As you spread your wings amongst the clouds, you will be forever by our side. For pilots do not pass away, we merely go to where we are most at home. Fly high sir.
Rest in Peace Matt. I loved watching your videos and you inspired me a lot to become a glider pilot. Wherever you are now, I wish you always enough Thermals... 😥
I just had to watch this again tonight. This is by far my favorite soaring video out there. Love Balleka's flying, videography, editing, and this song is just perfect. Thanks Matt for sharing all you do up in the air with the rest of us! :)
Watching the video with tears in my eyes. Thanks for your great videos over the years! Your videos helped a lot in winter - and of course for motivating others or explaining my and your passion to others! I got several of your videos uncompressed since I asked for it - and we had some nice communication and I`ll keep watching them! Rest in peace, I will miss you and your contributions to the gliding family a lot! ffs!
RIP Balleka. Having watched your videos long time before I started flying IRL, they sure contributed to showing the beauty and passion of flying. I'm sure your legacy will live on and that future generations will be extra inspired to get into aviation, thanks to you. V1, Rotate.
I was impressed by the glider when I saw this video. When I came back here for the first time in a few years, I know about your accident. It's thanks to you that I'm piloting the glider. You stay alive. Thank you very much !
So many years and you keep inspiring me to fly. Thank you Matt, you are the proof that we are more than a body, we are our actions and their effect in time
Yeah this guy not only was a passionate pilot, but had something special about it. Like a gift to communicate with all of us about his passion, and was incredibly talented in achieving that. Not so common among the whole pilot population.
Amazing!! Epics flights, stunning landscapes! thats its the pleasure of flight! like Da Vincis said a long time ago... "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return"
NICE !!!! I took a ride once out at Minden and that was the coolest flight. I know how it feels and its a great experience All you Fixed and Rotary folks need to try it some time. Thanks for the Cool Video.
Wow. This looks amazing. Im glad that it looks like you had an awesome life. Hopefully you are happy now, up in those clear blue skies, where you so often loved to be. R.I.P xxx
I'm starting on my glider rating tomorrow. Thanks for the video. I've been up once in a glider, and was instantly hooked. I found out that its pretty straight forward to transition from power to non powered, and I found a soaring club thats about an hour away. I so fricken excited.
Love the clouds, the landscapes, the soaring, THE epicness. Whooa! Nothing compares to feel the adrenaline inside your veins & mind! Thanks, mate for this! Kudos from Patagonia!
awesome video! I need to get back into soaring! Gliding is how I started flying, but I haven't been in a sail plane since I got my power licence in the mid 90's
Your supposed to go the other way.. fly everything else there is from f106 to 747 then discover soaring and never fly power again…unless it’s just to get to the airport to soar
this video was my personal favorite with aircrafts, even im not into gliding. in fact i was here after so many years watching it ready to write to ask on how can i jump into one of those to fly with and instructor. thanks for all you gave us, your videos made us a bit closer to the skies for those we can't fly. god speed mate.
Hi Mr. Balleka, My name is Mark Murray and I am blown away with your skill and harmony. I understand passion of the wind and sky. My career was guided by it also. Ambitions of a commercial flying career was cancelled by a brain tumor 26 yrs ago and had to give up my license. Fortunately my backup was a very successful grand prix speedsailing career. I have only gratefullness for an extraordinary life. But in my "retirement" I yearn for the sky again. I was pursuing a soaring license as well back then and got a couple intro soaring flights in Fl. and the sensational Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mi. I will get to my point, I will be Italy in April or so on some catamaran business and then Switzerland. (I was watching a movie recently and saw some of awesome Switzerland and I thought man it would be incredible to see my really cool landlocked friends again but I'll never get there, then you get a call and suddenly, you are still relevant) Is it possible to seek you out? I want to soar with just you, I always seek excellence and grace, and you my friend (hopefully) epitomize both. Our passion goes without saying and our gratefulness is visible. Hope you or friend of yours gets the message. I am totally flexible, i'd enjoy the journey. God Speed, mgm 850-939-4919
Great video compilation! Enjoyed it very much as we sit inside during these stormy winter months in the Northern Hemisphere. Thank you for sharing...I look forward to the 2014 version!
