HELP. I need a TRUE story for television by Monday

[John Shelton]

Fellow soarists,

I did not make myself clear. My apologies.

The production company is not making a slasher flick. It is trying to find
EXPEDITIONS with an element of danger that might include a survival segment.

In soaring, we have plenty of possible danger. These guys are seeking
expeditions. What comes to mind is the distance attempts in South
America...except they are motorgliders.

I am afraid that if we show a Pratt-Read glider back in the Dark Ages when
even I had black hair (any hair), it will be nice but it won't get any kids
to come tromping out to the airport.

I apologize for being a glasshole but something where we can show off.
Kempton Izuno has been my model for the Kit Carson of soaring these days but
being a city boy and hiking in the dark, eating Powerbars after the
shelf-life date has expired while being scared of those scraggly little nags
out there is not going to hold up the next episode where a guy takes a 50
foot drop in a kayak into Class V water to save a burning child from a
sinking terrorist. (Sorry, Kemp, but that IS a little bit too urban.)

I am still trying to get them to bite on a real-time adventure in which we
don't retell a story. We mount one up and do it. We put our guy in a ship,
send him off on the wing to the Great Basin, and take our chances with the
outcome. I think that is rigged so much in our favor that it cannot go
wrong...even if our pilots talk like Duck Decoys.

But they are the money and we are the beggars. I promised them that I would
be straight with them. Luckily, this is Los Angeles and you don't ever have
to tell the truth. You just have to start every lie with the phrase
"Honestly,...".

Anyone know of anyone going out to the desert on a 1000K attempt that went
wrong? Or running the ridge for a record and ending up in the love scene
from Deliverance? Or getting low over a Ku Klux Klan rally, catching a half
knotter off the burning cross and getting away to complete a Diamond flight?

[Michael McNulty]

How about Jim Payne's speed records in the Sierra wave? There could be
plenty of background about the risk, including info past in-flight breakups,
to build suspense, even if the flight itself went as planned.


"John Shelton" > wrote in message
link.net...
> Fellow soarists,
>
> I did not make myself clear. My apologies.
>
> The production company is not making a slasher flick. It is trying to find
> EXPEDITIONS with an element of danger that might include a survival
segment.
>
> In soaring, we have plenty of possible danger. These guys are seeking
> expeditions. What comes to mind is the distance attempts in South
> America...except they are motorgliders.
>
> I am afraid that if we show a Pratt-Read glider back in the Dark Ages when
> even I had black hair (any hair), it will be nice but it won't get any
kids
> to come tromping out to the airport.
>
> I apologize for being a glasshole but something where we can show off.
> Kempton Izuno has been my model for the Kit Carson of soaring these days
but
> being a city boy and hiking in the dark, eating Powerbars after the
> shelf-life date has expired while being scared of those scraggly little
nags
> out there is not going to hold up the next episode where a guy takes a 50
> foot drop in a kayak into Class V water to save a burning child from a
> sinking terrorist. (Sorry, Kemp, but that IS a little bit too urban.)
>
> I am still trying to get them to bite on a real-time adventure in which we
> don't retell a story. We mount one up and do it. We put our guy in a ship,
> send him off on the wing to the Great Basin, and take our chances with the
> outcome. I think that is rigged so much in our favor that it cannot go
> wrong...even if our pilots talk like Duck Decoys.
>
> But they are the money and we are the beggars. I promised them that I
would
> be straight with them. Luckily, this is Los Angeles and you don't ever
have
> to tell the truth. You just have to start every lie with the phrase
> "Honestly,...".
>
> Anyone know of anyone going out to the desert on a 1000K attempt that went
> wrong? Or running the ridge for a record and ending up in the love scene
> from Deliverance? Or getting low over a Ku Klux Klan rally, catching a
half
> knotter off the burning cross and getting away to complete a Diamond
flight?
>
>

[Eric Greenwell]

John Shelton wrote:
> Fellow soarists,
>
> I did not make myself clear. My apologies.
>
> The production company is not making a slasher flick. It is trying to find
> EXPEDITIONS with an element of danger that might include a survival segment.
>
> In soaring, we have plenty of possible danger. These guys are seeking
> expeditions. What comes to mind is the distance attempts in South
> America...except they are motorgliders.
>
> I am afraid that if we show a Pratt-Read glider back in the Dark Ages when
> even I had black hair (any hair), it will be nice but it won't get any kids
> to come tromping out to the airport.
>
> I apologize for being a glasshole but something where we can show off.
> Kempton Izuno has been my model for the Kit Carson of soaring these days but
> being a city boy and hiking in the dark, eating Powerbars after the
> shelf-life date has expired while being scared of those scraggly little nags
> out there is not going to hold up the next episode where a guy takes a 50
> foot drop in a kayak into Class V water to save a burning child from a
> sinking terrorist. (Sorry, Kemp, but that IS a little bit too urban.)

