New Zealand soaring movie

[[email protected]]

Long time ago I saw a neat movie about a father and daughter(?) learning to soar in New Zealand. Great scenery. Remind me the name of the movie?

Also, if my 14 YO son gets instruction and solos in New Zealand does the flight time and solo endorsement from a Kiwi certified flight instructor count directly towards a US Private Pilot-Glider certificate when he turns 16?

[Frank Whiteley]

On Friday, September 2, 2016 at 10:57:59 AM UTC-6, wrote:
> Long time ago I saw a neat movie about a father and daughter(?) learning to soar in New Zealand. Great scenery. Remind me the name of the movie?
>
> Also, if my 14 YO son gets instruction and solos in New Zealand does the flight time and solo endorsement from a Kiwi certified flight instructor count directly towards a US Private Pilot-Glider certificate when he turns 16?

https://www.nzgeo.com/video/windborn/ but I believe the DVD is available through soaring vendors.

Frank Whiteley

[[email protected]]

Excellent!! Thanks for posting!

[waremark]

The father Gain Wills runs Glide Omerama. Very sadly I believe the daughter Lucy is no longer alive.

[Bruce Hoult]

On Sunday, September 4, 2016 at 12:20:00 AM UTC+12, waremark wrote:
> The father Gain Wills runs Glide Omerama. Very sadly I believe the daughter Lucy is no longer alive.

Yes, Lucy died of cancer in 2004, aged just 28.

It does spoil enjoyment of the video for those of us in the NZ gliding family, so I wasn't planning to mention that. Of course it's also great that we have this memory of Lucy!

A lot of effort and expense went into making this video, which of course predates the modern very small and cheap and good video cameras with flash storage. It even predates DVDs as a consumer technology.

[[email protected]]

When Mike Abernathy and I first started talking about trying to make a movie about soaring, we watched "Windborn" many times. It was truly one of the most inspiring and influential films we had seen. Without this and other films like it, "Cloudstreet: Soaring the American West" would have never come out as well as it did. Many thanks to the Wills family and the producers who made this superb movie.

BTW, we just found out that "Cloudstreet" has been nominated in four categories in the Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards.

[Duster]

I just noticed in "Windborn" that the glider flown and forced to land on the beach was a Janus M. Isn't that a motorized Janus? Maybe they pieced together clips from several flights?

Congrats on the nomination of "Cloudstreet"
Michael

[Bruce Hoult]

On Sunday, September 4, 2016 at 8:34:25 AM UTC+12, Duster wrote:
> I just noticed in "Windborn" that the glider flown and forced to land on the beach was a Janus M. Isn't that a motorized Janus? Maybe they pieced together clips from several flights?

Yes, the film was made over a number of flights, and certain things were staged for dramatic effect. Shhh!

Victor Quebec was later owned for several years by a member of my club (Wellington), before being sold to the Whangarei club. You can hear Rob G make radio calls from her at 0:42 in my video http://youtu.be/kJD395MgJBo

[Martin Gregorie[_5_]]

On Sat, 03 Sep 2016 14:56:35 -0700, Bruce Hoult wrote:

> Yes, the film was made over a number of flights, and certain things were
> staged for dramatic effect. Shhh!
>
An excellent film.

I notice that some scenes were shot at the Southland Gliding Club but it
doesn't appear in the club list on Gliding NZ, so I assume its now an ex-
club. Do you know what its current name is or where its airfield used to
be?

I noticed a series of shots where Lucy's hat changed several times in the
course of a scene. Nice: it reminded me of "Plan Nine From Outer Space"
though of course Windborn's production values are somewhat better!


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[Bruce Hoult]

On Sunday, September 4, 2016 at 10:38:55 AM UTC+12, Martin Gregorie wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Sep 2016 14:56:35 -0700, Bruce Hoult wrote:
>
> > Yes, the film was made over a number of flights, and certain things were
> > staged for dramatic effect. Shhh!
> >
> An excellent film.
>
> I notice that some scenes were shot at the Southland Gliding Club but it
> doesn't appear in the club list on Gliding NZ, so I assume its now an ex-
> club. Do you know what its current name is or where its airfield used to
> be?

