Sunday, October 28, 2018

PhotoFlying

My balloon was still in pieces and parts from cleaning so no flying for me this weekend. Since my Son was going out I decided I could wake up later than I normally do on a work week and get some pictures where I could look at what I was shooting at instead of just pointing and hoping I got things in frame.


Let is be shown we ended up in a big arroyo that was part sand and part mushy sand. And I had to go down a very nasty washed out bit of track to get in. Ram did it fine with the 4x4 engaged.

Before the PhotoFlying I pulled my system apart to clean what I thought would be a massive amount of silt from the river as we had gone into it deep enough to draw 8 inches of water... but to my surprise there was very little silt and more grass than anything else... Shots...

Black covered foam pad in the bottom of the basket caught most of the dirt. It was removed and high power sprayed clean...then set to dry.

Front kick leather was the bow wave maker in the river and did get some dirt. most of it was from the horse pasture on the last day of flying. Big wash off!

Mostly grass and a few tiny sand stones in the water pouring through the weep hole in the floor.

Almost empty and ready to be wiped down.

Cleaning of the runners and making sure there isn't any junk on them. Nice and clean

A lined up shot I noticed as I was taking a close up shot of the weep hole.

For being 8 years plus old the main step is looking very nice. The leather usually gets shredded with rocks that are embedded in peoples shoes...none of that here.

No separations on the pole cups nor leather wear..though it is a bit burnished due to the constant rubbing.

Manifold ready to be wiped down and folded again. The 10 gallon tank will stay out for now and we will fly with only 30 gallons. Even though we had the 10 in during Fiesta we never touched it.

Good workmanship on the cable ends from Lindstrand. No looseness nor fallback on the black heat shrink tape. No discoloration of the cable covers either.

Shiny clean floor. Love the metal tube at the bottom and top of Lindstrand flat topped baskets. Good structure.

The top bolster leather is still supple after so long and its a softer version thank the standard so I expected it to not be as tough but its holding up.

Another view of the texture.. not normal bolster leather. Its an upgrade someone else didn't want.

Back inner padding. Saves knees and bodys from bumps against the wicker. Drop line connectors.

WICKER SLICKER ( TM. Pat Pend. ) This piece of leather covered high density foam has saved my front wicker from some killer hits. Wiped down and reinstalled after everything dried today.

Whew!


NAKED TANK!!! I love the shape of the Lindstrand tanks... very CDO for me. Getting the covers back on was a nightmare and not correct but best possible..

Clean black pad on the floor and ready for the heavy tanks.

Dead-lifting 15 gallon tanks in a confined trailer is very very hard. Did it and only dropped the first tank 6 inches in .. the second one went up and over and in smoothly. Yeesh! Pads on side to protect the wicker from the securing strap.. thinking of getting two medium straps and connecting them on the long side instead of the back or front. Less possible damage. Ipad holder on one tank. Burners and pole bag in as well.

Patturns In Czech is resting ( ala snowman) on top of Patturns Highperactive in their drybags. It will be interesting to see if it stays there.

And now you can walk from the front to the back or back to the front again.. I think I will drop that shelf down to just above the fan so more things can go in it. See! I even have step stools on the side in case you are short.

Glad that is done for another 6 months... or more water or horse or cow fields...

Now a few shots of flying from my phone then one or four from the DSLRs.

Due to the large amounts of rain in the area there were a lot of trenches like this one everywhere...

I posted this earlier to FB with the cation.. Can this guy stop hanging right behind me! or some such.

Now I have chase vehicles on my bumper... sigh!

Mojo coming in for a landing.

Local Grand-mom and Grandson and their horse Lilly come visit and help pack up. He got a pin.

And a few from the DSLRs.

Thunder and Colt Burners at good pressure sure do throw propane high.

Trents new to him Lindstrand racer... Used the 105 fisheye lens.. which is great for this type of shot.

Hoppers tie-dye balloon inside.

Last but not least... Lilly the ballooning horse... oh.. dog.


Very nice puppy... very little balloon envelope etiquette though. I will post more shots of this weekend this week or next week.


