Friday, November 9, 2007
Madness Strikes Again!
Ladies & Gentlemen, this is HeliGraphix Australia; please fasten your seatbelts! All persons and incidents described are real; part of them may not be suitable for all ages. If you are under the age of 16, please read on when you have reached this age or continue with the next post. Thank you. :-)
We were pretty much in a rush to the airport since our navigation device lead us the way to every place BUT the airport. We thought this might be some kind of built-in advertising: You tell the device where to go, and if you just buy the budget version instead of the full upgrade it won't choose the fastest way but drive you to a couple of partner shops first ...
The first thing we did after collecting Andrew Palmer was to find a breakfast place - as you will imagine there were loads of things to talk about; after all, we hadn't met him in person for almost two full years. It's not that you don't exchange messages over the internet or do occasional phone calls; still there is nothing greater than sitting together and talking face to face. Honestly, if I had one wish granted by a fairy godmother, then it would be to bring together all the HeliGraphix people from all over the world for one day.
What distinguishes HeliGraphix videos from pretty much all the rest on the net is that they're never outdated; even after years they're as much fun to watch as on day one. Consequently, the download rates stay pretty constant rather than decreasing over time. With several 10,000 downloads the "dequeering video" (official title is "HeliGraphix Helps!"; www.heligraphix.de/download/HeliGraphix_helps_part1.zip) from 2005 is one of the best examples. It was shot out of a notion and minutes before we had had to leave for Christchurch airport (New Zealand). It went down in history and has inspired a generation of pilots - it's as much CULT as the world-renowned HeliGraphix rule for breaking in new helicopters and engines: They have to go inverted the very first day, else they will become "queer" (www.heligraphix.com/QA/qa_section2.htm#TM41)! We could compile a book full of cool stories that have been submitted to us in this context by people from around the planet. Maybe next time … :-)
When talking about the good old days in New Zealand and the dequeering video we realized that on the occasion of our meeting the world might expect a sequel!?! Andrew hadn't brought along any helicopters, and even though it would have been a cool stunt to throw a Three Dee MP-XL off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and wind up the blades, this was definitely the worst point in time for giving it a try. We had a look at the watch: 4 hours left before Andrew had to fly back another 2,500 km to NZ. Okay, what could you possibly do in such a short time span? Not much!? Think again, this is HeliGraphix!
We drove to the nearest post office and grabbed the Yellow Pages. There seemed to be quite a number of model shops in the greater Sydney area; the closest one was "Wings 'N' Things" (www.wingsnthings.com.au). We don't know why, but somehow we always manage to make the right choices…
Full steam ahead to Wings 'N' Things! Park the car, jump out, walk into the store. Impressive, really big - and a couple of helicopters on display, from small coaxial ones to real 90 size I/C machines. The first guy spots us and looks us up and down. – "We're looking for a small helicopter, a budget version." – "We have these coaxial ones; the small ones here don't fly as well as that bigger one. They're all for indoor use." The guy knows what he's talking about. "What do you need it for?"
Now THAT's cool, isn't it? Meanwhile the number of people around us had increased a little and the guy walks over to a shelf; a few seconds later he returns with a "Remote Madness" DVD in his hand. Well, what could you possibly add here …?! :-)The owner of the store is Zak Kiternas, and the guys called him down to the shop. I think we could have talked to them for another hour, it was simply great. We even learned they'd contacted Jan Henseleit the other day regarding distribution of Three Dee helicopters! A small world, really.
Anyway, we explained what we'd come for and without making a fuss of anything Zak just handed over the coaxial Bell 47 we wanted to have. Plus a can of our favourite pink spray paint, plus some batteries. "It's all yours. Don't make it survive!" he said. NOW HOW COOL IS THIS?! Below's a good shot by Saskia showing Rob Pirazzi, Zak Kiternas, me & Andrew, Denis Johnstone and Carlo Iarossi (from left) outside the store. The mailman just happened to drop by and thought it looked fun what we're doing and thus wanted to be in the picture, too. Cool world! :-)
3 hours left. We walk back to the car and open the motor hub; there is no second we can afford to lose, so we decide to charge the Bell's lipo while driving back to our "hotel" and fetching the video camera. Some adhesive tape does the job and holds the charger and battery in place in the engine bay.