I think it was shot all over the place! Many of the early gliding scenes look to be along the side of the Remarkables, with Lake Wakatipu in the background and even one or two glimpses of Queenstown.

Other scenes are obviously shot at Omarama, including the interview with Ray Lynskey with the Buscott ridge and Mt Benmore in the background.

I've never flown there, but the aerotow practice and first solo look to me like Te Anau. I'm not entirely sure what strip they're using, but I think quite possibly a now defunct one here:

,3260m/data=!3m1!1e3


> I noticed a series of shots where Lucy's hat changed several times in the
> course of a scene. Nice: it reminded me of "Plan Nine From Outer Space"
> though of course Windborn's production values are somewhat better!

I believe the changes of clothing and hats are intended to artistically indicate the passing of the months :-)

[[email protected]]

One of the things we discovered during the filming of "Cloudstreet" is that continuity between scenes is difficult to manage. In one of the takeoff scenes, I climb into the cockpit wearing a dark blue shirt and somehow change into a white T-shirt for the launch. Embarrassing to professional filmmakers, but we just had to go with it due to the limited production budget (which was still astronomical to us).

And yes, shooting many flights and cutting together various scenes so that it appears to be one flight is a necessary tool. It can't be helped, especially with limited cameras and time aloft.

But that made it more fun.

[David Salmon[_3_]]

At 03:34 04 September 2016, wrote:
>One of the things we discovered during the filming of "Cloudstreet" is
>that=
> continuity between scenes is difficult to manage. In one of the takeoff
>sc=
>enes, I climb into the cockpit wearing a dark blue shirt and somehow
>change=
> into a white T-shirt for the launch. Embarrassing to professional
>filmmake=
>rs, but we just had to go with it due to the limited production budget
>(whi=
>ch was still astronomical to us).
>
>And yes, shooting many flights and cutting together various scenes so
that
>=
>it appears to be one flight is a necessary tool. It can't be helped,
>especi=
>ally with limited cameras and time aloft.
>
>But that made it more fun.
>
Talking of films, I've never seen an explanation of why the Duo canopy
opened the wrong way after the flight in "The Thomas Crown Affair".
Dave

[Bruce Hoult]

On Sunday, September 4, 2016 at 8:30:05 PM UTC+12, David Salmon wrote:
> At 03:34 04 September 2016, wrote:
> >One of the things we discovered during the filming of "Cloudstreet" is
> >that=
> > continuity between scenes is difficult to manage. In one of the takeoff
> >sc=
> >enes, I climb into the cockpit wearing a dark blue shirt and somehow
> >change=
> > into a white T-shirt for the launch. Embarrassing to professional
> >filmmake=
> >rs, but we just had to go with it due to the limited production budget
> >(whi=
> >ch was still astronomical to us).
> >
> >And yes, shooting many flights and cutting together various scenes so
> that
> >=
> >it appears to be one flight is a necessary tool. It can't be helped,
> >especi=
> >ally with limited cameras and time aloft.
> >
> >But that made it more fun.
> >
> Talking of films, I've never seen an explanation of why the Duo canopy
> opened the wrong way after the flight in "The Thomas Crown Affair".
> Dave

They modified the canopy opening side for continuity after the glider was seen flying left to right in virtually every shot (except where a chase plane crossed from one side to the other). You don't want the actors hidden by the opening canopy, and you absolutely don't want the glider suddenly and jarringly facing the opposite direction.

[Martin Gregorie[_5_]]

On Sat, 03 Sep 2016 16:34:56 -0700, Bruce Hoult wrote:

> I think it was shot all over the place! Many of the early gliding scenes
> look to be along the side of the Remarkables, with Lake Wakatipu in the
> background and even one or two glimpses of Queenstown.
>
> Other scenes are obviously shot at Omarama, including the interview with
> Ray Lynskey with the Buscott ridge and Mt Benmore in the background.
>
I thought some hills looked vaguely familiar.

