from HaaRoNa Baa..to Team STRATOS (Part #04)
American days-DAY 01
Coming out of the airport it was not difficult to spot amruth's uncle (Dr Prakash Hegde), who was waiting for our arrival. The airport was huge and trains ran from one terminal to the other. But we had a different mode of travel in store. We then proceeded to the parking space where uncle had parked his car. We had to travel to TEXAS from Houston, which was a 5 hour drive. As soon as we entered the parking space I went speechless and literally lost my mind at the look of the cars there. Here goes the list, Porche, Pontiac, Hummer ( H2 and H3), Nissan mini coupe, BMW, Merc SLK Convertible, Bentley, RR and many others. It was just amazing. While we were having a look at these cars, came out uncle's BMW X5 SUV! It was time to be sitting in it for a 5 hours drive. Thanks for not getting the connecting flight from Houston to Texas, if otherwise we would have missed this drive.
As we moved through the exit of the airport into the city, the first look of it was not at all depressing. It was very much welcoming. And we did so gladly into the wide freeways. Keeping the gas burning for a minimum of 80 mph non-stop was one ride to be remembered forever. It was in the night when we reached Texas. I don't remember the exact time and date of our arrival. And even of the trip thus far. This is more like a dateless and a timeless diary. I would love to relate this to R.K's 'My Dateless Diary'- An American Journey. But with world's separating us apart I realized I need more time to get closer to his standards.Anyway en-route to Texas we stopped for dinner, deliciously topped veg-pizza with loads of extra cheese. I just can't forget that chilled out night with the pizza slice in one hand and coke in the other. Uncle said he always drinks coke while having pizza. For him, it helps the bread wash down his throat it seems. But I didn't feel the same. Coke was brilliant and tasted quite different to what it tastes here in India. I should say that each other complimented brilliantly, rather than helping each other out on their way into my stomach.
American days--DAY 02
The next morning was awesome as the day started with a discussion between us, on, what freedom actually meant for the youth there. As we were in a prejudice that they can do anything they want by not disturbing and crossing the legal boundaries. And it turned out to be true. This preconceived notion came out to be true after we discussed the same matter with uncle who is living in the USA for more than 10 years now. This excited me for a moment. But this excitement didn't last long after I realized and respected the fact that the freedom for youth here in India are not just bound by legal boundaries but also by values, which predominantly mark our living. At that moment I was damn proud of this fact and I still am.
The wing then arrived at the right moment. Appreciating the Fed-Ex services for their on-time delivery, we proceeded towards the finishing and the final assembly of the plane. While amruth and hari were busy working on the plane, aki and I were working on the next day's presentation. We then had pizza for lunch with uncle in some place, I don't remember the name of it. It was excellent though, but with little variety for us vegetarians. Nevertheless aki was enjoying his chicken pizza. All with lots of coke. I tried Dr peppers, but it didn't impress me a lot.
American days---DAY03
After all this hungama for the past two months, came the D-day. The next morning we had the presentation round and the technical inspection round. It was decided that aki and I would give the presentation. The thought that audience for the presentation were just the judges from NASA and Lockheed Martin brought in me shivers. And I told aki that I would want to back out and let him do all the presentation. He accepted for it. But then I switched my mind back and did my part of the job. It was ultimate.
It went well. It was then the inspection round. We got our plane technically inspected by the officials there, and it was a pass. We received appreciation for our C.G positioning in the plane. We then received T-shirts and Caps for the event. All geared up for the next day's competition we went back to our, home away from home, heads held up high. After uncle dropped us off at the Radisson hotel, he proceeded to his weekend New York trip with his colleagues. So when we returned it was only us in the home away from home. It was at the Avery Point. A huge residential complex, housing large villas. That night actually I couldn't get good sleep. The next day's thought had already crept in my head. May be it was the surprise for making it thus far or may be it was the excitement of taking part in the competition or may be even the doubt on our aircraft's flight, as we had never tested it. Whatever it might be that sleepless night was quite hard to pass.
