Moving, touching, sincere, transcending, inspiring, … being a non-native English speaker I’m having hard times finding words to describe Flyabout, Monika Petrillo’s movie about her flight around Australia. I know how to write about flying but most of what I felt while watching this movie is beyond my expression skills. I’ll do my best though, starting with the beginning…

When I started to watch “Flyabout“, I expected nice pictures of flying over Australia. This movie has been produced and realized by Monika Petrillo and is about her flight around Australia, together with her father. The two had little flight experience and learned a lot from this flight. I was lucky enough to go visit Australia in 2001 during my honeymoon trip. The Australian landscape is exceptional, varied, and spectacular. You can see some of it on Julien’s blog, Making Time for Flying. Julien is based near Sydney and share his experiences flying there. From the landscape and flying point of view, I was not disappointed by Flyabout. Different members of the team filmed during the trip and Monika made a great montage. No wonder she’s a successful professional in the movie industry.

But Flyabout is much more than a movie about flying in a nice landscape. A significant part of the movie takes place on ground, showing the relations amongst this group of pilots. Consider this: most of the pilots taking the trips have more than 20 years of experience, while Monika and her father have less than 200 hours each. Despite that, they’re forming a homogeneous group, united by the universal pilots solidarity. And the trip is all but easy: challenging weather, crosswinds, technical failures, formation flying, the challenges are almost countless…

In parallel to the flying part, Monika discussed with locals about the concept of walkabout. If you don’t know about it, my dictionary defines it as “a journey on foot undertaken by an Australian Aboriginal in order to live in the traditional manner.” A way to connect with the land, to come back to what’s really important. Some of the characters she talks to are out of the ordinary and kind of live outside our world. She took the flight at a phase of her life when she needed to re-focus, and this extraordinary trip was the occasion to do it. The way she relates this experience is very personal and intimate…

I don’t want to reveal too much of the movie, but let me say that it brings the viewers through some changes in her relations to the world, to her family, and probably to herself, at least as a pilot. If you’re a pilot, this movie will revive some of the most positive feelings associated with flying. If you’re not a pilot, you certainly will want to become one and will better understand what flying is all about. Beyond words.

This film is definitely a must see and I warmly recommend it. You can read more about it and order it from www.flyaboutmovie.com. If you read this post before 20th of September 2009, you’ve a chance to win a free, signed copy! Monika was kind enough to give one to support Flying Across America. Click here to know how to win a free copy of Flyabout. (Note for European readers: this is a zone-free DVD.)

You can also read this review from Dan Pimentel, of World of Flying.

UPDATE on Sep. 26th: you can now learn more about Flyabout by listening to this blogtalk interview with Monika.