I asked because I was trying to work out where the flight to Milford
Sound was supposed to have started.

> I've never flown there, but the aerotow practice and first solo look to
> me like Te Anau. I'm not entirely sure what strip they're using, but I
> think quite possibly a now defunct one here:
>
> ,3260m/data=!3m1!1e3
>
>
OK - at the start I was also looking to see if any of the historic clips
were taken on the original club strip at Omarama but didn't see any.

> I believe the changes of clothing and hats are intended to artistically
> indicate the passing of the months :-)
>
Fair enough, and I did notice one or two faces got older in the course of
the film.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[[email protected]]

"They modified the canopy opening side for continuity after the glider was seen flying left to right in virtually every shot (except where a chase plane crossed from one side to the other)"

A reasonable assumption Bruce, but not quite. They were contractually obliged to shoot René Russo from her "good side", flipping the canopy to make it happen.

There are also interesting stories behind the producers wanting to cut the wings off the Duo to get the camera dolly closer, a replica that was made in the space of days and some amazing flying that never made it into the final cut.

Source: Tom Knauff, the pilot responsible

[Duster]

On Friday, September 2, 2016 at 11:57:59 AM UTC-5, wrote:
> Long time ago I saw a neat movie about a father and daughter(?) learning to soar in New Zealand. Great scenery. Remind me the name of the movie?
>
> Also, if my 14 YO son gets instruction and solos in New Zealand does the flight time and solo endorsement from a Kiwi certified flight instructor count directly towards a US Private Pilot-Glider certificate when he turns 16?

Mr. Harris,
I am not an authority on this by any means, but a review of the US FAR's (which are available online) would suggest the answer to your question is "Yes". Below are links that may assist in how this is done, but I suggest either waiting for an expert to reply on this matter or just contact an FAA examiner. The last link defines how and what flying experience is documented in FAA terms; helpful when you go over the logbook with the instructor/examiner. Who knows but it may be simpler than you think.

Michael

https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/foreign_license_verification/

https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/pic-archive/flight-training-ratings-and-proficiency/foreign-pilot-certification

http://www.flightsimaviation.com/data/FARS/part_61-75.html

http://www.risingup.com/fars/info/part61-51-FAR.shtml

[[email protected]]

Le dimanche 4 septembre 2016 16:56:29 UTC+2, a écritÂ*:
> "They modified the canopy opening side for continuity after the glider was seen flying left to right in virtually every shot (except where a chase plane crossed from one side to the other)"
>
> A reasonable assumption Bruce, but not quite. They were contractually obliged to shoot René Russo from her "good side", flipping the canopy to make it happen.
>
> There are also interesting stories behind the producers wanting to cut the wings off the Duo to get the camera dolly closer, a replica that was made in the space of days and some amazing flying that never made it into the final cut.
>
> Source: Tom Knauff, the pilot responsible

I heard another version still: it would have been to emulate the original movie with Steve McQueen, where the canopy opened to the right instead of the standard (for the 1-23) left...

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

I love that film. I sell it in the USA here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/videos.htm#Windborn-Champions

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

wrote in message
...

Long time ago I saw a neat movie about a father and daughter(?) learning to
soar in New Zealand. Great scenery. Remind me the name of the movie?

Also, if my 14 YO son gets instruction and solos in New Zealand does the
flight time and solo endorsement from a Kiwi certified flight instructor
count directly towards a US Private Pilot-Glider certificate when he turns
16?

[Tom (TK)]

I gave that movie to my Mom as a gift and from that point on flying with that "good looking man in New Zealand" was on here bucket list. She passed away before she could do it but I told Gavin the story when I flew in Omarama last year.

[[email protected]]

After the initial success of the film, we adapted it as a promotion for gliding. We edited it down to 15 minutes and made it available to national gliding organisations to put their own commentary (own language) and it was produced in German, French, Italian and several other languages. They idea was to make it a giveaway promotion and the idea was to keep the price below $4. The idea worked and we produced over 60,000 copies. JOHN ROAKE