Review

Danger in the Jet Stream

NOVA - PBS Special

Review by Tom Hamilton

Last February and March you read the exciting accounts of each of the three balloon teams that made an attempt at circumnavigating the globe by balloon. Now see the video.

Danger in the Jet Stream is a Public Broadcasting System NOVA special on the three attempts made last January. The program was produced by Studio Z Limited/The Garfield Kennedy Company Ltd. The program will air December 2 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS.

NOVA was on location and on board with remote cameras for each team's attempt, and followed each one to its uniquely cliff-hanging conclusion.

If you read Balloon Life's reports last winter and spring on these flights you know the story. It is one thing to read the words. It is another to watch the participants actually sweat under pressure.

The great thing about magazines articles are that you can cover more information and in better depth. The limitation is that, even with pictures, you must still image exactly what is taking place. Plus, the participants, by the time they are interviewed, have had an opportunity to refine their story.

The great thing about video is that you get to see what actually happened. See the reactions when the plan starts to fall apart. While video can be edited to improve the appearance of the situation this one doesn't. Watch the expressions on their faces and you begin to see how trying an experience flying around-the-world really is.

The on board cameras bring the tiny capsules right into the living room. You are there as Lindstrand uses Ritchie's eyes to land blind in the desert. You bounce along with Fossett through the treetops in India.

Don't miss this hour long special. It will be an excellent warm-up to this season's transglobal attempts. And the dangers that the teams will face.

Now in its 24th season, NOVA is produced for PBS by the WGBH Science Unit. Check local listing for exact time that the program will air in your area.