Global Flyer Soars To Even Greater Heights

Waddell Media‘s Global Flyer: Nonstop Around the World documentary has beaten off competition from over 1,250 entries and 26 countries to win the Gold Camera Award for Best Documentary in the 39th Annual US International Film and Video Festival.

The awards will be presented at a gala event at the Bel Age West Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles on 2 June.

The one-hour landmark documentary recorded ace aviator Steve Fossett’s successful attempt to be the first man to fly solo around the world, without stopping or refuelling. The company was given exclusive access by Virgin Atlantic to the design and testing processes of their unique aircraft, the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. A film crew followed the build-up to the launch, which was fraught by delays due to bad weather and technical problems.

Once Fossett and the craft were airborne, on-board cameras documented the entire journey from the pilot’s POV. A film crew followed on the chase plane, together with reserve pilot Sir Richard Branson, recording spectacular additional footage. A second film crew was at a nervous Mission Control in Salina, Kansas, sharing the roller-coaster experience with the technical team.

    THREAT TO PROJECT

Everything on the journey seems to be going smoothly, until a baffled engineer at Mission Control realises a huge amount of fuel has been lost on take-off, threatening the mission. Will Fossett have to abort his historic journey?

The fast-turnaround documentary was aired on Discovery International and Discovery Travel in April 2005. It was praised widely for its tense, narrative-driven style and the dramatic way it captured both Fossett’s achievement and the scientific challenges associated with it..

The film is produced and directed by David Cumming & Kelda McCann

Executive producer (for Waddell Media):is Jannine Waddell