A Day with Annie in the Sky!

According to astronaut Pete Conrad, walking on the moon "beats Disneyland." Conrad, along with pilot Chuck Yeager, aviatrix Linda Finch (who recently re-traced Amelia Earhart's transatlantic route) and several others are interviewed here by the ebullient and genuinely upbeat host Annie O'Neil, with additional questions offered by kids. Filmed at a major airshow in Oshkosh, WI, this middlin' budget but energetic effort looks at a number of planes and their functions, from rescue helicopters to the U2 spy plane. O'Neil wisely doesn't take the lazy man's (or woman's) route of simply running tail-to-tail footage of various airplanes; rather, the program talks to a wide variety of people, ranging from the proverbial barnstormers to an air traffic controller. (Incidentally, many of the pilots and other professionals interviewed here are women.) A fun, heartfelt invitation to future aviators to one day take off from their own (air)field of dreams. Recommended. The other titles in the series are: Day on the Farm (VL-7/96) and A Day With Annie at the Circus! Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)