Burnt Offering
Veteran
Location: Winter Wonder Land, Wasilla Alaska
| OK Gang I'm going to take this opportunity to sound off a little on my Aurora Slow Stick. I did a shoot yesterday where all the R&D and hundreds of hours of work on this plane came home to roost yesterday. I pulled off one of the greatest shoots I have ever done with this stunning plane yesterday, I and will say emphatically, if it weren't for this plane, there was NO WAY short of renting a real fixed wing I would I have done this shoot. Rivers, swamps not to mention trees so thick you can't see your arm when you stick it 2 feet into them would have made doing this with a heli totally insane and if it were to go down just kiss it goodbye and walk the walk of shame back to your car and home. I'm not into embarassing myself in front of clients which is why I built this plane. Many have heard me say that the words "I can't do that shoot" are not in my vocabulary and this shoot was no exception. This plane not only made it possible but easy and FUN! This was a paying client, and had already had AP done by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on this property in a real fixed wing and were not happy with the results. I knew this going in and knew I was going to have to perform. The object of this shoot was to get the ENTIRE property in the picture from ALL angles and it consists of around 30-40 acres. This property is in the heart of Alaskas Wilderness where the Bears and Moose roam. I showed up, drove the entire property to see what it all consisted of and then looked for the best location to take off and land so as to be able to do the entire shoot in one flight. I chose a spot as close to the middle of the property as possible and unloaded all my gear. I put the wife on camera and said" Its now or never" I hadn't even taken off before I drew a crowd of about 20 people and had to tell them politey to please leave my grass strip open for me to land. Everyone was cool and went back to their camping spots. So the wife and I get a plan. Its simple, I'll take off and you tell me how far out I need to go to get the entire property in the picture. I took off over one of the largest rivers in Alaska, the Big Susitna. I get up to a couple hundred feet and flip on my AP2000i. I then start flying away from me all the while gaining lots of altitude. I keep asking the Squeeze, "GEEZ are we there yet??!!" She kept say "No keep going!!" She has the camera pointed out the rear of the plane so she can see the property. When she finally said "OK we're there!!" I was not beliveing how far away I was. I was WAY to far out to tell what the plane was doing, and I have to tell you here that if I had not had the AP2000i, it would have been GAME OVER!! So all I know now is I'm out there and I ain't coming back without those PICTURES!! So I'm asking the wife, "Can you see the property??!!" Shes like "YES STAY OUT THERE!!!!" I'm going "Holy CRAP!!!!" So I got a plan together finally and found out from the wife looking through the camera how to get oriented and managed to get into a huge long wide sustained left turn and circled the entire property from that distance. I was able to circle the entire property twice and got every picture we needed. Then it was time to bring my baby home. I turn it in and start a LONG descent into the campground and put my baby down in perfect greased on landing. Man I set my TX down and the wife and I are Hi fiving each other Man it was AWESOME!! The entire shoot from the time I took off and landed was less than 10 minutes! I walked away $250.00 richer. I have to tell you guys, I can't even TELL you how incredibly reliable stable and just flat out PERFECT this plane is for AP. I cruise this forum and see all the posts about guys who are crashing their helis, and I will tell you straight up those days are OVER for me!!Their is simply no easier way to do AP at least for me and in the incredible place I live and its harsh conditions. A couple footnotes. First,Had I not had the wisdom to put my AP2000i on this plane, I would have lost it. This single tool is without question worth its weight in gold at least to me. Even though I couldn't see what the plane was doing very well, I didn't panic and this very cool stabilizer saved the day and kept the plane level and maintained its altitude until I got my crap together. Second, having the downlink and the camera on a 360 continuous pan also helped as the wife was able to look out all sides of the plane and give me clues as to where I needed to turn. It was awesome. Anyway, I am posting a picture taken from the shoot. I drew a couple lines showing where I took off and landed. At the end of the line that comes over the parking lot is my wife and I right next to a white picinic table. Gives you a little perspective on how far away I was. Also, that is my flight path for landing. Sorry for getting so long. |