Hey Balleka, I just want to tell you how incredibly thankful I am for you doing what you did. Even though I only found your channel yesterday you have already been a big source of inspiration for myself, and also for many others. I am 100% certain you will stay doing that for many years. And I hope that one day I may be able to follow your footsteps and inspire others just like you did and are still doing in this amazing world of aviation. Thank you for everything and may you never run out of thermals at the place you are now
Hi Matt, Absolutely brilliant! I love to fly; and, for me, gliding is the purest form of flying. Your video captures all the great emotions that gliding brings - excitement, anticipation, challenge, achievement, friendship and the general banter of one's gliding companions. I'm getting a GoPro for Christmas, so I'll be trying my hand at producing some gliding videos during the 2014 season. Fly safe!
Thanks for the videos fella, directly inspired me to give it a go. Did my first 4 flights yesterday on the South Downs. Think I may of caught the bug :)
I'm using this video in part of a presentation to other aviators introducing them to soaring tomorrow. Thanks for putting it together! Hope to finally get across the big pond in June and come fly with you guys for a day or two in mid June! Thanks for making these spectacular videos. :) Bruno
Great clip, In the R.C.A.C. at my time in the 60's they offered power pilots licenses. Now they provide glider certificates. ( lot cheaper) I wish , I was a glider pilot FIRST instead of a power pilot. Every landing is a forced landing. In my Cessna I could go around if things got bad. Always loved the sound of rushing air, its is all you could hear. Searching for hawks and see them circling thermals and see their eyes, as you join them enjoying a thermal. Fantastic . All the best Ihor
Unfortunately I gave up gliding long before cameras like the Go-Pro were even a conception, let alone a reality, so have no records of my own flights other than entries in a logbook. Watching your video though has brought back a lot of happy memories and almost has me considering taking it up again.
WOW! After bad news that my microlight instructor was moving his company to a different airfield. (miles away) The best and closest option was to move to gliding. Portmoak only being a few miles from my house. After a sudden first flight. (Which involved a tow brake/snap? at 1000ft) and a 40 min glide time. I love it! Watched this video from the BGA website and feel amazed that portmoak features quite a bit in it especially when some of the other parts look quite extreme and exotic!!!
I still remember seeing this video for the first time. At that time I thought how cool that was and that I had to try it myself. Today, about five years later, I've flown a glider for the first time. I've had a couple part-time jobs and been saving money for my training. And now the dream has finally come true. I am doing my first real flight training. The dream that started many years ago after watching this video. It's sad to realize that the man who inspired me is gone. But I find it amazing that his legacy lives on. And I believe I am not the only one, whose life has been affected by this man. I hope one day we will all meet up there in the blue sky.
I feel I have to add a little bit. Sometimes, looking back over a long, and not uneventful life, some of my best moments were catching a thermal. I working it to cloud base and then set off cross country with no guarantee that I would make it back to the gliding field. There is a deep satisfaction in trusting to your skills and the bounties of nature. The breathtaking splendour of breaking out of a well-developed cumulous cloud into a dazzling world of the whitest of white and the bluest of blue, and imagining this magic belongs to you.
I'm still in shock, what a terrible loss. All the best to your family in these dark times. Balleka will live on through his awesome videos and will inspire others to pursue this great hobby of ours. R.I.P. Matt
Still the world‘s best gliding video ever! RIP Balleka.
As you spread your wings amongst the clouds, you will be forever by our side. For pilots do not pass away, we merely go to where we are most at home.
Fly high sir.
Rest in Peace Matt. I loved watching your videos and you inspired me a lot to become a glider pilot. Wherever you are now, I wish you always enough Thermals... 😥
How did he die? what happened?
It was a gliding accident a few months ago in Britain.
i was about to write him... so sad to ear that.
Flying is art and it has to be learned. Keep safe and give and take help when asked or needed. Rest in peace. Beautiful videos!