American days---DAY 04
Here it was. After breakfast and some minor adjustments to the plane we set off to the THUNDERBIRD Airfield in uncle's BMW X5 SUV. The plane was tied to the upper carriage of the car. Here we got the first results of our hard work. The tail plane which we had built for extra downforce started to act. Due to the speed of the car, the wing gave lift, but the tail was producing such downforce that the back portion of the plane was kissing the roof of the SUV, keeping the plane in balance. Felt fantastic sitting inside the car, observing what was happening above our head. With little help from the google map directions, we reached the airfield. Seeing the first micro class aircraft taking to the air was fantastic. It was so cool, until it crashed. High wind blowing towards the airfield from above the lake, which was a few meters away was the culprit. And we were scared of it. We did not take part in the empty flight round. It was anyway optional. All geared up for our entry into the second round, we waited patiently. Our fingers crossed for normal conditions in weather, we got our aircraft fueled.
And now came our chance. Loading the aircraft with 5.75pounds of payload, we had our engine and the control surfaces tested. The aircraft was taxi'ed to the runway. And the engine was started. After quite a bit of revving being done on the engine while being stationary, the aircraft started its journey but was not quite steady. It was after 10 seconds or so on the ground, speeding to her maximum, she gracefully took off. This was 'THE' moment, which we all worked for. Whatever we had done for the past two months was for this one sight. But during her unsteady take off, the front landing gear had changed its orientation. So landing was not easy. The speed had to reduce to almost zero and we had to belly land it. All thanks to Blake, our pilot. It was a perfect execution. She came down so smoothly with little twitches adjusting herself to balance. Was amazing to see the cranked wing playing its part.
I cannot forget in my life how she hovered into, through and out of the breeze. It was a scary moment though. Letting loose of the control on the aircraft helped her recovery. From then on it was smooth as butter. A brilliant 360 degree turn, amazing lift and a perfect landing. What else can can we ask for, being the first timers. Just brilliant !
More on day 02 and day 03 of the competition and on our shopping coming up shortly...As I always say...Wait maaDi please!!
Coming out of the airport it was not difficult to spot amruth's uncle (Dr Prakash Hegde), who was waiting for our arrival. The airport was huge and trains ran from one terminal to the other. But we had a different mode of travel in store. We then proceeded to the parking space where uncle had parked his car. We had to travel to TEXAS from Houston, which was a 5 hour drive. As soon as we entered the parking space I went speechless and literally lost my mind at the look of the cars there. Here goes the list, Porche, Pontiac, Hummer ( H2 and H3), Nissan mini coupe, BMW, Merc SLK Convertible, Bentley, RR and many others. It was just amazing. While we were having a look at these cars, came out uncle's BMW X5 SUV! It was time to be sitting in it for a 5 hours drive. Thanks for not getting the connecting flight from Houston to Texas, if otherwise we would have missed this drive.
As we moved through the exit of the airport into the city, the first look of it was not at all depressing. It was very much welcoming. And we did so gladly into the wide freeways. Keeping the gas burning for a minimum of 80 mph non-stop was one ride to be remembered forever. It was in the night when we reached Texas. I don't remember the exact time and date of our arrival. And even of the trip thus far. This is more like a dateless and a timeless diary. I would love to relate this to R.K's 'My Dateless Diary'- An American Journey. But with world's separating us apart I realized I need more time to get closer to his standards.Anyway en-route to Texas we stopped for dinner, deliciously topped veg-pizza with loads of extra cheese. I just can't forget that chilled out night with the pizza slice in one hand and coke in the other. Uncle said he always drinks coke while having pizza. For him, it helps the bread wash down his throat it seems. But I didn't feel the same. Coke was brilliant and tasted quite different to what it tastes here in India. I should say that each other complimented brilliantly, rather than helping each other out on their way into my stomach.