1.5 hours left. We're back at the Harbour Bridge to inspect the location and find a good point for throwing down the helicopter. The QHT ("Queer Helicopter Theory") states: Queer helicopters float while dequeered ones sink! So if you throw a queer one off the bridge and it happens to fall into the river, then you will be able to tell whether the mission was a success or not. B-)
LOTS of security and surveillance cameras on the bridge! We talked to the guys and there was a chance to get semi-official clearance for the stunt. Never mind, we'd have done it anyway … ;-)
However, there was another problem: If you video a scene where a small heli is dropped from a mighty bridge in quite a distance, then it is only a small dot in the picture. Not good at all, so we had to come up with a new idea fast!
40 min. left. We were prepared to do an ultra-cool introduction interview and test the ultimate dequeering strategy. We figured that if the little bell (it comes pink and plugged out of the box!) made it across the bay (700 meters!), it would be dequeered and could be used safely by any pilot. The "point of transformation" had to be somewhere on the way which left us with the question: What if the Bell didn't make it? We knew this was unlikely, but … ;-))
Well, as mentioned before the "Dequeerer's Guidebook" states that queer helicopters float! The puzzle now was complete, the story brilliant, and the three of us were highly motivated to do the stunt and help to dequeer Zak's Bell so it could lead a happy heli's life ever after.
25 min. left. It was so much fun doing the interview and explaining the story to the viewers, we could have continued for hours. Unfortunately, a strong wind was blowing right towards us; we ran back to the car (i.e. Andrew walked most of the way …) in order to drive over to the other side of the bay. This way the heli would have the wind behind it.
10 min. left. Security also on the other side, but there is nothing we have to lose anyway. While driving we had done dry runs of the scene so we'd be able to start right away – and that's exactly what we did! The outcome is insane, fun and marvellous at the same time! You will LOVE this production! B-)
-5 min. left. We're on the way to the airport and our navigation system – as always – causes more trouble than it is of help. We call Zak and tell him the mission was a great success; he is delighted and can't wait to see the video.
Okay, good question, when's that blockbuster-like thing coming out? Well, there's some post production extras required – we think late in January or early in February 2008 is realistic. Don't miss this film, it is CULT!
Finally, here's a snap shot of one of the planes at Zak's place. Hmm, we may have to return one day … ;-)
Labels: Andrew Palmer, Bell 47, dequeer, Harbour Bridge, New Zealand, pink, Remote Madness, Sydney, video, Wings N Things, Zak Kiternas
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The world-famous Sydney Opera House
Sydney has the strangest weather we've ever seen. First it is stormy (only people from New Zealand would still classify this as a firm breeze) and pours like hell, some 30 minutes later it is moderately windy and only slightly overcast, another 30 minutes later it is the Deluge again. Now what does this tell us? Quite simply put, the long time of the British Commonwealth Empire has left its traces … ;-)
All kidding aside, this kind of weather thwarts all your plans. Partly helped by our sat navi (see last post!) we just drove out to the waterfront opposite the famous Sydney Opera House. It's quite a distance, still the monument is not a speck on the horizon. We arrived perfectly in time for a rain break, and since there was a lonely security guy nearby we thought it was best to start off with an AFD panorama. It may give the fixed wing guys a hard time, but it's simply great for helicopters! :-)
We had just completed the photographs and not even measured all the distances to obstacles and waypoints when the next rain front came in (BTW, in ROTOR 12/2007 we'll explain in detail how the AFD shooting works and what is needed to generate a photorealistic simulator scenery). It was so fast we didn't really know what had hit us …
About 40 minutes later we dared to get out of the car again. The good thing about the situation was that virtually everybody (including the lonely security guy) had run away because of the heavy rainfall. As we learned today there is actually LOTS of security all over the place and especially around the harbour bridge; Sydney is quite afraid of terrorist strikes and the security guys aren't the funny type. So we were pretty lucky we got away with a quick flight!
The result is absolutely cool! Apart from the wind and that flying over water is never truly relaxing there are two more things which spoil the game a little: First, the next rain front was already forming on the horizon, and second we could only fly 4 - 5 min. because of our already slightly ballooned last 4900 mAh battery pack. And finally, it is a matter of time until you have the usual annoying water drops on the lens. But anyway, the shots are good, we couldn't have done them better under these conditions, and this is what counts!
When we came back to our "hotel" it was all dark – power failure! No electricity, no light, no internet, no nothing! It took about 4 hours until at least the lights worked again, and charging the batteries meant I had to sit in the corridor (no sockets in the room!) until 4 AM in the morning. :-(
Not so nice since today we had to get up at 7 AM in order to collect Andrew Palmer at the airport. He's a true friend and came all the way from New Zealand just to meet us for one day. And it was one hell of a day! In fact, we had such a great time that it's worth writing an extra post about it; you will be more than thrilled to hear what's going on in this part of the world! :-)
Another very good news is that Rainer Hacker (did we mention he really is a great guy?!) contacted Nicolas Kaiser: There is three brand new 4900 mAh Flight Power battery packs on the way to our home base in Switzerland! That's perfect timing, thank you very much! Consequently, the two 3700 mAh packs which had been sent via the UK and had not made it to New Zealand in time have been routed back by Nicolas.
