This is covered a little bit in episode 8, Heroes, of Planet Earth III, though this article has significantly more detail .

Watched it, loved it as with the entire Planet Earth series. I believed I felt really emotional in a couple of the episodes.

What in the world are they flying? Is that a dune buggy-airboat hybrid with a glider parachute?

Edit: looks like its called a “powered parachute”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_parachute

No, it's not PPG. It's PPM/PPC. (Powered Paramotor).

In the olden days of the 80's, ultralights were the rage but were difficult to store and transport the wing. PPM/PPC has the problem of transporting a cart. If you're able-bodied and can run and fall correctly then PPG, otherwise PPC.

Disclaimer: Purveyor of PPG.

I don’t thing you got the naming right. A powered paraglider with a trike (so you don’t have to run) is still PPG, not a PPC. PPC is a different, distinct category. The main difference between PPCs and PPGs is that you steer a PPG using your hands on the brakes (even when sitting in an trike) and you use a paragliding wing (oval shape). A PPC, on the other hand, uses a faster, more robust, rectangular wing, and you steer it via mechanical linkage.

What this team is using are PPGs with trikes:

https://www.wildes-bayern.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cWal...

I'm not going to argue with someone on the internet who isn't in the sport. PPG doesn't use trikes. Powered paragliding is a motor on your back and a wing.

> who isn't in the sport

I don't remember talking about my involvement..?

> PPG doesn't use trikes

Here's an image on Wikipedia captioned "Power paraglider trike launch": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_paragliding#/media/Fil...

> I'm not going to argue with someone on the internet

Fair. Here's a section of Wikipedia's "Powered parachute" article called "Confusion with powered paragliding": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_parachute#Confusion_wi...

I really like the name "dune buggy-airboat hybrid" haha.

I am a bit envious that these people have found something so meaningful to do with their time.

For bird people joining or helping out at a bird rescue is a great thing that feels meaningful and (if there is one nearby) very accessible at the same time.

I’m honestly not sure if it’s okay nowadays to say this out loud (even when it’s positive), but the pilots are both girls. Fantastic role models, protecting the nature AND by doing something usually considered a male activity. (the gender ratio in aviation is abysmal)

It could be more positive to refer to them as women, or female, since you compare with male in the context of the gender ratio. Girls are children, but the pilots in the article are adult scientists.

This was a huge issue for us second wave feminists from the 60’s and 70’s. It seems like the younger generations don’t really care about it any more, as they seem to have other (bigger?) fish to fry.

This comment is a friendly reminder that the purity spiral begins at comment level 3. No handrails below this level. Proceed with caution.

I'm sorry to have to point this out - the story is lovely, and your comment is intended positively - but the pilots were men. The scientists who worked with the birds, and led the expedition, are women, but they were passengers, not aviators.

You're right, I must've missed that on the first read. Shame, could've been a bit more badass. Now I'm wondering what the scientists do throughout the flight. Observe, obviously, but also if they have any signalling going on or any kind of communication with the birds (except "follow us").

It's clear from the article that they were in pretty constant communication with the birds, via megaphone. At one point one of the scientists mentioned calling to one of the birds by name. I couldn't tell (but would like to know) if that implies the birds recognize and respond individually, or whether the names of the recalcitrant were invoked more generally, in imprecation.

I watched this a few nights ago and it's still on my mind. Flying over mountainous dense forest with no hope of a safe landing while swerving to stop the birds from flying into the propeller was exciting. But what got me was them waking up at dawn and going to bed in the same room at night, every day for weeks, wearing a yellow jump suit (so that the chicks would bond/imprint with them as surrogate mothers). Attenborough even says, "the pay is awful" - they are basically volunteers.

This makes me think of the "Moral Equivalent of War" - I mean, in some ways we really are in a war for sanity - nothing else explains such level of motivation. Those women are literally living their lives to the full fighting for something they passionately believe in.

A quite similar story to the one depicted in Spread Your Wings (Donne-moi des Ailes).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10204940/

I seem to remember someone doing something almost exactly like this, in the 1980s/90s or so.

It may have been the same folks. They’ve been doing this for a while.

There was a similar project with Sandhill cranes in the US, starting in the 90s. It looks like there are questions about making the parenting too easy and not preparing the young for life on their own, so that specific program ended.

It seems like a useful tool for keeping a population alive and getting them to good places, but there are limits to using it long term. Still, as a way to get captive raised birds into the wild it seems like about the only good option.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/oct/10/pilot-to-crane... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Migration