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Reviews

• Charlie Spratt, Competition Director
  “The best film I have ever seen on contest flying. The photography is super and the story line perfect.”
• Doug Jacobs, 1985 World Champion
  “Ever wonder what its like to fly Pennsylvania’s fabled Allegheny ridges at high speed and low altitude? How about a chance to climb in a thermal up close and personal with a Nimbus 4, its enormous wingspan somehow made delicate in circling flight? Want to know how soaring competitions work? How tasks are set? Where to hunt for lift on blue days or how to fly cloud streets? Or, best of all, how a master like Karl Striedieck plies his craft, getting the most out of glider and weather with keen decision making and flawless flying technique, whistling his way across the sky? Well, you’re in for a treat. Juan Mandelbaum’s new and exquisitely photographed film A FINE WEEK OF SOARING shows you a Mifflin, PA regional contest from the perspective of the participants and organizers. Plus, it puts you in the back seat of a Duo Discus with Karl at the controls. Shot from all conceivable angles from cameras mounted both inside and outside the cockpit, this film is part soaring essay, part documentary, part instructional work, and all soaring enjoyment. You’ll not only get Karl’s insights, but hear from two time World Champion George Moffat, the dean of American competition soaring, as he reflects on the development of the sport over many decades. And adding to the educational value of what you see on film are interspersed GPS flight trace excerpts, masterfully displayed by the 3D terrain mapping features of the marvelous SeeYou Flight Information Software, including head to head comparisons of multiple sailplanes hurtling down the ridges. Whether you’re new to gliding, a beginning cross country pilot, or an old competition soaring dog, you’ll get a heady dose of information, pleasure and inspiration from this fine film, and end up counting the days, hours and minutes until you can get back in the air. Enjoy!”
• George Moffat, 1970 and 1974 World Champion
  “Juan Mandelbaum's new film, A FINE WEEK OF SOARING, is a must-see for anyone interested in sailplanes, especially contest flying. Filmed at the Mifflin Regionals, it is marked by stunning photography, much of featuring the famed Pennsylvania ridges, up close and personal. In the 70 minute film, producer/director Juan, an accomplished soaring pilot as well as a professional movie maker, flies with Karl Striedieck in his Duo Discus on each contest day, and we get to listen to The Master's laconic and often amusing commentary on why he does what. Several other pilots are featured, showing varied viewpoints on each day's flight, with experience varying from a World Champion down to a relative newcomer. An interesting and helpful added feature is the use of SeeYou animation to show the tracks of some of the gliders. This film is a highly professional job and a delight to watch.”
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Review by Paul Remde
I love this film.  The scenery and cinematography are awesome.  The views of clouds flowing around mountain peaks are spectacular.  I like how he shows water flowing over a rock and compares it with the wind and clouds flowing over and around the mountain peaks.  The effect is very well done.  The flight is truly an amazing one and you get to relive it as he describes his thought process as the flight unfolds.  The film also includes a great interview with Klaus about the flight and future flights.  He talks about many topics including how sleep deprivation is a major factor in flights like this because late night weather analysis and early morning preparations don't leave much time for sleep before the flight.  At the end are more breathtaking views of volcanic craters, impressive lenticular clouds, etc.  It is a beautiful, inspirational and motivational film.  Why does he call it "Gliding in the 5th Dimension"?... You'll have to watch the film to find out.

The glider pilots are:

• Bernie Massey (NC) Std Cirrus
• Steve Wallace (KT) Mosquito
• Murray Wardell (UP) Std Cirrus

At last...the best of Sunday night TV is back! It's the legendary TV show that's been popular with audiences for decades, and the longest running weekly prime-time series in television history. The winner of numerous awards, including seven Emmys, it's THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY!

Climb aboard and soar skyward towards everyone's dream to fly. THE BOY WHO FLEW WITH CONDORS is the true-life adventure of Chris Jury, a California teenager who goes from admiring the endangered condors' flight to sailing sky-high with them. Inspired by his new friends, a sailplane instructor, a NASA test pilot and a budding glider pilot, he risks it all for airborne thrills. But to earn his wings, he'll have to navigate a dangerous storm. Will he come through with flying colors? Find out in an exciting story sure to bring out the spirit of adventure in the entire family!

