Award-winning actor Gary Sinise and Sleeping Dog Productions, an aviation and historical documentary production company, are set to release “High Flight,” a documentary narrated by Sinise that chronicles his 2011 experience at Beale Air Force Base in California preparing for his flight in a U2 spy plane.
As this was going to be a unique and special mission, Sinise engaged his pals at Sleeping Dog to film his training, the flight, and daily life among those who dedicate their lives to keeping the U2 flying.
The 86,000-acre Beale AFB, originally an army training site and prisoner of war camp in the 1940s, is the nation’s headquarters for the U2 program developed after the USSR became a nuclear power in the 1950s. The U2 Dragon Lady flies at the space equivalent altitude of 70,000 feet, higher than any other defense aircraft. A unique aircraft in the history of aviation, the U2 remains in frontline service more than 50 years after its first flight, due to its ability to fly to the very edge of space, over objectives that are detected on very short notice, something satellites can’t match, officials note.
Flying a manned vehicle to 70,000 feet, an environment deadly to the human body, takes incredible preparation, skill and courage, as Sinise learns first hand.
“That’s twice as high as any commercial airliner flies and forty thousand feet higher than Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest mountain. It suddenly hit me that for a few incomparable minutes, I would be the highest human on planet earth,” said Sinise, one of fewer than 1,000 people in over 50 years to ever make the dangerous flight. He is now a member of what Air Force insiders call, The High Flyers Club.
“High Flight” DVD Includes:
• Brief history of Beale Air Force Base and the U2 Program
• Exclusive interviews with Beale personnel and U2 pilots
• Detailed look at the flight preparation and risks of flight
• Music by CSI:NY composer Bill Brown
• Moment by moment video footage of Sinise’s U2 flight from ground to 70,000 feet and back
• Close look into Gary Sinise and his foundation’s humanitarian work
• Bonus content featuring a look at the award winning “Uncle Jack-A Chicago Story”
The film was produced and personally financed by Sinise, and donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation for sale exclusively via the foundation website with all proceeds going directly to the foundation supported programs. To view the “High Flight” trailer please go to YouTube.
