Wish you were here! This weekend was unseasonably warm. It was 72 F and even some trees started to bloom. The wind was gusting at around 25 MPH but I went to fly my trainer anyway.

Two more pilots -  Raja and Eric, and me decided to do a relay flight. The plan was to take off from Dean's football field and fly toward Raja’s house (4000 ft away). He would then activate his TX on the same frequency and fly the plane further away and then return it back for landing. Eric was to handle take offs and landings and I was to fly the connecting piece that was out of visual range for both of them. Raja was sitting in his driveway with XCam video receiver (featuring simple dipole antenna) connected to a TV set. I was using Glasstron glasses and double quad antenna with Racewood Technology receiver. There is a thick line of trees separating the field and the house and I was interested in learning if my video feed will disappear when plane is flying below the tree line on the other side.

The first flight almost ended in a disaster. The wind was blowing so hard that I flew over Raja’s house in no time. I didn’t recognize his house from the air (I was about 1000 ft up) and I just kept on going. We hadn’t established a voice contact yet, I thought we had plenty of time – boy, I was wrong. At full throttle and with strong tail wind I was probably doing 80 MPH against ground. Raja has actually heard the plane buzzing above him  but he didn’t want to switch his TX on before talking to me. He tried to call my cell phone but Eric was trying to call him at the same time and they wouldn’t connect.  At that time I was long past the visual range from the field but I thought I was going in the right direction – I was flying over a residential area with just houses below and no landmarks. Suddenly I’ve noticed that RPM indicator on my video is 4000 rpm. But I was at full throttle on my TX! That meant one thing: the plane is in the fail safe mode and the engine has just throttled back to idle because it hears no signal from my TX. I am no longer in control of my plane! I had a perfect video connection and that saved me. I started to move my TX box trying to find a better position for antenna and reestablish the contact. And I did, RPM went up to 11,000 and then back to 4000 few times but I turned the plane around and was flying back. I was halfway back to the field when Raja and Eric finally got in touch through the phone. I told Raja that I don’t have good control and I want to land the plane. But he insisted that he should take over because he sees the plane and everything looks good on his side, so I switched mine transmitter off and tried to calm down. He did couple of circles around his neighborhood and asked me how much time does he have. In all that excitement I forgot about the time and when he asked I realized that plane is low on fuel. I told Raja to hurry up. So he climbed up above the tree line and sent the plane into my direction. When I took over the plane the runway was already in my view and everything looked good but few moments later RPM went down to 0! My plane is a "dead stick" 900 ft high (it is good that Raja gained some altitude on return!) and about 1000 ft away from the field with strong head wind. Without power the plane handled more like a "dead brick" with video TX and camera mounted on it. Eric was the savior, he already had the plane in visual range so he took over the TX box and landed the plane just fine. Two close calls for the first flight but the plane is alive and that makes the day even more exciting. The RPV flight worked and relay idea worked too!

This flight got me pretty scared thinking that I can lose all the equipment if plane flies out of range.

Here Raja's story:

"Here is what I saw from my house: I had the TV setup in the driveway with a VCR and the second receiver anxiously waiting for some video feed. Soon after you took off, I started getting video over Dean field at about 400+ feet up. It was fading in and out, and I pushed the record button. I watched the video for a minute or so, and then I started hearing the plane. I looked for it in the sky where I expected it to be, but it wasn't there. Then I looked at the video to see the view, got an idea and looked again in a different direction and got visual of the plane. Since the phone didn't ring yet, I started to call you guys at the field. I mean I had video, and I had visual on the plane, and it was heading towards me and I was ready to take over. I called but I got voicemail. By now the plane was almost overhead, and I was trying to call again trying to get in touch as I should have taken over the plane some time ago, but I didn't want to do that without voice contact first. While I was trying to reach you the second time, the engine started to fail safe to idle. Yikes, what's is he doing and where is everyone? Voicemail again... I grabbed my transmitter, raised the antenna, and fixed my eyes on the plane which was now travelling beyond my house furthest away from you. The plane was still flying somewhat level, fail safing to idle and then regaining control like clockwork, responding to your commands for a couple of seconds then not responding (failsafe - engine to idle) for a couple of seconds. I thought to myself, just watch it like a hawk and do not interrupt Val unless the plane is totally out of control and in a dive. Like an angel, I stood by ready to take over if necessary to save the plane, but not until absolutely necessary. Somehow, you finally noticed you were too far away and you started turning back. Some sign of relief on my part and I needed to keep a visual on the plane at all times now due to the radio issues (you were over a mile away). As you flew back over my house, the engine started sounding more and more constant, and, by the time you just passed me and were returning to base, you were in full control again. (no more fail safes). At this time I relaxed and put the transmitted down, and picked up the phone to call you guys once more, at which point I got in touch and asked you to take over the plane".

	Flying toward Raja's house in Franklin, MA
Low pass over Bridal Path St. The plane is under Raja's control
	Back to the field
Out of gas by the end of first flight, but enough altitude allowed safe landing
	Another view before landing on return from 2nd flight.

Unfortunately the video record of the first flight didn't come out well. I've adjusted video level for better record signal during second flight. The video compiled from 7 different pieces:

1. Take off from football field

2. Flying toward Raja's house.

3. Short piece of low altitude flying over Bridal Path St. I've got the video for just a few seconds. The plane is out of view and below the tree line!

4. The plane is still under Raja's control but climbing and flying back toward the field.

5. Descent for landing.

6. First landing approach is aborted because of strong wind gusts. Almost grazing tree tops on recovery.

7. Third landing approach gets plane on the ground but the prop is broken.

Try this (slow) link to load 360x240 resolution (Divx 4.11 encoded) 36 Mb file

We made total of three relay flights that day. On my first flight the plane must have gone almost a mile away but the video was never a problem. Even the simple dipole antenna with XCam receiver in Raja’s house worked good most of the time. He was getting clear picture from 4000 ft away as long as the plane was above the tree line. Having RPM indicator proved to be very useful as a warning signal for out of range conditions.