- 16/11/08
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Okay, so if you paid any attention to this thread a couple of weeks ago:
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/watchbuff-experience-45043?highlight=watchbuff
You know that watchbuff is a helicopter pilot in New York who has freely offered rides to any RWI members who go out his way. McGrvy posted photos of his flight when he bought a watch from WB; I figure that I should do the same.
I was sent to New Jersey on an errand to pick up a car that a friend of mine bought on Ebay by mistake (too trigger happy with the bid button), so I decided to invest an evening in a helicopter ride. The trip to the airfield in the vehicle (which I have been affectionately referring to as "The Deathtrap") was already an adventure. The WB experience was definitely more entertaining.
Like McGrvy, I took the tour through the facility (including the men's locker room) and tried out the flight simulator. The flight simulator, incidentally, gives you some idea of how skilled these guys have to be. Because I can assure you that I was a complete and utter failure at it. There were two main hand controls and two foot pedals to balance; WB took over two and let me try to maintain the simulated helicopter in a hover position using just the one remaining control.
I do have fairly significant problems with motion sickness, so the sequence typically went like this: WB maneuvered the helicopter to a hovering position and pointed out something for me to focus on. Helicopter position started to drift and scenery started to move. I tried to counteract the drift, and overcorrected, causing the scenery to suddenly swerve in the other direction. Motion sickness took over so I had to close my eyes and then it was game over. WB was nice enough to grab the controls at this point so we didn't have to crash.
The ride itself was actually much less uncomfortable than the simulator. It's better if the body at least moves when the eyes think it's supposed to move.
Mine was a night time flight--beautiful in real time; awful for pictures. I included some of the less dizzying ones.
WTC Ground Zero:
Game 2 at Yankees Stadium:
Now for the impromptu bad guy chase from the air, I finally realized that still shots were hopeless and finally went to video (still dark but at least not streaky). We did get to see a police car come within inches of taking out civilian vehicle in an intersection, but I didn't get video of that. Did not find the bad guy, but searching for him was still fun:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwqwaqGi6I"]YouTube - P1050844[/ame]
Just so everyone knows, WB is serious about his invitation to take up anyone who goes out his direction, and he'll take very good care of you. (I didn't even have to buy a watch from him.) He knew that I was worried about airsickness and checked on me often to be sure that I wasn't about to barf in his helicopter. Of course, I made sure to tell him that I was just fine, just in case the alternative was to push me out of the cabin.
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/watchbuff-experience-45043?highlight=watchbuff
You know that watchbuff is a helicopter pilot in New York who has freely offered rides to any RWI members who go out his way. McGrvy posted photos of his flight when he bought a watch from WB; I figure that I should do the same.
I was sent to New Jersey on an errand to pick up a car that a friend of mine bought on Ebay by mistake (too trigger happy with the bid button), so I decided to invest an evening in a helicopter ride. The trip to the airfield in the vehicle (which I have been affectionately referring to as "The Deathtrap") was already an adventure. The WB experience was definitely more entertaining.
Like McGrvy, I took the tour through the facility (including the men's locker room) and tried out the flight simulator. The flight simulator, incidentally, gives you some idea of how skilled these guys have to be. Because I can assure you that I was a complete and utter failure at it. There were two main hand controls and two foot pedals to balance; WB took over two and let me try to maintain the simulated helicopter in a hover position using just the one remaining control.
I do have fairly significant problems with motion sickness, so the sequence typically went like this: WB maneuvered the helicopter to a hovering position and pointed out something for me to focus on. Helicopter position started to drift and scenery started to move. I tried to counteract the drift, and overcorrected, causing the scenery to suddenly swerve in the other direction. Motion sickness took over so I had to close my eyes and then it was game over. WB was nice enough to grab the controls at this point so we didn't have to crash.
The ride itself was actually much less uncomfortable than the simulator. It's better if the body at least moves when the eyes think it's supposed to move.
Mine was a night time flight--beautiful in real time; awful for pictures. I included some of the less dizzying ones.
WTC Ground Zero:
Game 2 at Yankees Stadium:
Now for the impromptu bad guy chase from the air, I finally realized that still shots were hopeless and finally went to video (still dark but at least not streaky). We did get to see a police car come within inches of taking out civilian vehicle in an intersection, but I didn't get video of that. Did not find the bad guy, but searching for him was still fun:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwqwaqGi6I"]YouTube - P1050844[/ame]
Just so everyone knows, WB is serious about his invitation to take up anyone who goes out his direction, and he'll take very good care of you. (I didn't even have to buy a watch from him.) He knew that I was worried about airsickness and checked on me often to be sure that I wasn't about to barf in his helicopter. Of course, I made sure to tell him that I was just fine, just in case the alternative was to push me out of the cabin.
