Winter Dream - Fixed-Wing Mountain Formation

https://vimeo.com/256271478

Several years ago (around 2010 or so) I dreamed of flying among some of the highest peaks in the European Alps, in the deepest winter when they are completely covered with snow and ice. Flying there in formation with a bunch of friends under a perfect blue sky. How cool would that be?

But I didn't have the setup and I was as inexperienced in mountain FPV flying as my friends were. So I thought it's most likely that such flights would stay a dream forever.

Over the years our setups became more capable and we became regular visitors to the mountains and acquired more and more experience in flying FPV in such a terrain. We started to meet regularly during the regular flying season when it is nice and warm – a.k.a summer :-) https://www.flitetest.com/articles/swiss-alps-fpv-trip

In early 2014 we thought we could give it a try and meet at the mountains during the winter. Maybe we could make our winter dream a reality. It was a great FPV trip but the weather didn't play along as we hoped. Find out more here: https://www.flitetest.com/articles/winter-meeting

Two years later I tried again in early 2016. At that time my (by now) experienced mountain FPV friends didn't have time to join me. So formation flying was not an option. The weather was a lot better than on the first attempt but there was not a lot of snow. It was another really cool trip but my dream would remain a dream. Find out more here: https://www.flitetest.com/articles/winter-peaks

Another two years later, we decided to give it another try. Together with two of my friends from northern Germany, we drove all the way to the French Alps. It was a hefty 12h drive for them – one way. In France, we met with our local friend “Guigui86” and planned the following two days. The weather forecast was okay but not great. That would prove to be totally wrong because on the next morning there was not a single cloud up in the sky. When we finally arrived at our first spot it was an incredible sight. There was plenty of snow (around 2m / 9ft) and we had temperatures of around -10°C / 14°F.

The sight was beautiful but it was quite windy among the peaks. So formation didn't work out on the first day. 

The second day started completely overcast. I was afraid we might not be able to fly at all. None the less we drove to our planned location for that day. When we arrived there the peaks were still covered in clouds and we had to wait. But we were really lucky and it cleared up and became a much nicer day than the forecast predicted. The peaks were completely covered in snow, the sky was blue, the wind was acceptable and our lipos were full. That would be the day our dream finally came true. It was all we ever hoped for and more.

I hope you now understand why this means so much to me. It finally worked out after around eight years. Please enjoy our video and celebrate with us. 

video footage:
felipefpv youtube.com/channel/UCrP2YXnxHIGYmPf9QL9QcGw
guigui86 vimeo.com/user965676
provotroll vimeo.com/provotroll
vierfuffzig vimeo.com/vierfuffzig

music: piers baron - as our witness

soundcloud.com/piersbaron