Kiss those lenticular's buddy, in the big blue
I just had to watch this again tonight. This is by far my favorite soaring video out there. Love Balleka's flying, videography, editing, and this song is just perfect. Thanks Matt for sharing all you do up in the air with the rest of us! :)
Bruno Vassel
+1
Bruno Vassel
Yes it is great video. I saw it maybe 30 times :-)
Blue skies :( R.I.P.
Watching the video with tears in my eyes. Thanks for your great videos over the years! Your videos helped a lot in winter - and of course for motivating others or explaining my and your passion to others!
I got several of your videos uncompressed since I asked for it - and we had some nice communication and I`ll keep watching them!
Rest in peace, I will miss you and your contributions to the gliding family a lot!
ffs!
Flightbase he died?
@@TheMcdrewb yes :( www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/final-moments-experienced-glider-pilot-1828088
Many of us fly because of you. You are the inspiration which lifts our gliders.
Your videos had inspired to begin gliding, THANKS. RIP
RIP Balleka. Having watched your videos long time before I started flying IRL, they sure contributed to showing the beauty and passion of flying. I'm sure your legacy will live on and that future generations will be extra inspired to get into aviation, thanks to you. V1, Rotate.
After watching this vidio I started gliding, now 140 hours later I am still totaly hooked.
Thanks so much for your awesome vidios!!!
Thank you for showing everybody the special world of Gliding. You will live forever with us through your videos. RiP😢
Great Video. Tragic to hear what happen. RIP Matt
I was impressed by the glider when I saw this video. When I came back here for the first time in a few years, I know about your accident. It's thanks to you that I'm piloting the glider. You stay alive. Thank you very much !
So many years and you keep inspiring me to fly. Thank you Matt, you are the proof that we are more than a body, we are our actions and their effect in time
This video is still my favourite. Can't get tired of watching it. RIP.
Yeah this guy not only was a passionate pilot, but had something special about it. Like a gift to communicate with all of us about his passion, and was incredibly talented in achieving that. Not so common among the whole pilot population.
I so appreciate Balleka for taking so much time and effort to create and share this great video. Hats off to you!!!!!
Amazing!! Epics flights, stunning landscapes! thats its the pleasure of flight! like Da Vincis said a long time ago... "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return"
Spectacular flying and superb videography. We will miss you.
Rest in Peace. Your videos inspired many.
Scott Bragg true..
NICE !!!!
I took a ride once out at Minden and that was the coolest flight. I know how it feels and its a great experience All you Fixed and Rotary folks need to try it some time.
Thanks for the Cool Video.
Wow. This looks amazing. Im glad that it looks like you had an awesome life. Hopefully you are happy now, up in those clear blue skies, where you so often loved to be. R.I.P xxx
I'm starting on my glider rating tomorrow. Thanks for the video. I've been up once in a glider, and was instantly hooked. I found out that its pretty straight forward to transition from power to non powered, and I found a soaring club thats about an hour away. I so fricken excited.
The best glider-flying video in the web! I watched it a hundred times. Thanks for this beautiful movie.
Love the clouds, the landscapes, the soaring, THE epicness. Whooa! Nothing compares to feel the adrenaline inside your veins & mind! Thanks, mate for this! Kudos from Patagonia!
First solo today. Thank you for inspiring me, rest in peace 🥺
How'd you get thru it? Was it exiting
This video proofs that gliding is just the most awesome sport on the planet !
it's a pleasure to watch !
awesome video! I need to get back into soaring! Gliding is how I started flying, but I haven't been in a sail plane since I got my power licence in the mid 90's
Your supposed to go the other way.. fly everything else there is from f106 to 747 then discover soaring and never fly power again…unless it’s just to get to the airport to soar
this video was my personal favorite with aircrafts, even im not into gliding. in fact i was here after so many years watching it ready to write to ask on how can i jump into one of those to fly with and instructor. thanks for all you gave us, your videos made us a bit closer to the skies for those we can't fly. god speed mate.
You will see a lot of this footage in the video “Best of Gliding [2015]”. Balleka, forever flying free
Music is also very happy and feelgood theme!
