“See Serious Soaring From Inside”

Soaring pilots aren’t, well, normal. First off, every landing is dead stick. Second, they need a plane just to take off, then they abandon it. Third, they spend the rest of the day looking for something called “lift” to keep their fragile craft airborne.
Often, when they do come to earth, it’s not anywhere near where they originally meant to be. So a 69 minute film about them should be boring, right?
As it turns out, A FINE WEEK OF SOARING, by a professional filmmaker with the unlikely name of Juan Mandelbaum (pronounced with a Spanish accent, no less) is an absolutely spot-on piece of work about a five day soaring contest in Mifflin, Pa. If you’ve never gone gliding (we’ve done it a couple of times but not lately) you will be surprised by the sophistication of these machines.
First, GPS specifically designed for soaring craft was introduced in 1993 and it has helped their navigation tremendously. There are even moving maps that show where they are supposed to be, turn points and so forth.
All of it is downloaded from onboard computers into base units, which then recreate the entire flight (even showing other gliders nearby, somehow) as seen from God’s eye view over the local topography.
Also, peculiar to gliders, there’s an audible beeper that measures lift by emitting a series of high pitched warbles as lift increases, going slower and deeper as the lift goes away. Of course, it’s so quiet inside the gliders that it’s not only easy to hear it, but also to have a normal conversation with your passenger.
In this film, Mandelbaum talked master gliderpilot Karl Striedieck into competing with a two-seat Duo Discus, a high performance sailplane with a wingspan only slightly shorter than the normal 80 feet. The photography is amazing, with lipstick cameras mounted everywhere about the glider and Mandelbaum shooting from the back.
As other gliders slide by, it’s almost eerie to hear just the whoosh of the wind as the graceful craft slips gently through the air, the warbler calling out in the background. The editing is first rate and viewers get an understandable glimpse into the world of soaring with tales of 800 mile flights, pulling five or six G’s in rough weather, skimming tree tops at 50 feet and following hawks around looking for lift.
There were even a couple of close calls as Striedieck ran completely out of lift and began looking for somewhere to “land out.” Glider pilots apparently meet a lot of farmers.
Some of the pilots come back from the day’s competition soaking wet and with tales of vast adventures as they sought to complete their 270 mile legs and get back home safely, all without an engine. The only weakness in the entire film is Mandelbaum’s insistence on narrating the film.
He’s a fine filmmaker but should have used a pro to narrate it. Otherwise, we’d rate it as a four star effort about a tiny segment of the flying community that just might make you decide you don’t really need a motor after all.

WYMAN DUNLAP, Pacific Flyer

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