I need a story for a television show.

wasn't there a story a few years back.. same idea.. the glider pilot
launched in the Ohio area in front of a fast moving storm and landed near
Cape Cod Mass.. he

There was a German student who, in the very early 70's spent a summer at
Pearblossom. He had use of a Libille and would fly out as far as he could go,
tie the glider down and hitchhike back to get the trailer, get the glider and
do it again. He had some interesting adventures in the wilds of Nevada. You
could do a weekly show on his adventures, most on the ground.

Bruce Patton

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...
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have been contacted by a television production company creating a series
on adventure sports. They were very impressed with the crappy media I gave
them about soaring and would like to include an "expedition" if we can
meet
their parameters.

It is Friday afternoon and I have until Monday to come up with something.

So, put on your thinking hats: Do you know of an expedition (they call it)
conducted with a sailplane that went wrong and resulted in a survival
situation? It will be re-enacted. I have the actors. I have the
sailplanes.
I will get the camera ship.

I need the story.

This will not be someone losing their yaw string and having to hitchhike
to
a dress shop. It will not be JJ landing at a whorehouse with no money on
him. We are talking SURVIVAL. They will probably want to shoot in the US
but
I did not ask if the story had to be an American story.

I wish I was getting paid but I am not. On the other hand, the actors
will.

So either come up with an adventure or go out this weekend, land out in a
frozen wasteland, survive by eating your parachute, hike out to
civilization, loose two fingers to frostbite and come home a wiser man or
woman. (Do women get wiser or is that just they are?)

Thank you. And be quick.

Now, Bob, that is a story that can be twisted around enough to show of the
sport. I will see if they will go for that.


"Bob Korves" wrote in message
...
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...
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have been contacted by a television production company creating a
series
on adventure sports. They were very impressed with the crappy media I
gave
them about soaring and would like to include an "expedition" if we can
meet
their parameters.

It is Friday afternoon and I have until Monday to come up with
something.

So, put on your thinking hats: Do you know of an expedition (they call
it)
conducted with a sailplane that went wrong and resulted in a survival
situation? It will be re-enacted. I have the actors. I have the
sailplanes.
I will get the camera ship.

I need the story.

This will not be someone losing their yaw string and having to hitchhike
to
a dress shop. It will not be JJ landing at a whorehouse with no money on
him. We are talking SURVIVAL. They will probably want to shoot in the US
but
I did not ask if the story had to be an American story.

I wish I was getting paid but I am not. On the other hand, the actors
will.

So either come up with an adventure or go out this weekend, land out in
a
frozen wasteland, survive by eating your parachute, hike out to
civilization, loose two fingers to frostbite and come home a wiser man
or
woman. (Do women get wiser or is that just they are?)

Thank you. And be quick.

My memory is fuzzy but ... there was a story in a John Joss(?) book
Some pilot in a comp near Chicago (?) got caught up in...

Jack Lambie (RIP). SGU 1-19. "My storm flight over Chicago". During an
Intercollegiate contest with Purdue.

John Joss had that excellent wild west soaring adventure book, _Sierra
Sierra_ ... The moment I read it I thought it'd be a good movie.

Ditto. The fantasy record flight has been beaten in reality by Ohlman.

There was a German student who, in the very early 70's spent a summer at
Pearblossom. He had use of a Libille and would fly out as far as he could
go, tie the glider down and hitchhike back to get the trailer...

Sounds like Peter Reichelt (?), who also flew his Phoebus B in Santa Ana
wave out to Catalina Island and landed there. Similar loner
endurance/wanderer stories about the French pilot (later a fixture in the
Sierras) who went border to border with his Libelle by auto-launch from
wherever he landed. The guy who went coast-to-coast alone in his 1-23 in
the 1960s

Finally, by the end of the following evening, he was lifted out by a
helicopter,

Bob Whelan's "Cloud dancing" tells the story of the Colorado pilot in an
Astir CS that got trapped on the wrong side of a ridge and was retrieved by
helicopter. I used to have a share in that glider.

John H. Campbell wrote:
Finally, by the end of the following evening, he was lifted out by a

helicopter,

Bob Whelan's "Cloud dancing" tells the story of the Colorado pilot in an
Astir CS that got trapped on the wrong side of a ridge and was retrieved by
helicopter. I used to have a share in that glider.

G6?

John Shelton wrote:
I wish I was getting paid but I am not. On the other hand, the actors
will.

Well, it seems like the most common exciting part of gliding which is
"adventure" is thermalling with a bijillion other gliders.

And apparently for contests this is a "normal" occurance. Between this
and using a two place glider, there is excitement and there is
also some interaction (front and back pilots). Or maybe use a
Caproni (side-by-side). Or a jet launched Caproni ))


--

------------+
Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA

Sounds like Peter Reichelt (?), who also flew his Phoebus B in Santa Ana
wave out to Catalina Island and landed there.

Did he aero tow back?

I disagree with you totally. I know how hard it is to find out what people
really will buy when everyone has an opinion and a right to state it. Comic
commercials are death. Nobody ever remembers the product. Irritating
commercials are the best. It defies what the individual thinks. Nobody came
to these conclusions overnight. It took years of failure to find success.

We are not seeking an advertisement anyway. We are seeking to find those
people in the population who might be thrilled to do what we really do. We
can, of course, light a large hoop on fire and fly through it but once the
kid shows up at the strip and finds out that isn't soaring, we lose him and
the money we spent on the burning hoops.

We have to show what we do in the best light. That is how anything is sold
honestly. Every endeavor has its required parts and its rewards. Mountain
biking requires you to climb hills and it is seldom shown. Then you get to
haul ass down hill and be a cover shot on Outside.

"The comedy would be 1000% better than some stupid, unrealistic
tale of some loner sailpilot caught in the middle of nowhere...

Sorry to rain on that parade, but "Dances with Wolves" was
a boner, loner, boring film...if he flew a glider it
wouldn't have saved it..."

The above quote, while quite uninformed, is a personal anecdote and
worthless. Nobody is going to buy your non-existent comedy, produce it or
put it on television and we don't have the money to do it ourselves...thus
me leaching off of them for us.

Dances With Wolves was enjoyed by a lot of people and it made a ton of
money. It even made yours, didn't it? If Kevin Costner made a glider movie,
people would be standing in line to get lessons from you even though you
don't fly boring cross countries or boring contests.

The people who want this information do lots of things about loners in the
middle of nowhere. Mountain clibers. Women sailing solo around the world.
Boring loners like Charles Lindbergh. That kind of goofball. If I told you
who it was, you would know exactly who they are and if I gave them your
resume and your opinion, they would laugh their asses off...right before
they threw me out on my butt. They have made a fortune at just this sort of
thing because there is an element of humanity that digs this kind of stuff.

I had a show put together that would have rocked. I lost the sponsor. It was
for a two hour show on Fox to be shown 10 times. It was going to be a boring
contest in the boring White Mountains. It would have made Top Gun look like
a wine tasting in Napa Valley. Everyone who saw it sat with their mouths
hanging open. And, it wasn't faked. It is what it's like when it's good.
That's the same stuff I sent them last Thursday to get a call on Friday
morning. Their socks were knocked off.

So, I would say your examples are completely wrong. Their efforts have made
millions of dollars, caught billions of eyeballs and we have made dick. When
you get the money, I will listen to you. That's Hollywood. Money talks,
anecdotal opinions walk.

Just my opinion.