A Fine Week of Soaring

Flight Journal, Oct 2004 by Farmer, James H

A Fine Week of Soaring Geovision DVd; 69 minutes; (800) 343-5540; www.geovisiononline.cont/fineweek; $29.95.

Anyone who has ever left the ground will find "A Fine Week of Soaring" spellbinding. Even my wife, who first ventured aloft in an ancient Schweizer sailplane with me some 30 years ago, was absorbed from start to finish by the simple joy and beauty that is pure, unpowered flight.

The DVD shows a five-day regional soaring competition in Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on the exquisite rolling hills and farmland that are the heart of Amish country. Filmmaker and sailplane pilot Juan Mandelbaum flies with 15-time national champion sailplane pilot Karl Striedieck in a Duo Discus glider for the competition. Our view is from the ground, the air and the cockpit with Karl and Juan as they soar over the Pennsylvania ridges every day for five days, hunting for thermals and updrafts to carry them along on their daily 200-mile-plus flights.

Much of the fun for viewers comes from watching Karl correctly reading the ground and atmospheric cues that will lead them into the next updraft: distant circling hawks, the ripples on a lake and the definition of the cloud formations ahead. Clouds are of intense interest because a dense overcast will hide the sun entirely and kill any chance of the thermals they need to return to Mifflin by day's end. But, as the laid-back, music-loving, gum-chewing, Striedieck, a former F-102 driver, says: "Glider pilots are always optimistic."

Modern technology is integral to the success of the flights. The commentary gives us thorough instructions on how to interpret the numbers on the Discus's flight computer. Using its turn-point database and GPS input, the computer's cockpit display continually updates the distance to the next turn point, the headings to follow, the altitude required to get to the next point, the airspeed and the wind's speed and direction.

"A Fine Week of Soaring" is one of the most pleasurable and informative presentations I have seen in a long, long time!

-James H. Farmer