Starring (as themselves): Christopher Jury, Margaret Birsner, Fred W. Harris (gliding instructor), Milton O. Thompson (NASA test pilot)

Based On The Story "The Sail Plane Story" By Ken Nelson
Teleplay By Homer McCoy
Narrated by Leslie Nielsen

Note: This DVD is currently available only through The Disney Movie Club.  Club membership involves buying 4 or more DVDs to join and then 5 more in the future.  You also receive items in the mail 13 times a year.  Since I have 3 young kids it was not a problem for me to join and buy a batch of Disney DVDs.  Since many glider pilots may not want to join the Disney Movie Club I decided to buy a batch of them and make them available here.  They sell for $19.95 to Disney Movie Club members.  I charge a bit more, but you don't need to join the Disney Movie Club to get the film here.  I'm not doing this to get rich, just to make the title available to glider pilots.

Full Details on the Disney web site

Review by Paul Remde
The story follows a teenage boy as he gets into soaring and progresses through his Gold and Diamond badges.  There are many memorable scenes (see below).  It is fun to watch Chris learn to fly and dive into cross-country flight and badge flying while being mentored by his flight instructor.  I especially enjoyed the 2-22 landing in a duck pond, and the auto-launch behind an old jalopy.  It was also interesting watching the winch launches, ridge running and beach landings at Torrey Pines.  I also enjoyed having Walt Disney introduce soaring and hear Leslie Nielsen as the narrator.  This was filmed when a Schweizer 1-26 was a "high performance model".  It sure looks like fun to me!  I remember watching this film when young.  It sparked my first interest in soaring.  It is great to see it again.

Scenes from The Boy Who Flew with Condors Click on the images below to view larger versions.
Margaret Birsner does an off-field landing in a Schweizer 1-26	Margaret Birsner in a Schweizer 1-26	Ridge Running at Torrey Pines	Aerotow from the beach at Torrey Pines ends with the 1-26 in the surf.	Chris taking flying lessons in a Schweizer 2-22 with Fred Harris in the back seat.	Chris gets "baptized" after his 1st solo flight.
Water landing in a 2-22	Chris goes for his Gold Badge in this "high performance model" (Schweizer 1-26).	Golf course landing - sneaking up on an unsuspecting putter	NASA Test Pilot Milt Thompson gives a quick tour of Edwards Air Force Base including this X-15 "hypersonic glider".	Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) "Flying Bedstead"	NASA M2-F1 "Flying Bathtub", Note the Schweizer tow ring and tow hook on it.
Fred Harris, Chris and Margaret discussing plans for Chris' "Diamond C" flight	Chris flying for his Diamond C Badge in a Schweizer 1-26.  The goal is Bishop.	Difficulty near thunderstorm. "Altitude gone, visibility gone, situation... deadly"	...but then... a condor...	Schweizer 1-26 flying with a condor	Schweizer 1-26 over Mono Lake
Landing near Mono Lake	Auto-launch behind an old jalopy	Arrival at sunset	Chris and Margaret flying their 1-26s over clouds	Walt Disney with condor and sailplane

Note: A customer has complained that he thought the quality of the DVD was poor - "not DVD quality".  I guess that is true, it is produced from an old film by the owner or the film.  Also, a scene from the original film in which the pilot is sleeping in a bed made from a glider fuselage has been removed.  With all that said, I still love this little film.  The loops and rolls and low altitude flying are impressive and fun to watch - in my opinion. - Paul Remde

Overview from the DVD Case
Stunning aerial maneuvers, tree-top chases and hair-raising pursuits through narrow rock canyons mark this sailplane adventure story.  Haunted by a mysterious superpilot, a young glider pilot first flees, then confronts his challenger.  In his fixed wing, 30-foot wingspan glider (Schweizer 1-26) he finally draws abreast of the rival plane... and learns who the pilot really is.

Dawn Flight is both a film about the wonder of soaring and a film about self-discovery.  The symbolic dawn in the title bespeaks the sense of renewal that comes to the young glider pilot when he conquers his fear and meets the challenges presented to him by a mysterious pursuer.

Producer, Lawrence Lansburgh wanted to do more than make a typical glider film:

"I wanted to take a fresh approach in a soaring film, to use motorless flight not as an end in itself but as a means to express something else that was on my mind."