American days--DAY 02
The next morning was awesome as the day started with a discussion between us, on, what freedom actually meant for the youth there. As we were in a prejudice that they can do anything they want by not disturbing and crossing the legal boundaries. And it turned out to be true. This preconceived notion came out to be true after we discussed the same matter with uncle who is living in the USA for more than 10 years now. This excited me for a moment. But this excitement didn't last long after I realized and respected the fact that the freedom for youth here in India are not just bound by legal boundaries but also by values, which predominantly mark our living. At that moment I was damn proud of this fact and I still am.
The wing then arrived at the right moment. Appreciating the Fed-Ex services for their on-time delivery, we proceeded towards the finishing and the final assembly of the plane. While amruth and hari were busy working on the plane, aki and I were working on the next day's presentation. We then had pizza for lunch with uncle in some place, I don't remember the name of it. It was excellent though, but with little variety for us vegetarians. Nevertheless aki was enjoying his chicken pizza. All with lots of coke. I tried Dr peppers, but it didn't impress me a lot.
American days---DAY03
After all this hungama for the past two months, came the D-day. The next morning we had the presentation round and the technical inspection round. It was decided that aki and I would give the presentation. The thought that audience for the presentation were just the judges from NASA and Lockheed Martin brought in me shivers. And I told aki that I would want to back out and let him do all the presentation. He accepted for it. But then I switched my mind back and did my part of the job. It was ultimate.
It went well. It was then the inspection round. We got our plane technically inspected by the officials there, and it was a pass. We received appreciation for our C.G positioning in the plane. We then received T-shirts and Caps for the event. All geared up for the next day's competition we went back to our, home away from home, heads held up high. After uncle dropped us off at the Radisson hotel, he proceeded to his weekend New York trip with his colleagues. So when we returned it was only us in the home away from home. It was at the Avery Point. A huge residential complex, housing large villas. That night actually I couldn't get good sleep. The next day's thought had already crept in my head. May be it was the surprise for making it thus far or may be it was the excitement of taking part in the competition or may be even the doubt on our aircraft's flight, as we had never tested it. Whatever it might be that sleepless night was quite hard to pass.
American days---DAY 04
Here it was. After breakfast and some minor adjustments to the plane we set off to the THUNDERBIRD Airfield in uncle's BMW X5 SUV. The plane was tied to the upper carriage of the car. Here we got the first results of our hard work. The tail plane which we had built for extra downforce started to act. Due to the speed of the car, the wing gave lift, but the tail was producing such downforce that the back portion of the plane was kissing the roof of the SUV, keeping the plane in balance. Felt fantastic sitting inside the car, observing what was happening above our head. With little help from the google map directions, we reached the airfield. Seeing the first micro class aircraft taking to the air was fantastic. It was so cool, until it crashed. High wind blowing towards the airfield from above the lake, which was a few meters away was the culprit. And we were scared of it. We did not take part in the empty flight round. It was anyway optional. All geared up for our entry into the second round, we waited patiently. Our fingers crossed for normal conditions in weather, we got our aircraft fueled.
And now came our chance. Loading the aircraft with 5.75pounds of payload, we had our engine and the control surfaces tested. The aircraft was taxi'ed to the runway. And the engine was started. After quite a bit of revving being done on the engine while being stationary, the aircraft started its journey but was not quite steady. It was after 10 seconds or so on the ground, speeding to her maximum, she gracefully took off. This was 'THE' moment, which we all worked for. Whatever we had done for the past two months was for this one sight. But during her unsteady take off, the front landing gear had changed its orientation. So landing was not easy. The speed had to reduce to almost zero and we had to belly land it. All thanks to Blake, our pilot. It was a perfect execution. She came down so smoothly with little twitches adjusting herself to balance. Was amazing to see the cranked wing playing its part.
I cannot forget in my life how she hovered into, through and out of the breeze. It was a scary moment though. Letting loose of the control on the aircraft helped her recovery. From then on it was smooth as butter. A brilliant 360 degree turn, amazing lift and a perfect landing. What else can can we ask for, being the first timers. Just brilliant !
More on day 02 and day 03 of the competition and on our shopping coming up shortly...As I always say...Wait maaDi please!!
Comments
amruth.