Sunday, October 21, 2018

Albuquerque international Balloon Fiesta part 3.. The After...

Way still far too tired to be able to even consider waffles.


I mean, people are already flying again and even sooner than this ready to go out there and do the fly thing and I am thinking on where I put my gloves!!

We are at Fiesta past, day 7. That's a week! I have my covers off my tanks. Tanks removed from the basket and straps also out. Burners and pole bag are resting on an envelope in the trailer. That is it!

I've edited a few videos, which turned out very nicely and I NOW have edited the shots that were worthy of editing from the whole week. I completely forgot the last day, thinking I had already done them.. nope....

Perhaps its because I get only a few hours of sleep at night that kills all my stamina right away...
That really sucks the life out of anything... Well away.. I have a bunch of shots here below I want to show off..  some taken by me.. some by my friends of me that I could never get... mainly because I cant fly in the balloon and take pictures of the balloon at the same time... kinda hard.. but I do have friends that can take a mean picture.. so I will post those here ...


All shots in this group by Kurt Van Sant...my good friend. ( hint..I'm the light bulb..white and yellow check balloon )




Except this one where I am in the yellow red and blue racer Patturns Highperactive. Hanging out with my friends.


Love these shots... If only the FAA and AIBF would allow me to run a drone from the basket with a dslr hung on it.

These shots are from my good friend Paul Olguin... He was off to the East nicely set up.



Nothing like sharing the sky with your Son ( Yellow balloon with the black thunderbolt )... Yes I have the heebie geebies but he is a great Pilot and I shouldn't worry... but I do...

Below are from my phone of dubious quality but worth showing here as no where else will they be seen.....

So the big question is when does Fiesta relinquish this bind? We had great conversations on the way to propane about the wording. Flight release required.

My scratching on a better way to run the roads into the field and propane.. cause there has to be a better way not to have pedestrians crossing the roads... just me and my CDOTV.

Last weather report with pibal...INSIDE.. raining all morning put a damper on things...

Last year for Sam.. sad to see that happen but he was fantastic. Where will the tiny horses go now?!?!

Top of Patturns In Czech... So many people everywhere.. loads of fun chatting with them all..or most.. some... okay a few.

Andrew watches and monitors...

Nick keeps things tight and right.

The one thing I wont miss... I like indoor plumbing no matter how clean these were....

Second of four pins... for sale for 3 bucks each. ..or you can come crew for a bit.

Day, I cant remember.. Ready to head to the field at 5am.

Birthday Cherry Pie.. made by my sister Carolyn! Thanks.. It was gooooood.

Rory lends ( without his knowledge ) his truck to retrieve a stuck British crew. They had cool Union Jack jackets n stuff. It was very interesting getting out of this arroyo. 4 wheel drive, speed and maneuverability.

Morning laser light show was fun...

When there is little in the atmosphere the people would walk around with foggers...still was cool.

Brought out my globe to play with a few times... not enough time to play that much sadly or happily.

The morning brief at the tower... using one of my offices on line weather charts...nice!

Sheltering in place when the winds came up.. guess where....

When you cant see in the dark you use your phone to take a picture... Boosted the heaters the next day though this was an okay pressure.

Morghan's crew. There are pics of my crew around somewhere.....

More fun with lasers!!! Yaaaaaaaa......

So someone got real wet feet..... Me, only a little squishy.... a stop at the local starbucks for the toilet, coffee and wring out the socks. Splash and dashes in the Rio Grande does this at times.

Super awful cool blue tooth speaker as a gift from AIBF! It sounds very good.

Emerson Elementary where we stand up for the kids the day before Fiesta starts... so many good people work here and the kids are great.

After the Albuquerque Aloft school stand up ( we dont fly because we are too close to the airport and the kids get more time with us ) its VIC's breakfast for the crew!! Then propane refueling.

Whew!!!...

Videos processed so far can be found here.....

https://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/eb920c49e

and here...

https://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/eba9529de

and here...

https://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/eba307dc3

and more to come...and you can get to them all from any one of those links.

No shots from day 8 or any days more now as this is long enough as it is... I am off for more rest before the next full five days of work!!

Coffee ..