The Helicopters

The big helicopter took several days to build with all the men contributing. The buzz of the little helicopter could be heard all day and all night as people lined up to practice and hone their skills in preparation for the big one. Amazingly the little one was still in working order a week later when Mitchell got home. A computer simulator had to be purchased and that meant windows had to be added to my Mac. Daniel (who just finished his masters degree in digital signal processing, YEAH DANIEL!!!) spent many hours rebuilding the computer, installing new memory, drives and programs and finally achieving the desired configuration. I was nervous a few times when everything of mine disappeared. He did a great job restoring everything and my computer is faster and the simulator works great. The big copter is so difficult to fly (and expensive) that many hours must be spent on the simulator to train the pilots. Daniel and Kevin tested and retested in the house and outside getting all of the adjustments just right. It was pretty scary watching realizing that a hand, face, head or life could be lost in a second with those long, loud, fast moving carbon fiber blades. They started wearing protective ski gear and Shalane and I felt a little better. Sadly flight was not achieved before Daniel had to go back home to Virginia on the 5th of January. I figure it is just one more incentive to move his family back to Utah. You have to hand it to Mark who is doing all he can to lure them back!