POWDER PUFF!!
DRAG LANDING!!
SPORTY LANDING!!
All words that the media translate to ACCIDENT INVOLVING A HOT AIR BALLOON!!!
Lets get this out of the way. All balloons land on the ground. When you hear balloon accident in the media 98% of the time its just a regular hard landing. Meh! That 2% ish are real and usually blown out of proportion. My thoughts on the subject.
A rip out landing is when the Pilot believes he needs to stop the balloon as soon as possible. Usually to be connected with a Drag Landing... He just above or at the touching of the the ground he pulls the crown vent line until the top ( crown ) is completely out and around the center of the envelope.
A drag landing is when you touch the ground and the winds are quick enough that the balloon basket drags along for a while... In this case just hang on and enjoy the bounces. You can drag for feet or yards or in some cases... what seems forever.
A sporty landing is like a rip out landing or a drag landing kind of thing. Lots of wooping is usually heard and laughter is also around the area. Mostly after you come to a stop. Its a nice way of saying... Lets do that again and bumpier okay!
Ive been there many times. I remember one of my first times flying my Aerostar and dropping down close to the ground and knowingiIt would be a drag/rip out/sporty landing. I had my brother in the basket with me and we had a small segment of ground to land in followed by a divided street, a chain link fence and a school building. In the instant when I found I could not land in the field due to a big piece of cement culvert I told my brother.. " Hang on! We are going to hit the ground, drag across the road, hit the divider curb bounce and bring the basket against the fence and let the envelope lay over the fence". All in a few seconds I said this... the we did exactly that. It was not real pretty but it worked exactly right to stop us and protect the basket and enveope from damage.
What a rush! It was.. after we were all packed up... damn sporty!
The media... some media would have said we had an accident. Nothing at all near reality.
I am not saying all the media are like this but it does sell papers.
There have been some excellent drag landings. My good friend Eric had a drag landing with my son that was impressive to this day... totally impressive.
So now you have those terms down.....
Oh I forgot powder puff landing.
That is a landing that is so soft that the basket touching the ground puffs a little billow of dust... Puff!
Fun to do it.. It takes skill and finesse.. Watch some of the videos on my website and you will see all types of landings.
http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/h4494bf54#h4494bf54
Sometimes I set up my cameras in very strange ways.
Woah.. I forgot....
SPLASH AND DASH!
Ill come back to Splash and Dash tomorrow..... Yeah! Wet shoes!
Here is a link to the TOPGUN ballooning site. http://www.topgunballooning.org/
Top of the top.. quick, wild and serious competition ballooning..
What... whats that..??? How ... how do you do that?
Pay attention and Ill tell ya tomorrow...
PS.. I didnt mention the initiation did I... Bummer!
