The Island Air Taxi Pilots of the North Sea (2-piece)

Across Wadden Sea by Air Taxi                                       

"Actually, winter is a calmer time for us," explains Rainer Luff, who is an air taxi pilot for a small airline that flies to and from the East Frisian islands of Norderney, Baltrum as far as Juist and Wangerooge. "If only we didn't have these unpredictable winds, and now and then, a storm surge." His colleagues tell the same story. "When I have to land in Norddeich with the Cessna and the wind is blowing hard above the dike, I'm flying at right angles to the runway, and have to change course at the last moment. A bit of an adventure – in fact, it's pretty dangerous."

After the first documentary "The Island Pilots of the North Sea: By Air Taxi above Wadden Sea," which features the pilots during the summer months, we now accompany these brave airmen in their island world during the remaining half of the year in two further installments. We begin by joining them during the winter months, when the enormous flood of tourists has halted, and it is mainly the islanders who take advantage of scheduled flights from Norderney and Wangerooge to the mainland. We share stories about the islands and their inhabitants, each having a special association with the pilots. When, for example, the skipper from Norderneyer realizes his ferry has become stuck in the tidal flats, and the island pilots must spring into action for the passengers from Juist and Norderney. Or when the landing strip on Baltrum becomes unusable due to flood waters, and the aircraft there must be brought to safety. Or when tiny grey seal pups, just born in the tidal waters, have somehow become separated from their mothers, and must be flown to the mainland by the pilots to breeding stations where they can be cared for.

But we also accompany the air taxi pilots in spring and summertime, when the tourists begin to arrive again in force to this beloved vacation region of Lower Saxony: the German section of coastline where we find Wadden Sea and its islands. Then they hurry back and forth carrying island dwellers such as lighthouse keepers, mail carriers, or medical personnel, who number among the regular passengers, or ferry a never-ending stream of tourists to their holiday destinations. Viewers experience this fascinating island world from within and without. With spectacular island and aerial imagery of Wadden Sea during the wintertime, when it is covered with snow and ice, but also in the spring (and summertime), when everything is in bloom, the film immerses us the enthralling daily lives of these island air taxi pilots, in a setting where nature can suddenly turn into a tempestuous adversary.

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