World Scenic Flights by HeliGraphix

The night train to Moscow takes 8 hours; it is safe to use it these days, and apart from a drunken guy in our compartment who dropped his beer can and spilled the contents all over the radiator the journey was quite comfortable. "Nice" beer smell though.

Our friend Ruud Westerhout was born in the Netherlands but has spent the better part of his life in Russia. He knows how the system works and how to make use of it – in other words, he's an organizational marvel. He collected us at one of the many Moscow train stations (they have one for every direction), and off we went into the semi-chaotic Moscow traffic. Ruud thought driving here was something you needed to get used to; well, after driving in India, Nepal and Arabic states we think that Moscow is quite moderate for its size.
The greater city counts about 10 million inhabitants by the way; this effectively makes it the biggest European metropolis, and it is the home of the largest number of billionaires. It is commonly known as the world's most expensive city, too.



First stop this morning was at the Hobbyline R/C store (http://www.hobbyline.ru/), a well-stocked helicopter specialist shop run by Igor "Garry" Orlov and his father. Igor is one of the best Russian 3D pilots and – more than that – a bright kid! He holds a PhD degree in law, is a talented musician playing in a Rock-N-Roll band and has many more interests. The striking thing about him is his healthy and unbiased attitude towards model helicopters. He talks frankly about how "famous" 3D Masters goes down the drain by being commercialized, how things there are not always really fair, how narrow-minded many well-known R/C pilots are and think they're cool while they certainly aren't, and how he enjoys the hobby without any pressures. A sharp mind and a good perception like his are rare, so it was definitely interesting and fun talking to him. And no surprise either we took two or three hours before we left the shop for the world-famous Red Square.



Incredible St. Basil cathedral, the Red Square and the Moscow Kremlin certainly belong to the best-known landmarks of the world. Since the latter is the home of the Russian government it goes without saying that any attempts to fly here will get you into serious trouble – and worse than that. So what you need is an official permission! All the people we had talked to said it was simply impossible and advised us to just forget about it. Well, what you guys forgot is that we are HeliGraphix! ;-))
The serious problem for us, however, was that we did not have a helicopter to fly with. Just before we'd left for Moscow Jan Henseleit called and reported that FedEx had contacted him. They could deliver a parcel to almost any place in the world within 1 - 2 days – but not to Moscow. The shipment would be held up by customs for at least one full week! Phhhhwwwww … So that was 'game over' for scenic flights with an MP-XL in Moscow. :-(

We discussed possible alternatives with Igor but sadly had to realize it won't be the same to fly another heli (even with our spare canopy) in front of that monument. Better come back another time and try to get a new permission. This automatically means that for the final WSF movie we'll be using the (absolutely representative) St. Petersburg shots then.
The four of us (Igor, Ruud, Saskia and me) still went to Red Square and checked the location for the best WSF perspective. What's more, we had lots of fun filming a quick scene for the upcoming Sergeji Stanikow movie by HeliGraphix; Ruud plays a Russian government official rushing out of the Kremlin and phoning Sergeji in the German exile to help his country which is about to suffer from a serious vodka shortage … :-) The film is really cool as it is about Sergeji's 'Insane Turbine Cart' (turbine-driven vehicle); it will be released later this year. You certainly don't want to miss that one!



The first day was over way too fast, and the next day we went flying with Ruud's T-Rex 450 in central Moscow. Are there any flying fields? Not really, but we simply chose sort of a traffic island; there was everything you could wish for: Many cars, a frequented railway line, overhead power lines, police patrols (who liked the heli) and bad weather.
Ruud crashed the heli within 10 seconds. :-) But despite some broken parts like cracked blades it flew really well. So the fun lasted all the five battery packs we had; very cool action! :-)



After an incredible time and lots of fun with Ruud and Igor we had to say bye and went back to St. Petersburg. There we met again Alex and heli-Alexey for a relaxing coffee – nice guys! Back at the hotel we packed up our stuff and are now heading for the airport. Another very cool adventure is over – probably the last one before the WSF movie is finally released. Now when's that again?!
As of now there will be another short WSF article in ROTOR 05/2008, and the video will be out pretty much at the same time – so that'd be end of April 2008. Make sure to follow this blog because it's here that the very day will be published first!

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)