run the rest of the world will follow the British example. This way we'll create a safe world. Just, equal – and possibly totally uniform. Hey, wait a second! Isn't this exactly what went so terribly wrong in eastern states some decades ago? Well, if there is one thing that humanity obviously never does, then it is to learn from history. But let's stop here; we didn't make the trip to save the nation or the world, did we?!
Great Britain definitely is a class of its own, and there are traces of its rich history all over the country. Countless castles and other monuments await you to pay a visit (you actually do have to pay most of the time!), each of them has an exciting story to tell. Since compared to other countries there weren't many physical destructions during the last World War, the whole territory is a historical place in itself. We haven't seen many places in the world where it looks similar – the old, "typically English" glamour is still visible in all the pretty villages. Some may call it outdated, others picturesque; both may be true in its own unique kind of way. But the fact remains – England is still there, in all its glory, and it is as cool as ever! After all, we came here for a reason!
To avoid the usual confusion, here are three definitions:
a) The "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (the UK) comprises England, Scotland and Wales, plus the northern part of the Irish island.
b) "Great Britain" refers to the British main island and its smaller satellite islands. Like said above, that's England, Scotland and Wales. Officially, the term Great Britain does no longer stand for a country, but only for the island as such.
c) "England" is the country covering the larger part of Great Britain.
Okay, that's it for the moment. We're right in the middle of the adventure and will be back with stunning details shortly. Stay tuned!
Labels: Big Brother Country, CCTV surveillance, England, Great Britain, United Kingdom
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Life was really a big stress the past days and weeks after our return from the continuous WSF trip around the globe. Okay, it's always stress, but somehow HeliGraphix seems to grow beyond limits and causes an amount of both operative and logistic work that could easily keep a league of persons busy all day long. It's a good question how we all manage to integrate it into our lives – but then, maybe this is what makes our real lives, and the "normal" work just helps to keep things going.
Nonetheless all the extra load takes its toll: A lack of sleep and the responsibility and loyalty to our partners sometimes makes it hard to see the initial fire, the original spirit shine through everyday's thicket. Today HeliGraphix has got an excellent worldwide reputation; we get the means and are capable of handling projects we could only have dreamed of a few years back. But since we never compromise on quality and we will never fail our partners and those who believe in us the workload has increased at the same pace. There may be a time in the future when we will (need to) return to our original roots.
Right after returning home from Nuremberg Toy Fair the past Saturday we repacked our stuff and left for Luxembourg – after a mere handful of hours of sleep. The drive was quite okay and we reached the last sovereign grand duchy in the world in the early Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect, strikingly blue sky with a few nice condensation trails of jet airplanes. We'd talked to a number of people from Luxembourg to find out what was their number one landmark worthy of representing their country; it was always the same answer: The "Gëlle Fra" – the "Golden Woman". Patrick Damiani gave us the directions, and like a number of times before we had used a navigation system to drive as closely to the spot as possible. The difference this time was that the golden statue of a woman was on top of a column – and the column … was situated right in the middle of a crowded public car park!
Luxembourg is a small landlocked country bordered by Belgium, Germany and France. It is a member of the European Union and counts about 500,000 inhabitants, a good portion of them immigrants from other European states, mostly Portugal. It has a highly developed economy and with almost 90,000 USD the highest per capita GDP in the world. Stunning! Official languages of the parliamentary democracy (but constitutional grand duchy) are Luxembourgish, German and French.
What is today a reputable country hosting several institutions and agencies of the European Union was originally founded as a Roman fortress. And to avoid any confusions: Luxembourg is not just the name of the country, but also of its capital and largest city. In 1994 the latter was added to the list of UNESCO world cultural heritage because of its historic importance and rich architecture. That's something impossible to miss when walking through the older parts of the town.
The "Gëlle Fra" is something like the Statue of Liberty for Luxembourg. It had been originally built in 1923 and destroyed by German occupants in 1940 during World War II. This act turned it into a symbol for resistance and later on freedom; in 1985 it was re-erected in its original form. Quite impressive, especially when properly lit by the sun.
Symbols are generally a very important thing in human thinking as they represent ideas. Neglecting such connections in any kind of (political) negotiations or warfare is a fatal mistake because ideas are more than flesh and bones – they are unstoppable! They will outlast generations – by the help of symbols. Such as the "Golden Woman".
Robbe/Futaba's 2.4 GHz FASST system hadn't let us down during countless flights in countries all around the globe. When lifting off with our Henseleit Three Dee MP-XL E from the public parking lot around the "Golden Woman" we prayed it would perform just as well this one more time. Well, it didn't fail us, and despite the somewhat gusty wind conditions caused by some nearby branched out trees the flights went well enough.
Since the statue itself is just about two meters high but stands on a high column the number of suitable manoeuvres you could fly was very limited. We chose a more or less straightforward approach where the heli starts in front of the Luxembourgish flag and flies towards the column, then climbs up to the sculpture, pauses for a short while and finally pirouettes away into the wonderfully blue sky. We were quite happy with the footage, and so were all the many nice spectators. We explained the WSF mission and showed lots of cool pictures; one of the guys was from Argentina and looked at us sharply: "When will you go to Argentina?" The next guy immediately jumped onto the same subject: "How about Turkey, why don't you come to Turkey?!" --- Puh, really guys, there are close to 200 independent countries in this world, and even though most of them are well worth a visit we are unsure if we'll be able to make it to all of them. So patience, please!! :-)
We've just arrived at London/Stansted airport in Great Britain and are eternally worn out. Time to build the heli, get some rest and grab some food. After that it's driving to some very famous ancient site … let's see if the British nation, too, is willing to help us to go on with the world's biggest mission in the history of model sports!
Labels: Gëlle Fra, Golden Woman, Grand Duchy, Luxembourg, symbols
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