Thursday, October 11, 2007
Back in the Air over India!
After over 55 hours with very little sleep and without food (no time!), we got serious headache attacks and thus swallow pills all the time. Even the last people will have understood by now that this is no holiday but three months of working non-stop.
Last night we found that the tail drive train of the Three Dee MP was a lot more damaged than it had seemed to be at first view, and that repair would take quite some time. So we had no choice but skip all other tasks and start repairing with our poor emergency tools. One part to be replaced was the front bevel gear – a rare sight, but luckily we did have one at hand.
In the early morning hours we sent a pre-warning to our home base in Basel/Switzerland; Nicolas Kaiser was quick to respond, and after it was clear that no further parts except tail blades were needed (in case the same problem would occur again in the future), he and Jan Henseleit prepared our first FedEx Next-Day-Air shipment (see ROTOR 11/2007 for all the details!). In the meanwhile we called an Indian friend to find a suitable address in Delhi/India to which the parts could be sent. After a while he got back to us, but the phone line was bad and the address sounded complex (at least for European ears), so he suggested to send it by email. Good idea – and WHUMP! – power outage in our part of Jaipur. That's normal, we were told, and it would take at least 3 - 4 hours until electricity was back …
A couple of minutes later we were rushing through busy traffic; our driver nearly killed a couple of people and animals. Half an hour later we stopped in another part of town where electricity was still available and went straight into an internet cafe. We chose exactly this one because they had the fastest connection in town. Hmm, blurred screen with 640 x 480 pixels resolution and "lightning fast" network – we think the statement is true in its literal sense if lightning had struck the server and it was now running in a failsafe mode … It took 20 eternal minutes to open a simple text message, and to forward it to Nicolas Kaiser and Jan Henseleit. Really, you have to take a few more of the headache pills to survive this one …
Later on we continued to a small backyard for testing the repaired helicopter. It worked, so we notified Nicolas that no further parts were needed and jumped into the car to drive back to the "Lake Palace". The sun was still high, so it was the best time for a panoramic shot at the designated flying site. Of course, people around recognized us as the heli pilots, and it took less than a minute until we were surrounded by the first 15 guys. Now how on earth could you do a 360° panoramic shot with so many people here?!
Ah, the cat's out of the bag now – we do panoramic shots for Aerofly Deluxe by Ikarus! AFD may be the most advanced flight simulator, at least the graphics is phantastic and in HD resolution so you will be able to use it with large screen display devices and video beamers without compromising quality. The really, really cool news is: YOU will be able to follow our trip and fly where we have flown – maybe with better weather conditions and more than one try :-) but the same obstacles around. OK, you also won't have to duck away under the camera and to worry about dozens of people squeezing you, or about police forces arresting or shooting at you. Still, the "HeliGraphix Worldwide Add-On Package" will take computer simulators to the next level – forget about the odd flying field, it's now having fun at the most beautiful and well-known spots all over the planet! We have no idea about pricing and availability but expect the upgrade package to be available in early 2008. This is a MUST HAVE, and we don't just say this because it was our idea!
Anyway, we convinced the people to move with us around the tripod and keep their shadows out of the pictures – looks funny if a crowd of grown-up people moves around a camera in a circle again and again. :-)
We hadn't really finished the AFD shots (you also have to measure distances to all obstacles and paint them into a sketch) when the first press guys and loads of more people showed up – it was so many you couldn't even count them. "Helicopter, helicopter, helicopter!" Had we refused to fly, I think they would have killed us. So we explained a few basics, patiently answered questions of the press and have an hour later did the first flight.
It is quite hard to please photographers, filmers and the crowd at the same time. But right after take-off – even though we urgently warned them not to approach the landing and pilot's area – there was a big round of applause ending in people jumping over the fence, coming to us, cheering and talking and asking questions. I had to kick one of the press guys off the stairs since he blocked my vision – I could not see the heli anymore! The next post will feature a little video to give you an impression what flying in public is all about.
Okay, is it always this bad? No, not always – but in those cases where it isn't, there is usually a strong presence of police or army. So the choice is yours what you prefer!
Then two more things:
1) Marc Endres from Germany sent us an email and volunteered to translate the blog into good German. Now what a cool offer! That's simply great, and you will find it here: www.helimaniax.de
We'll add a permanent link in the menu later when we have better internet access; also, Marc wants to build a menu structure soon so navigation is as comfortable as here.
2) We receive a lot of emails; since many of the question are of general interest, it would be better to leave them as a comment so we can answer them in the blog. Please always add your comments to the most current blog, not to older ones; it doen't matter if the topic fits or not – it's just that this way we won't miss it.
For those of you reading the German blog, please also leave your comments here in the original version, no matter which language!
We'll be back with more news shortly.
Labels: AFD, Jaipur, Lake Palace, press, repair
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!
Labels: crash, Jaipur, press, TV, Water Palace
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