World Scenic Flights by HeliGraphix

Apart from the fact that Russia – the Russian Federation, to be more exact – is the largest country in the world and thus simply has to be part of the WSF project, the idea to go there had been born more than a year ago during our visit to Sweden. Our good friend Alex Bagrov who lives there has his roots in Saint Petersburg (the former Leningrad) and we agreed that it would be cool to fly there, too.

Russia was founded in the 9th century by a viking warrior from Norway. Since then its history has been diverse – what else would you expect of a country (or federation of states) spanning 11 time zones, covering all northern Asia plus about 40% of Europe and incorporating all major types of landforms and climatic zones. So it is no surprise either that Russia has the largest energy and mineral resources of the globe. When looking at the population of this superpower then you may be (very) surprised to hear it's just over 140 million – no kidding!
Under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev the USSR (Soviet Union) became more open to the West (so-called "glasnost" policy). In 1991 the old union collapsed and was succeeded by today's Russian Federation; since then a diversity of problems has shaken the country. Only recently the reign of Vladimir Putin – although sometimes criticized by the West for being undemocratic – has brought back some stability to the nation.

Even though we only had tourist visa it was less a problem than expected to bring good camera equipment into the country. The helicopter did cause some discussion but nothing that couldn't be solved. Alex Bagrov and his father Alexeji collected us at the airport and drove us through Saint Petersburg. Apart from incredible traffic jams at certain times and on certain streets the old part of the city is well-restored and simply breathtaking! Its looks are definitely European, not Russian – the reasons for this lie way back in history when rulers followed a policy of openness to the West.
We've been told that the glamour may fade quickly when entering the buildings unless it's official or touristy places. But anyway, Saint Petersburg is great!



Why Saint Petersburg for the WSF project? Well, there's a whole number of good reasons. Apart from the obvious fact that we have friends there it's been the Russian capital for quite some time, and not just once. It certainly is one of the culturally most important places of the whole country, and it is famous throughout the world. Like said before, the city is just amazing – so how many more reasons do you need?!
Right, typically Russian architecture wouldn't be bad – good point! But not a problem since there is one big cathedral which is built in exactly the same style than famous St. Basil in Moscow; it is called the "Blood Church". The name sounds cruel, but it was built by Alexander III. to commemorate the assassination of his father.



The weather in St. Petersburg is more of the British type: Wet and fast changing. The day of our arrival it was snowing and overcast skies, partly with very low temperatures. The second day was (unexpectedly!) much better with short sunny periods. We met up with Alex, his father Alexeji and heli-Alexey (stunning variety of names, we know :-) ) from a cool group of St. Petersburg pilots (the above picture shows us with heli-Alexey). There was even a bunch of other pilots who wanted to attend but had to work. Bad and good at the same time since it is not wise to show up with a whole group of people for unannounced scenic flights.

The real problem about the Blood Church is that it stands next to a canal which is spanned by dozens (hundreds!) of steel and electric wires. Most of them go straight over the water, but some are diagonal and there are some additional lines in greater height. Hmm …
We waited until two police patrols passed the spot we had chosen and then positioned the heli in a free parking space. Alex was a little worried about the traffic and some spectators, but it was not a problem compared to other places where we'd flown before. The water in combination with the many steel wires was a challenge, but on the other hand it was helpful because staying over the canal meant there was no threat for any onlookers. Our strategy was to stay low, possibly under the level of the first steel wires.



The first four passes went well and luckily we got quite good shots. That's nothing to take for granted because when filming WSF scenes many many things have to be considered; the most important are how to frame the relevant object, good perspective, good lighting, reasonable size of the heli in relation to the chosen landmark, long enough time for the viewer to actually recognize what he is seeing, appropriate moves of the helicopter, possible dynamics within the scene and start and final camera picture, aso. Please keep in mind that when flying at such places there is often tricky wind conditions and the pilot is not at all free in the choice of position. What's more, spectators may not be aware of inherent dangers and the whole action may be perceived unlawful or whatever by officials. So there are many things to watch out for while flying and the often very limited time frame puts extra pressure on you.



Anyway, the fifth pass brought the heli really close to one of the wires. I'm not sure if I really saw it – both Alex and his father did but unfortunately said nothing in order to not stress me more than necessary. Fatal!!!
With a chirping sound the heli suddenly stopped in the air, followed by a louder sound of breaking rotor blades. Things happened really very fast now! The heli had lost almost its whole rotor disc and appeared to be catapulted downwards. It hit the railing next to the canal quite hard and broke into two pieces; the tail dropped onto the ground while all the rest went straight down into the water. Then total silence again – if you blinked you missed the whole action!

30 minutes later. We were driving through town and finally found a store selling fishing equipment. While Alex and Saskia bought a big hook and some rope I called Nicolas Kaiser and Jan Henseleit. I didn't know exactly but was pretty sure the machine had been significantly damaged when hitting the balustrade. It turned out Jan was incredibly busy shipping the latest series of MP-XL helis; at the same time some (positive) family issues literally ate up the last bit of his time. Nonetheless he stopped all of his work immediately to disassemble his very own MP-XL E for us; thank you very much! Meanwhile Nicolas Kaiser from Switzerland once again prepared the FedEx logistics provided by Big Boys Toys for shipping Jan's heli directly to Moscow (no, not St. Petersburg – we'll explain that later). Okay, so far so good!

We went back to the crash site where heli-Alexey had been holding the position. No serious police action or anything since the crash, so it was safe to start fishing for the main part of the sunken heli. As most of you know it was not the first time I had crashed into water … :-) (I think it actually was the 5th time!)



Provided it is fresh water the electronics are often still okay when drying them slowly, so it's always worth to try and recover the machine. Alex did a great job – after only 10 minutes the MP-XL was on the hook! Badly damaged, including motor and speed controller, not to speak of the mechanics. Still a good feeling to not have to let the parts back and wonder what the actual damage might have been.



Okay, that's the St. Petersburg story for now – broken helicopter but successful mission. We're nonetheless continuing to Moscow, so the adventure is not yet over. Stay tuned!

(pictures (4) courtesy of Alexey Neztaiminov)