How about the expedition by the two Germans from Houston to Alaska (one
to Nome!) and back in their ASH 26 Es? Quite a story, lots of potential
danger, and history could be revised so they aren't Germans! It was
written up in Motorgliding International magazine before it folded.
--
-----
change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

[John H. Campbell]

>I apologize for being a glasshole but something where we can show off...

.... sounds like you are looking at any of dozens of recent exploits by the
Crystal squadron for the Barringer trophy. A running EXPEDITION for sure.
.... there are plenty of adventures recently resulted from RTKH.
.... lake "landings" (at an Eastern Nats a couple years ago, WGC '93)
.... Remote wilderness WGC outlandings ('01 S. Africa, '99 New Zealand)
.... Hilton Cup camp flights (see "Running on Empty", NG Explorer)

>Or running the ridge for a record and ending up in the love scene
>from Deliverance?
>Or getting low over a Ku Klux Klan rally, catching a half
>knotter off the burning cross and getting away to complete a Diamond
flight?

.... actual chapters in the Gren Seibels saga!

See "great flights by great glider pilots", published in Scandinavia.

[Bob Korves]

During the 1987 regionals at Minden a Pilot (Jerry Hartshorn??) was flying
north above a broken towering cumulus cloud base near Air Sailing. He
finally reached the end of the cloud canyons with no way to go further
ahead. He turned around to retreat and clouds were blocking that direction,
too. He was completely encircled by clouds. He then circled "until my
wheel started rolling". He had landed on a mountain top near a small pond,
but being above cloud base for so long (and still above cloud base!) was not
sure exactly where he was (this was before GPS). The glider and pilot were
unhurt and the pilot was able to contact an airliner to share his
predicament. He spent the night in the glider, with it raining most of the
time. He used his parachute for insulation. Finally, by the end of the
following evening, he was lifted out by a helicopter, after they finally
figured out where he was. The next three days were spent unsuccessfully
trying to get the trailer to the ship in thunderstorm and flash flood
conditions. The glider was finally retrieved by helicopter, IIRC. True
story.
-Bob Korves

"John Shelton" > wrote in message
link.net...
> Fellow soarists,
>
> I did not make myself clear. My apologies.
>
> The production company is not making a slasher flick. It is trying to find
> EXPEDITIONS with an element of danger that might include a survival
segment.
>
> In soaring, we have plenty of possible danger. These guys are seeking
> expeditions. What comes to mind is the distance attempts in South
> America...except they are motorgliders.
>
> I am afraid that if we show a Pratt-Read glider back in the Dark Ages when
> even I had black hair (any hair), it will be nice but it won't get any
kids
> to come tromping out to the airport.
>
> I apologize for being a glasshole but something where we can show off.
> Kempton Izuno has been my model for the Kit Carson of soaring these days
but
> being a city boy and hiking in the dark, eating Powerbars after the
> shelf-life date has expired while being scared of those scraggly little
nags
> out there is not going to hold up the next episode where a guy takes a 50
> foot drop in a kayak into Class V water to save a burning child from a
> sinking terrorist. (Sorry, Kemp, but that IS a little bit too urban.)
>
> I am still trying to get them to bite on a real-time adventure in which we
> don't retell a story. We mount one up and do it. We put our guy in a ship,
> send him off on the wing to the Great Basin, and take our chances with the
> outcome. I think that is rigged so much in our favor that it cannot go
> wrong...even if our pilots talk like Duck Decoys.
>
> But they are the money and we are the beggars. I promised them that I
would
> be straight with them. Luckily, this is Los Angeles and you don't ever
have
> to tell the truth. You just have to start every lie with the phrase
> "Honestly,...".
>
> Anyone know of anyone going out to the desert on a 1000K attempt that went
> wrong? Or running the ridge for a record and ending up in the love scene
> from Deliverance? Or getting low over a Ku Klux Klan rally, catching a
half
> knotter off the burning cross and getting away to complete a Diamond
flight?
>
>

[Chris OCallaghan]

John,

The survival aspects of soaring aren't typically after you hit the
ground. That's when everything finally calms down. Maybe the better
choice is to focus on the danger of making wrong decisions in the air,
leading to situations where there is no out. Your only choice, climb
away or impale your glider and soft pink bottom on jagged rocks. A
pilot who went searching for lift in a box canyon or got below the rim
of Crater Lake, then fought his way out, all the time at risk of
crashing into the rocks, might be the better approach. These stories
are so common (relatively speaking) that you could make it up, then
find someone to say, "Yeah, that's me."

Your scripting becomes easy. Pretty pastoral setting. Flight towards
distant mountains. Climb to cross to next valley. Strong sink. Caught
between ridge lines. White water below. Rocks all around. Camera work
showing sharp rocks reaching up for the glider. Pilot risks close pass
over sun drenched escarpment. Begins slow climb. Loses lift. Regains
lift. Loses it again. Calls on radio. "I may be going in." Worried
looks from the folks back home. One last chance. A powerful thermal.
Escape. Now the sun is going down. Lands out on a beutiful, calm
evening. Passerby stops to say, "It must be so wonderful, communing in
nature in total silence on such a lovely evening." Close up of pilot.
We see and now the depth of his experience. He replies, with a smile,
"Yep, there's nothing quite like it."

