Then I cut carbon

Then I cut carbon for 3 builds that are coming up ... though the arms are still stock since I dont seem to be able to cut carbon straight with the dremel tool.

An i-flight 7" build in progress and  my own cut carbon pieces taking shape.

Then I build a few

Then I build a few ... 8 completely built to be exact since the nasty weather started beginning of November. And they fly really well, indoors at least.

Skyrc 210

Genius 215-1

Genius 215-2

Hakrc-220

QAVC 220

X6R 250

Thinly Blue Rc 260

First snow at the Hinna House

Our new rental house sits on top of a small 100m hill, it's big full windows elevated view South. The view is one big advantage, however in winter it is quite a struggle to get home especially on heavy snow days.

Walking up and down the hill post snowy days also have it's downsides especially walking down the hill due to slippery slopes.  If you are not careful, you'll just end up on the tarmac dusting off dirt off your dented pride.

Birthday present 2017 : Milkyway and Aurora

There's not much more i'd ask for my birthday. Annually I'd make a trip to the mountains for quiet sojourn in the woods on some not so popular trail, hide under a rock and listen to the bubbling stream and pitter patter of the rain drops, or just listen to the rustling of the wind on some secluded cliff or mountain top someplace.

This year was special ... well, I may have been blessed with similar occurences in past years too. This year it was an epic Milkyway as well as aurora birthday weekend up in the mountains.

Live video from Sep 2017, Sulaskard.

Timelapse from Sep 2016, Sulaskard,  at the exact same spot!

Timelapse day and night, Sep 2016.

Flying Fosseknuten with the Bugs3

We took up a cabin in Fidgeland and I tokk the opportunity to fly Fosseknuten 950m with the Bugs 3. Fidgeland has always been our favorite summer and autumn getaway spot. There's mountains and valleys to hike, scenic clouds to contemplate on as well as aurora, Milkyway and the stars to admire in a spot far away from light pollution.

Fosseknuten at 950m .... away from the maddening crowd.



Fidgeland with a maximum height of 1100m.



The Motland valley, fertile farmland.

Aurora at Sulaskard at 950m.

View from Cabin 48.

Aurora night at Sulaskard.

Milkyway in the mountains

Earliest Milkyway for 2017 Maudal

Milkyway Quest Maudal

Milkyway visible in Sola very late night

With the end of summer, comes the longer nights. With it dark night delights start to come enevelope us again ... one of the first would be starry sky, Milkyway and Aurora. Most anticipated for the month of August would be the Milkyway.

Norway being way up north does not experience Milkyway peak in Jun/July like every other locations at the lower latitudes ... Jun/July is the longest day of the year in the middle of the summer. There's barely any nights during those periods.

I have recorded Milkyway towards the end of April/May heading towards Spring but the night were fairly bright and the Milkyway isnt as intense as they are in Aug/Sep slightly off peak as far as the Milkyway season goes but still significant for northern latitudes.

There are indeed many delights to be expected in darkening nights come August.

Move House

After a bit more than 5 years living in Hundvag, we decided to move to a new rental in Hinna.

When we moved into Austbogeilen May 2012, Ali 12 and Aisya was 10 years old respectively. Both have grown up significantly since then. The little house we've been calling home suddenly feels shrunk up when all four of us were gathered in the same part of the house. Most obvious was when we have family and friends over ... the living was so small, guests have literally zero wiggling room!

Also after 5 years in Hundvag, logistics to schools and our respective offices gets a bit long winded with the two adults having to be in Tananger and Forus during office hours, and both kids in Revheim at the American International School. With the move to Hinna, hopefully the commute time will be slightly reduced for both adults, perhaps not so much for the children. Ali is starting at St Olav at the new schoolyear, while Aisya has one more year at Revheim before she too moves to St Olav in the city center.

We made the move during the downturn of the OnG industry so the rentals were rather competitive. We paid less for a bigger, more "centrally" (to Forus at least) located house on a little hill. Both kids now have bigger rooms to themselves which apparently is rather crucial for brooding teenagers. There's a large attic to fit all of our junk too.

My office is only 15-20mins away by bike/bus/car, which makes later nights possible.

Last flight over Hundvag and the last Bugs3 sunset flight from Austbogeilen.

A quick tour of the Hinna house after the movers left.


Though the new landlord lives in Oslo, we dont think we'll be able to find another landlord as pleasant, decent and friendly as our old Hundvag landlord, Andreas.  We'll miss both our old house, the farm and Andreas.

Our last sunset from our Austbogeilen house

This evening was our last day at the Austbogeilen house. We've moved most of our smaller items over the past couple of weeks using a rented moving van. The larger bulkier items will be taken care of by professional movers. We also hired professional cleaners to come around and sort out the final cleaning of our domain the past 5 years of our lives in Norway. Bye bye Austbogeilen!

Maiden the Align M690

I finally managed to maiden the humongous Align M690 to fly after several weeks of tweaking. Bought from another flyer up north who has decided to fly Phantom, it came with a couple of required fixed post delivery. I change out part of the cables and wires, re-established connections, fixed the retracts, swapped out the GPS unit to a more updated and current unit. After figuring out the power and flight activation sequence with the help from the Align Group on FB including an Align (among other crafts) pilot from Langkawi, Malaysia.

With the changes in the drone flying regulations in the country, many big drone fellas are ditching their oversized crafts. Big crafts larger than 2,5kg utilised commercially now requires permits, which necessitates pilots to sit for exams.

I'm flying at RP01 (non-commercial hobbyist) level for non-commercial, amateur below 2,5kg category. Under the radar obviously!

Nice weather for almost end of summer camping

We went camping ... I think this was our first camping since coming to Norway, having been talking about it since we arrive and buying gear over the same period. We are almost with a tent each, 2xsleepings bags each, After supplementing a few more gear items : a gas stove and camping utensils we headed out to Fosseknuten dam for an easy night of sleeping in the mountains under the tent.

Being right next to the dam solved the issue with carrying water as well as cleaning up. The spot however is full of rocks without any trees all around. The wind from the surface of the water can be chilly at night without having any way of making a fire.

The spot we had chosen was also a favorite with casual visitors on their weekend drives along the only main road in the area connecting Sirdal to Setesdal. We didn't linger to long the next day. We packed up after breakfast and drove down to our cabin in Fidjeland.

This spot is epic for night photography ... if there's no clouds that is!

This spot in Fidgeland is also epic for Milkyway ... closer to our cabin!

A week in Bergen

With our impending house move this summer, we decided to spend a week in Bergen instead of the usual prolonged summer holiday.

We took the 5 hour ferry from Risavika to Bergen, spent a week in an AirBNB in the city and explored what Bergen has to offer by boat, ferry, bus and foot.