Hi Mr. Balleka,
My name is Mark Murray and I am blown away with your skill and harmony. I understand passion of the wind and sky.
My career was guided by it also. Ambitions of a commercial flying career was cancelled by a brain tumor 26 yrs ago and had to give up my license. Fortunately my backup was a very successful grand prix speedsailing career. I have only gratefullness for an extraordinary life. But in my "retirement" I yearn for the sky again. I was pursuing a soaring license as well back then and got a couple intro soaring flights in Fl. and the sensational Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mi.
I will get to my point, I will be Italy in April or so on some catamaran business and then Switzerland. (I was watching a movie recently and saw some of awesome Switzerland and I thought man it would be incredible to see my really cool landlocked friends again but I'll never get there, then you get a call and suddenly, you are still relevant)
Is it possible to seek you out? I want to soar with just you, I always seek excellence and grace, and you my friend (hopefully) epitomize both. Our passion goes without saying and our gratefulness is visible.
Hope you or friend of yours gets the message. I am totally flexible, i'd enjoy the journey. God Speed,
mgm 850-939-4919
Great video compilation! Enjoyed it very much as we sit inside during these stormy winter months in the Northern Hemisphere. Thank you for sharing...I look forward to the 2014 version!
Hey Balleka,
I just want to tell you how incredibly thankful I am for you doing what you did.
Even though I only found your channel yesterday you have already been a big source of inspiration for myself, and also for many others. I am 100% certain you will stay doing that for many years. And I hope that one day I may be able to follow your footsteps and inspire others just like you did and are still doing in this amazing world of aviation.
Thank you for everything and may you never run out of thermals at the place you are now
Hi Matt, Absolutely brilliant! I love to fly; and, for me, gliding is the purest form of flying. Your video captures all the great emotions that gliding brings - excitement, anticipation, challenge, achievement, friendship and the general banter of one's gliding companions. I'm getting a GoPro for Christmas, so I'll be trying my hand at producing some gliding videos during the 2014 season. Fly safe!
That looks like a fun way to get around in the air. Thanks for the spectacular view of the flying.
Well this is better than 24 Hrs in A&E, Epicness, what a neat word! love it above the clouds.
Thanks for the videos fella, directly inspired me to give it a go. Did my first 4 flights yesterday on the South Downs. Think I may of caught the bug :)
Hi Balleka, thanks so much for sharing your gliding adventures, you really capture the essence of glider flight. A big fan and fellow dynamic flyer
Beautifully encapsulates the joy of soaring, thank you so much for sharing it.
Brilliant editing too btw.
Great video....too old to fly now but this brings it all back.
I'm using this video in part of a presentation to other aviators introducing them to soaring tomorrow. Thanks for putting it together! Hope to finally get across the big pond in June and come fly with you guys for a day or two in mid June! Thanks for making these spectacular videos. :) Bruno
Just. Wow!!! Another awesome video.
00)))9⁹9990
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You absolute rock star! thanks for sharing those amazing clips. Let's hope for a great season in 2014.
Many thanks to share these great shots!
The most beautiful soaring video I’ve ever seen! Thank you! Rest in glider‘s paradise!
Another excellent video, great to see North Hill.
Possibly my new favourite gliding video! Truly epic!!!!! Keep them coming!
Mate this is stunning. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us.
hi Balleka ,i miss you and your nice videos
Great clip, In the R.C.A.C. at my time in the 60's they offered power pilots licenses. Now they provide glider certificates. ( lot cheaper) I wish , I was a glider pilot FIRST instead of a power pilot. Every landing is a forced landing. In my Cessna I could go around if things got bad. Always loved the sound of rushing air, its is all you could hear. Searching for hawks and see them circling thermals and see their eyes, as you join them enjoying a thermal. Fantastic . All the best Ihor
Great vídeos ! We are going to miss your vídeos. RIP Balleka.
Another great edit Matt. Keep the videos coming. Help me and other flatlanders through the winter.
Unfortunately I gave up gliding long before cameras like the Go-Pro were even a conception, let alone a reality, so have no records of my own flights other than entries in a logbook. Watching your video though has brought back a lot of happy memories and almost has me considering taking it up again.