Academy Award Nominee - Live Action Short - 1975

See the Entire Film on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgvVA5jXO2E

Review
I applaud the effort, but it is not a very exciting film.  But the price is right...  If I had a friend that was interested in soaring, I would give them a copy of Soaring, 'Your Sport' For the New Millennium because it includes excellent footage of a lovely young woman taking flying lessons in a glider, and then going on a beautiful soaring adventure in the New Zealand alps - fantastic!  But that DVD costs more than twice as much as this one.  However, this video shows soaring in the United States - which is nice.

Flying in to be narrator in his 1931 Waco, John Denver, the legendary songwriter, brings his enthusiasm for all things aeronautical to soaring and succeeds in getting his 200 mile Gold 'C' cross country in a Libelle.  On the same day the great Kees Muster, 1983 World Champion from Belgium, attempts a flight over three times as long and lands only 20 miles short of a new World Record after eleven hours in the air.  The drama of long distance record attempts, both for the pilots and their worried crews, is beautifully portrayed, much aided by an excellent score by Richard Conrad.  For those of us who know and flew against such pilots as Helmut Reichmann, Ingo Renner and Kees there is much nostalgia as well as beauty seeing them again in their prime in this outstanding film.

Back Cover Review by Doug Jacobs, World Champion
It's not often in life that you get to go around twice on a great thing, but reviewing Chris Woods' masterfully produced Running on Empty in its new digitally remastered DVD edition is one.  Shot at the 1987 Hitachi Masters of Soaring competition in Estrella, Arizona, the original captured the gleaming essence of high powered sailplane racing as practiced by 20 of the world's best glider pilot who were asked to participate in this by-invitation-only meet.

The in-flight shots have to be seen to be believed, whether we're talking about gaggling or ridge running, and the close-ups of pilots' faces while in flight are deep into the category of "How'd they do that?"  While complex racing strategies and the mechanics of competition are made transparent by Chris Woods' focused vision, he goes one step deeper - effectively exploring the backgrounds, personalities, and motivations of this amazingly diverse group of pilots.

Narrated with great style by the legendary Cliff Robertson, this production easily ranks as one of the finest pieces ever made about motorless aviation.  And for those who've never seen it before? You're in for a treat!

From the early race to build gliders to the D-Day invasion at Normandy to Nazi Germany’s final surrender, Silent Wings – The American Glider Pilots of WWII narrated by Hal Holbrook, reveals the critical role gliders played in World War II offensives. Through rare archival footage and photographs, the film places the audience right at the center of the action in the dangerous world of the American glider pilot.


Narrator by Hal Holbrook

During WWII, 6000 young Americans volunteered to fly large unarmed cargo gliders into battle. These brave men were an eclectic band of misfits. One general called them “the bastards nobody wanted and the most uninhibited individuals ever to wear an American uniform.”

Yet for these glider pilots every mission was do-or-die. It was their task to repeatedly risk their lives landing the men and tools of war deep within enemy-held territory, often in complete darkness, using only a stopwatch to navigate.

They had no motor, no parachutes and no second chances.

Silent Wings Features

• Two broadcast legends Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite who glided into Holland with the 101st Airborne Division in 1944.
• Archival footage and photos
• Interviews with glider veterans

"I don't think the 101st Airborne thought that this was a terribly difficult landing, but to me it was a scene from Hell". - Walter Cronkite

There will be an advanced showing of this film at the 2007 Soaring Society of America Convention on Friday, February 9th.

Trailer
DVD Cover Artwork

Books on this subject - available from Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

• Silent Wings At War - Combat Gliders in WWII (book - new)
• Silent Wings - The Saga of the U.S. Army and Marine Combat Glider Pilots During World War II (book - used)

View Sample Video Clips
Aerodynamics: Dial-Up / Broadband
Mountain Wave: Dial-Up / Broadband
Glider Commercial: Dial-Up / Broadband

Champions of the Wave
Omarama, New Zealand, is one of the best gliding locations in the world.  Here a unique weather condition forms, know as 'The Wave', attracting glider pilots from around the world who come to challenge this famous and thrilling phenomenon, in the World Gliding Championships.  With cameras mounted inside and outside the gliders, we take viewers with these pilots as they soar over the Southern Alps at speeds up to 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph).  The battle is on to determine who will become the Champions of the Wave.

Paul E. Remde

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