On Nov 10, 2:09 pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
On Nov 10, 9:15 am, vic20owner wrote:

Are there any good stories (books & movies, fiction or nonfiction)
which include a lot of glider flying?

Tom -

There are a bunch of glider DVDs out there. Many are old but still
entertaining. My favorites (which focus on glider competition) a
"A Fine Week of Soaring" and "Gladiators of the Sky"

Both are relatively new and are high-quality. "A Fine Week..." talks
a little bit more about the basics of soaring while also covering a
casual competition in the hills and ridges of Pennsylvania.
"Gladiators..." is more of an adrenaline-ride / suspense-story with 3d
animation and high-definition aerial videos from cockpits and
helicopter-mounted cameras capturing the competitors screaming through
the rugged & beautiful New Zealand landscape (with commentators
explaining the strategy and tough decisions the pilots are having to
make).

There are many books about soaring - but I've found that many of the
fictional ones are mediocre (sorry to any authors I may offend by
this). Instructional books like those from Bob Wander or Knauff &
Grove tend to be excellent, but aren't "stories" per-se. I'm sure
someone else can jump in and suggest a few in particular, though.

It would help if you could tell us a little bit more about your
interest and/or experience-level... Can you share any more details?

Good luck! Take care,

--Noel

Hi Noel, thanks for the reply. I'm new to real life soaring. I am 37
and have been flying r/c gliders for 15 years, and am on my third
lesson in the real thing. Over the weekend I worked a little on the
tow, turns, and landings in a Blanik L23. It was a lot of fun and of
course now I can't stop thinking about flying.

I was looking for something entertaining to read in between reading
the glider flying handbook and the test prep book. Something which is
more of a documentary or story, history or fiction ... it could be
about gliding, or just a story about learning to fly (in general) from
childhood through adulthood, etc. But gliding of course would make it
even most interesting for me at the moment.

-tom