| Victoria Departure - Start of the ProNet World Tour, June 16 2003, 00:03 GMT |
 | It's 8 AM Pacific Standard Time. Spent the last hour swapping out the Shulze 18-be ESC for the newly arrived CC Phoenix 10, and programming it. On the last test flight yesterday, the Shulze lost it's programming, wouldn't start the Hacker reliably, so our first mod on the Tour is here, on the morning of the very first departure. With the ProNet sitting quietly on the the Sea Wall at Clover Point, the first official leg of the World ProNet Tour is about to begin. At 8:02 AM, a seagull floated on down towards the ProNet perched on the wall. He did a tight 360 spiral, expertly dropped his landing gear, flared and effortlessly stalled one inch off the wall and landed right beside the still silent micro heli. He eyed the fluorescent colors, and sidled on up to the machine. Afraid that the bully seagull might boot the Pro off the wall while not under power, I initialized the turbine tail, and carefully inched the collective up. The Castle Phoenix did it's job , and to my relief, the white rotors began to spin up. The seagull bully squawked, turned and dove off the wall. We were ready to roll, and the runway was clear .. |
| Officially, in the ProNet's Logbook, it “departed” Victoria this morning at 8:03 AM local time, lifting off the seawall at Clover Point, Victoria. This is as far south and west as you can go in Canada, and there is nothing but Pacific Ocean all around the Point. We lifted off, with a South bound turn towards Washington State, heading out over the Pacific. There was little fanfare, just the ProNet, me and Jon, the camera guy. The world has yet to focus on such a small butterfly flapping its wings in a sea of noisy distracting vultures.. |  |
 | Strangely, considering the number of test flights that I’ve done while building the Prototype, it was an adrenalin filled take-off from the sea wall, choked with unexpected sentiment, watching this little heli, (which is even smaller than the seagull that perched curiously beside it for a second), as it lifted of, then swung it’s nose toward the south, and headed over the great Pacific, with only the blue ocean beneath it’s little landing gear and beating heart under glistening rotors. |
| God speed, little ProNet. May your spirit carry you safely on this incredible journey, and may your many pilots share the wings of freedom as I already have.. Through your tiny windshield is a world class adventure yet to unfold, the scope and breadth, we cannot imagine.. You seem so small against the Pacific… It’s hard to let go, but you seem so sure … A mind clearing realization flashes like a thunderbolt in the crisp morning sky - it is me, not you, that clings like an anchor to the bottom of the sea of life ... Log Entry: Pilot in Command: Lost Horizon (Dana)Point of departure: Clover Point, Vancouver Island, BC Canada Time of Departure: 00:03 GMT 2003/06/16 Destination: Long Beach, California Weight at Take off: 320 grams |  |