Tuesday we flew next to the new Kubicek system owned by Paul O called Silver Linings. She is a 90,000 C ft envelope with a dual Kubicek burner attached to a flat topped solid floor basket with a door! Also included are two 20 gallon tanks. Paul has been waiting until the 4th to fly her here in New Mexico as he lives in Arizona and its rather hot there..hahahaha.... and we were all here.
So what happened is we met up in a part in upper Rio Rancho, stood up and launched from there following him upward and tracking the whole flight.. Mo was flying.. we had Brianna with us because her family almost always fly for the first time on the 4th and it was her first time....and I was aboard to get the pictures... of which I did.
Then Saturday as I needed some time in the air we took out Patturns Highperactive and I flew here in two tall loops quickly on the up and down parts with some fantastic ground tracking at the bottom ends... I use a lot of fuel with these antics but did log a full hour of flight time.
Following that with Sundays AAAA meet on Fiesta field with 30 or 40 of your friends and their balloons for a good fun fly with a friendly competition thrown in. Winds were a little off but most were able get get up in it, play around and get down safely.. some decided it was not the day for them and I agree with their decisions because I saw and felt how the winds changed when they were standing there.
It was also the first real day of Ballooning Camp and I was asked to get some extra shots of the goings on to back stop the official photographer Kat. We also got shots of the kids after all the fun was done standing up for group shots in front of the Sid Cutter statue. Shooting into the sun is never fun but waiting for better light was a non starter.
So below I will try to keep them in chronological order and some notes as we go....
Kubicek basket with door. A long sword type pin secures it while in flight. Aint no removing it while your up there. The crew open up the throat to pack her with cold air from the inflation fan.
Back of Paul's head as he prepares to hot inflate.
Paul makes things a bit hot. There is some serious radiant heat from these burners. Very pretty though. Radient heat from the new Lindstrand burners is as bad. My Jetstream burners are a cool breeze compared.
Mo does some test burns on my Lindstrand bottom end prior to hooking everything else up.
My Lindstrand bottom. We had some leather torn on the front ( bottom ) edge and Aerco set us up with an overlay thick leather that is stapled very nicely to the bottom and laced into the upper edge. Nice and double strong now. Beautiful wood grain after 7 years of mesa volcanic rock and scrub.
Paul spirals some flames up towards his self designed crown. Very good job of it Kubicek Co.
In flight Silver Linings looks awesome... She can hold her own any time she is in the sky.
Close up of the "its a boy" sign.. as they found out that they will be grandparents for the second time right at lift off. Wooo lots of stress there.
Two shadows chase each other across the roads and scrub brush.
Patturns In Czech ( Terpsnickery ) cruises well above the green green water. Reflections of soft yellows in the sky.
Southern Blvd Rio Rancho stretches off into the Western wilds.
Patturns In Czech ( Terps is my favorite nickname for her ) upper view of the edge of her turning vents. Silver Linings slides across our side.
Brianna leans over the side watching the roads, houses, and many many dogs slip below us to not be seen again... but the barking follows along for quite a while.
Silver Linings goes low and catches a much faster South wind so we watch her leap ahead.
Up over the Jetstream burners. Lovely in their class and elegance ( and a bunch of dirt and gunk I have to clean off soon ). Butterscotch!
An addition to my equipment is the 9.7 iPad to run the flight app and capture all the data as well as show me the airspace and zones of restriction. Nice, out of the way, but easily accessible.
Saturday I elected to not take a DSLR with me and immerse myself in my flying instead of trying to multitask. It was nice to not have the weight around my neck nor the need to get the shot. Flying was graceful but a jackrabbit when I wanted it to be.
Dave B helping out on the launch along with a bunch of younger people who don't mind lifting so much weight. There were only a few other private balloons out that day but a lot of ride balloons... and the FAA were out checking docs.
Looking up to set the top and refill the envelope with heat. Buoyancy checks and get up and out.
Up very quickly as there was nothing above to interfere with our quick ascent. And it was the start of the first loop of the loop de loop de.
Up and over some out buildings to find a landing spot with Dusty who we chucked in after a quick landing on the off road tracks. We lost our Southwest and were heading into the cactus patch area so figure it was better to just land.
After the crew pushed me over to the open area we laid her down gently.
We did have a lot of Girl Scout Camp area dirt fall over us when ever I hit the burner.. so all of that is out.. not as good as cookie crumbs.
Lift off....
Sundays flights.
Eric with his new Kubicek basket with door. Loving the new burners and new 20 gal tanks.. he got this just Friday and this was her first flight. Everything is color coded and fresh and clean... kinda clean. Burners get dirty fast. No way to not let that happen unless you never use them.
This is a quick vent in a 105,000 cu ft balloon. It draws the crown down into the center of the envelope to exhaust the hot air super fast.
A Rainbow Ryder crosses the moon on the field.
The moon minus the balloon.... it was Huuuuge.
one of many balloons launching from the AIBF field and towards the target.. maybe.. Winds were off enough to make it difficult to get to.
The flame wants off the bus and get in the air.. someone would you please open the door!
Keith and his Zing racer. He was all over the sky and one moment he was south then he was right over head.
We are gone! A triangle basket heads out and up... They had a nice launch before the funky winds started up.
Long long crown lines on that envelope. Would hate to have them get hung up on a tree somewhere...
Mike in Meow cuts grass with the bottom of his basket. A short flight due to a tear.
I have many many many shots to work on for the balloon camp folks.. and I will start that up here in a moment. Okay.. I have started but there are a lot and selecting the shots I want to forward is hard.
Off I go..
Woops.. first.. gotta get prepped for next Saturdays flight on in Czech. Gotta get her out and off on a flight hopefully longer than an hour. Much to do at work also.. lots of things that have to be delt with faster than normal and choices to make that will have to be made without the usual suspects helping out.
Now.. off I go....