[John Shelton]

I'd love to write the thing myself. It would take me about two hours.

They have something in mind and I have to play their game.

What I was going to tell them is that in this respect, soaring is like
surfing. It is not meant to be dangerous. Aside from a few shark stories,
paddling out to Mavericks or the big wave on the North Shore, people don't
get hurt or have to "survive". It is a sport involving skillful use of
Nature's power. If they buy that, then I will try to get them to shoot a
real-time expedition. The one I had suggested to them was basically a
run-of-the-mill day at Crystal with lots of lipstick cameras and some
generous person's two-seat motor glider for air-to-air. Then, I don't care
how it ends. It will have the required "element of danger" and it may end up
stuffed out in the creosote or it may end victoriously in Utah somewhere.

Barring that, I could tell the story Bob Korves recalled because it would
allow me to show lots of air-to-air at a contest with the story of a landout
and helicopter rescue. It just so happens that I run a helicopter company
with camera and construction/firefighting ships.

All I want to do is put a young glider pilot and a lot of fiberglass in
front of the public for about an hour and then I can stop tilting at
windmills.

"Chris OCallaghan" > wrote in message
m...
> John,
>
> The survival aspects of soaring aren't typically after you hit the
> ground. That's when everything finally calms down. Maybe the better
> choice is to focus on the danger of making wrong decisions in the air,
> leading to situations where there is no out. Your only choice, climb
> away or impale your glider and soft pink bottom on jagged rocks. A
> pilot who went searching for lift in a box canyon or got below the rim
> of Crater Lake, then fought his way out, all the time at risk of
> crashing into the rocks, might be the better approach. These stories
> are so common (relatively speaking) that you could make it up, then
> find someone to say, "Yeah, that's me."
>
> Your scripting becomes easy. Pretty pastoral setting. Flight towards
> distant mountains. Climb to cross to next valley. Strong sink. Caught
> between ridge lines. White water below. Rocks all around. Camera work
> showing sharp rocks reaching up for the glider. Pilot risks close pass
> over sun drenched escarpment. Begins slow climb. Loses lift. Regains
> lift. Loses it again. Calls on radio. "I may be going in." Worried
> looks from the folks back home. One last chance. A powerful thermal.
> Escape. Now the sun is going down. Lands out on a beutiful, calm
> evening. Passerby stops to say, "It must be so wonderful, communing in
> nature in total silence on such a lovely evening." Close up of pilot.
> We see and now the depth of his experience. He replies, with a smile,
> "Yep, there's nothing quite like it."

[bumper]

And it's still a great well written story, available on-line at

http://www.owp.us/Soaring-Stories-FromTexasToAlaska-Eng.asp

enjoy . . . even if it doesn't make the TV.
--
bumper ZZ (reverse all after @)>
"Dare to be different . . . circle in sink."

"Eric Greenwell" > wrote in message
...
> How about the expedition by the two Germans from Houston to Alaska (one
> to Nome!) and back in their ASH 26 Es? Quite a story, lots of potential
> danger, and history could be revised so they aren't Germans! It was
> written up in Motorgliding International magazine before it folded.
> --
> -----
> change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
>
> Eric Greenwell
> Washington State
> USA
>

[Christian Husvik]

John Shelton wrote:
> Fellow soarists,
>
> I did not make myself clear. My apologies.
>
> The production company is not making a slasher flick. It is trying to find
> EXPEDITIONS with an element of danger that might include a survival segment.

At our wave camp last week, one of the pilots managed to get lost above
the closing cloud cover at about 3000m. He dashed downwind for 80km,
and managed to land safely two valleys away.

Maybe that story could be fattened up a bit, by making him (or her?) get
lost during an altitude record attempt, getting caught above an
approaching front, hitch a ride with the jet stream, get low, still
wihtout a hole to decend through, but find another wave and get up
again. But of course only to get low again.

When low again, she can just make out some ground features through the
here rather thin cloud cover. She manages to land spectacularly due to
the strong turbulence, but safely due to her superior skill, on a frozen
lake, a long way out in the wilderness, 1000km or perhaps 2000km away
from her starting point. Of course, whith wave conditons, the weather
in the mountains can be rather rough, so of course we can now make up a
long, spectacular and exciting story about survival in the wild and
desolate mountains in terse and windy winter conditions.

Christian 8-)

[Doug Haluza]

"John Shelton" > wrote in message . net>...
> Fellow soarists,
>
> I did not make myself clear. My apologies.
>
> The production company is not making a slasher flick. It is trying to find
> EXPEDITIONS with an element of danger that might include a survival segment.
>

Why tell a story in the third person past tense? The spring soaring
season is just gettng started at Ridge Soaring. We had 5 US records
set last year on one day in April. There are a few two seaters there
regularly flown on very long XC. This presents plenty of possibility
for a you are there perspective.