Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Well Read Colton Harris-Moore

I was fortunate to get an invite to tape an episode of "Well Read" with Terry Tazioli. Taz (as I heard someone call him) is the host of this new PBS show that focuses, as you could guess, on books.

Well Read has an interesting format. Taz interviews an author for about 25 minutes, then spends the last five talking with Mary Ann Gwinn, the book editor for the Seattle Times, who offers a few "Well if you like that genre, then you'll love the following books..."

It's a good format and Terry keeps it lively with his enthusiasm for reading and good books.

You can watch the show at the link, which will take you to the Media Appearances page of my website.



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Colton Harris-Moore, Barefoot Bandit New Footage



As I mention in The Barefoot Bandit, on my trip to the Bahamas during Colton Harris-Moore's run, I discovered that he had been carrying around a Contour HD camera. Skiers, bikers, hang-gliders and others strap this tiny videocam onto their helmets to get exciting “You are there!” footage. You can also mount them on dashboards, whether on a car or a plane.

Colton used the camera both with a dashboard mount and as a hand-held to film his point of view as he stole airplanes and cars, as well as just playing around in the woods.

I’ve known this footage existed for quite awhile, but repeated Freedom of Information Act requests to review it have been refused and, currently, delayed by the FBI. I’m not certain how this local Seattle television station, KOMO, obtained the video.

As you check out the clips, what they call nighttime footage is actually daybreak in Bloomington, Indiana as Colton steals and taxis Spider Miller’s Cessna Corvalis in preparation for his flight to the Bahamas. The written commentary from the television station says that Colton waits for the airport to open, as evidenced by the runway lights. But that’s not accurate. Most small airports have a lighting system that pilots can turn on and off by using their radios. Colton knew how to turn on the lights himself.

There are a number of clips here that you can play at KOMO's site. Nothing very exciting unless you keep in mind that this was a young man who’d never had a formal flight lesson…