Low Level Flying at the Beach | Gliding New Zealand Style

One of those days in New Zealand: No thermals but wind, cliffs and the ocean! Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the highspeed coastal flight in a sailplane. Spectacular landscapes included!

Special thanks to Smeg NZ and Auckland Gliding Club for making this happen!

Drone footage and ground camera by Georgia Schofield:

Video produced by Stefan Langer

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[someguydino]

Incredible energy retention- sailplanes are the "exotic sports cars" of the soaring world

[GregoryBrown]

Thank you Stefan. This is one of the best glider videos I have ever seen. I have 10 flights on my logbook. I try to watch every video I can find. This one the bar high.
Keep up the good videos

[barriejames]

Flying my paraglider along the ciffs and a 'square-on wind' in Devon UK is also a wonderful experience. One day we soared for about two hours in the 'compression-zone' where the wind is forced to angled up. These NZ pilots were having a great time in similar conditions and the glide ratio compared to a humble paraglider is far superior. I mention this because they were flying, quite sensibly, in wonderful stable conditions and not recklessly as one might imagine. I was 70 when I learned to paraglide on Dartmoor and can reccoment this wonderful hobby.

[dougsanders]

one of the best soaring videos i’ve ever seen. can’t wait for spring

[Mike-Bell]

Wow Stefan. Beautiful awesome you capture the serene poetry that is gliding in these sequences. Thank you... don’t stop doing what you do so well !!

[arminmoller]

Dieses Power Hangsegeln . Super im Film eingefangen . Man erlebt die Geschwindigkeit und die Schönheit des Segelfliegens hautnah mit . Klasse geworden, das Video .

[daddyrabbit]

I would never have the confidence that I would catch a thermal to get me back up. You, sir, are an amazing pilot.

[chinoodin]

Awesome! Must be a huge lift via incoming wind to give you the safety to fly so low. Have had the opportunity to pilot a two person engine plane and one without. Always wanted a glider flight and fortunately caught one. Thermals were the only engine for altitude climbs and they were kinda weak that day. I never felt comfortable with glider because control via an engine was missing. It is a whole other mindset, but your flight gave me a sense that your control of glider had a steady force of lift that you could afford to climb and descend at will? You had speeds up to 120 knots...in a glider! Beautiful flying! Thanks for sharing the beauty of flight.

[nickkrueger]

This was one of the coolest flights I've seen in a while and this is coming from someone who prefers to fly with an engine on his aircraft.

[titahibayflier]

That was some spectacular flying, what a perfect video. 👍👍👍

[namasivayamm]

thank you sharing wonderful video, congratulations,

[zealousideal]

Stefan… amazing. You’ve inspired me to also become a glider pilot. My dream was always to fly (as powered planes) but now I’m switching to gliders. Love it.

[rickoliver]

Wow, what an awesome flight, with the windy west coast, you can certainly get some miles over the landscape below, thankyou for that, truly invigorating .

[chri]

Traumhaft! Die Landschaft, das Meer und das alles im Segelflieger! Besser geht es eigentlich nicht!👍

[kierancampbell]

Beautiful video, well produced. As a paraglider I'm always in awe of the grace and performance of your craft, and I had never even considered that you would take them to the coast to play like this.

[foxbat]

There's slope soaring and then there is this, simply fantastic.

[mohamedfaroukbalouli]

There is nothing more beautiful and joyful than flying a glider

[heikowalter]

Die Leistung der Segelflugzeuge ist schon sehr beeindruckend wenn man sie mit Hängegleiter oder gar Gleitschirm vergleicht .Wie ihr Geschwindigkeitsüberschuss wieder in Höhe umsetzt ist genial, wenn nur der Aufwand am Boden nicht wäre !

[pabloandresecheverryalvare]

Your videos are amazing!! An inspiration to keep working hard to enjoy the passion of flight! Greetings from Bariloche, Argentina 🇦🇷

[yoelxt]

man it was good enough to even replenish my soul
what a lovely video this is