BTW, we have learned that the pressure in the passenger section of an airplane is the same as in the cargo bay. Thus it does not make a difference whether you transport the batteries in your carry-on or in your checked in baggage (you cannot have it in the hand luggage anyway). The reason for the observed ballooning must therefore be another one. We checked our chargers, but everything fine here as well. It remains a mystery …
OK, this was the end of a long but successful day. The next post will feature the most incredible story how we managed to shoot a sequel to our most successful "dequeering" video from 2005 (the official title is "HeliGraphix Helps!") even though neither Andrew nor we had brought along a helicopter for doing this! :-))
Labels: Australia, Flight Power problem, Opera House, power outage, Rainer Hacker, Sydney
Monday, November 5, 2007
AUSTRALIA – Take 1
Right before boarding the plane to Australia I was taken aside and told that there was a security problem with our baggage. But no reason to worry, the lady continued, the officers had just opened and resealed it … You can imagine we had a very nice 9.5-hour flight, constantly wondering what Asia Airlines might have done to our baggage and which one of the two boxes (helicopter box or transmitter, power supplies and chargers) had been opened. These guys had been unfriendly at check-in as well; they are Star Alliance member, we're booked on Star Alliance, but they just wouldn't give us the respective conditions (they have to!) but charge us overweight instead. Annoying.
Sydney really is an expensive place; to reduce cost we had prebooked one of the more budget backpacker hotels (and this still costs a lot!). Well, the room is smaller than ever, we do not have electricity (except one light, but no sockets) and we have to share the showers with 200 other people. This minimalistic size of the room is a new record, the only other places that can keep up with this one were at Mount Cook/New Zealand where each of us had to share the bedroom with 7 more people (separate rooms for male/female!) and in France. Below is a shot of our mobile communication platform. :-)
We arrived in Sydney early this morning, and for the first time since this continuous trip has started we rented a car. The main reason is that on Thursday our old friend Andrew Palmer from New Zealand will fly all the way to Sydney to have fun with us for one day. That's true spirit and we very much look forward to seeing him!
For just a few bucks extra we got a sat navi; it's made by Pioneer and the most user-unfriendly device we've ever seen. If you type in a target and drive according to the instructions, how's it possible that the distance to the destination keeps increasing?! Does it lead you the other way around the globe? Also we set it up so it won't be using toll roads. And boom - 10 minutes later we end up in the first toll tunnel without cash booths. Damn, to avoid a toll infringement notice we now have to call the guys and give them our credit card details.
Regarding battery packs, thanks for all your input! Nicolas Kaiser did a lot of research and called today - it seems we'll be co-sponsored by Kokam. That's good in a way that in the past months quite a number of people had written to us anyway and asked how's Kokam compared to Flight Power. It will be interesting to see whether the ballooning is a FP specific problem or a general one.
Jan Henseleit also left us a message and offered his own packs. Ken Yap wrote in and said he would be able to organize AirThunder packs for us. Marc Endres discussed the problem on RC-Line forum, and they came up with the same suspicion we have: The low air pressure during the long distance flights might be the problem for the ballooning. Andrew Palmer called this evening and reported there's no hobby shops in Sydney carrying 12s battery packs.
BTW, we'd like to seize the chance to explicitly thank the Big Boys' Toys crew (manufacturer of the famous MANIAC blades and carbon accessories) who provide the WSF FedEx logistics. Nobody believed this would become such a crucial part to make the WSF project a success. Thank you very much, this is appreciated!
Next problem is that for some reason FedEx sent the two spare 3700 mAh FP packs via United Kingdom to Andrew Palmer in New Zealand (he was supposed to bring the packs to us on Thursday). The time delay is fatal as they will not arrive in NZ before Andrew boards the plane to Sydney. So we're currently trying to reroute the parcel to the location here and to collect the packs when we come back from Ayers Rock, just prior to departure for Hawaii. (How come that always when it seems we could take a quick break something like this happens?!)
As you see the WSF are as exciting as ever and you can actively influence them by leaving comments. This is the project of a big team rather than a handful of people; like mentioned often before, HeliGraphix is "open source". Be part of the new flying era and join us for writing R/C history!
Labels: Australia, ballooning, BBT, Flight Power problem, Kokam, navigation system, Sydney
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