Beautiful video and I love the edit !!
WOW! After bad news that my microlight instructor was moving his company to a different airfield. (miles away) The best and closest option was to move to gliding. Portmoak only being a few miles from my house. After a sudden first flight. (Which involved a tow brake/snap? at 1000ft) and a 40 min glide time. I love it! Watched this video from the BGA website and feel amazed that portmoak features quite a bit in it especially when some of the other parts look quite extreme and exotic!!!
it's always a great pleasure to see your vids .
Thanks
Wow this is amazing! Epic video! Love it!
I still remember seeing this video for the first time. At that time I thought how cool that was and that I had to try it myself. Today, about five years later, I've flown a glider for the first time. I've had a couple part-time jobs and been saving money for my training. And now the dream has finally come true. I am doing my first real flight training.
The dream that started many years ago after watching this video.
It's sad to realize that the man who inspired me is gone. But I find it amazing that his legacy lives on. And I believe I am not the only one, whose life has been affected by this man.
I hope one day we will all meet up there in the blue sky.
Very nice. Cool song too.
Love this video! Watch it again and again!
Rest in Peace and that your Soul continues doing what you love for the rest of the world
I feel I have to add a little bit. Sometimes, looking back over a long, and not uneventful life, some of my best moments were catching a thermal. I working it to cloud base and then set off cross country with no guarantee that I would make it back to the gliding field. There is a deep satisfaction in trusting to your skills and the bounties of nature. The breathtaking splendour of breaking out of a well-developed cumulous cloud into a dazzling world of the whitest of white and the bluest of blue, and imagining this magic belongs to you.
Another trip through awesome epicness. Really good to watch
How i wish i could try this, It looks awesome as hell!
It must be such a great feeling to fly freely without noise and admire the landscape from above =) great video! it gave a bit of this sensation.
Ahh, Portmoak. I miss it! (Awesome footage.)
Great footage Matt! Looks like you've had some real fun this year, looking forward to seeing what 2014 brings.
Fantastic video, every time I watch this video, it reminds me of how much I want to go gliding - like right now!!
What great video, this film let me dreaming about soaring ! :-)
Very nice, thanks for sharing.
What a great man. RIP Matt.
This would have to be one of the best flight videos I've ever seen! Great work!!
Great video, and great feelings. A would like to try a glider flight some day. Greetings.
I must say I am amazed!
☀️EXCELLENT🛩️ Thank you for the FANTASTIC VIDEO PRODUCTION😁
Best videos ever! Go on! Greeting from a La-Motte-pilot ;-))
Stunning! Beautiful! Epic!
Excellent!
Amazing video. Can't wait to fly this season ;)
Classic production! Thanks!
Rest in peace Balleka. You'll be with us always when we fly.
Incredible.
Thanks for sharing this!
Guten Abend zusammen ein sehr gutes Video und supper Musik@@@@@
Matt, such a good video yet again! Keep them coming!
One the greatest gliding footage I ever seen :) Greetings from Italy :)
god I can't wait to start learning to fly gliders :D
dude. flying an F-18 Super Hornet. like the best freaking feeling ever. love it
Shayan Mikovich You fly an F-18?
Yes
Shayan Mikovich Damn, you are smart! And you are very lucky
Thanks man ^^
Good job on this video. Amazing.
Simply awesome! I know the feeling :)
South Korea looking to be entertained at any time! Thank you I just would like to try
Amazing, as usual !
10 years later and this video still holds up.
Beautiful man!
J'ai hâte de voir la compilation de vos aventures 2014 :-)
Great title, great vid! Keep 'm coming! Many happy landings in 2014 :-)
I'm still in shock, what a terrible loss. All the best to your family in these dark times. Balleka will live on through his awesome videos and will inspire others to pursue this great hobby of ours. R.I.P. Matt
Great Clip. Thanks
Awesome video
Miss your vids! we need more glider pilots posting videos like this
Always magnificent!
Just about the most fun you can have without an engine and with your clothes on...!