Hard Work Does Pay Off… eventually….I think….maybe. Weight Shift Aircraft in The Art Race

We’ve done our share of television and filming here and one thing is consistent, directors want to kill pilots…. They don’t have an understanding of aviation or what is safe in an aircraft. They politely ask over and over “can you do this please” meaning fly straight at that cliff through the rotors then at the last moment pull up and climb at over 2000’ minute and clear the top of the cliff by 2 feet. Of course what they think will look cool and what really looks cool are 2 different things. It was with that in mind that one day a fellow came into the hanger where I was working, he introduced himself as Ben Sargent an artist from New York. Behind him several others were approaching, one Clare Bradbury turned out to be the producer and with her were a sound and camera guy. Ben was part of the Art Race being filmed by Illuminations media out of the UK. He wanted to know if I was willing to trade a flight carrying him on his eastward trek for some artwork? I replied that I was pretty sure we could work something out. So I asked “is the show sold?” and Clare relied yes it was sold to the VROOM cable network and would appear on their channel Gallery HD. Great, so down to business. Their idea was that I would fly Ben to some point east helping him cross the country and he would create some artwork in trade. They wanted to show up on the day of the flight and film and follow us east. Well, mixing filming and the actual flight was not a good idea. To many variables and things that can go wrong so I said no it would be better if all the filming was done on one day, then the day of the flight they just drop Ben off and I ferry him to Columbus 90 miles east. I explained that we needed at least 1 introductory lesson to familiarize him with weight shift control aircraft. In return I would strap on a wing mount camera and collect some footage they could include. They agreed, first hurdle past.

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