We have gotten old....
Now if we can get two flights in a month we are doing good. A lot of it is that most everyone now has other hobby's and diversions and getting up early on your only days off is very very hard.
So we try and get out but in the end it always gets dropped on the list of things to do.
Last weekend and this weekend we changed it up a bit because there were younger crew available and we had the need and the weather to get up in it. So we did.
Let me add in here the week between first weekend and this weekend...It sucked. Hard to hire people when the panel is all messed up. Really frustrating to offer a job after a lot of vetting to have it turned down... a good reason but it was a lot of work to get to that point only to have it flung to the curb. Now... Starting over.
So.. back to the ballooning parts...
I want to kick up my hours a bit and also feel more comfortable in my systems so I made plans to fly Sat or Sunday. I watched the weather shift and change but it never got outside optimal range. I decided on Saturday and there were crew available so we went out. Winds were calm then after sunrise they came up a tiny bit and shifted 45 degrees. Direction was an unfortunate South and a bit of East... That meant a short flight and a tough landing to hit before the protected area of the escarpment.
We went for it anyway and noticed someone had gone way up and found a bit of a Southwest so to make for a longer flight we scampered up to around 6550 feet and found the slow wind going that way. 4 mph... yeesh! I would rather a nice brisk wind up there and the slow bit down by the ground. Makes for a better flight.. but you take what you get... We stayed up until I was so bored ( and also past Paradise Blvd. This would give me a good run at ground level for landing and not fall off the escarpment.
We descended at 600 fpm then dropped that to 400 fpm then down to 200 fpm just to get the feel for those speeds and the ability to hold the speed and that brought us to the ground quickly over a school... been there done that many many times.
We ground tracked ( staying 2 to 15 ( ish ) ft above the ground ) over Unser ( 15 feet to clear any tall trucks ) as we ran for our landing. Once across the road we dropped it to about 2 to 4 feet and headed Southeast. Avoided all the big bushes and one nasty dead envelope eating bush to land on the other ( South ) side of Paseo Del Norte. Mo caught us out of the air but didn't have the body mass to slow us down much so we bopped the ground twice and then stood up the balloon. Not bad at all and once it was down and packed up it felt much better. Better because the temps and humidity have been horrible lately.
Sunday was supposed to be a down day but Mo decided he wanted to show off his new envelope bag as well as try out flying for targets along with the Top Gun Pilots. I was supposed to get up .. work on the new pond tubing then put a new rail in the trailer, install support rings for the spare tire and arrange things correctly so they were in their place and not in the way....but.. went out to help him instead.
Turns out he only had me as his crew as his crew and pax all couldn't make it. That happens all the time. So he grabbed Jeff and we went off and launched from a open field East of the hospital. Not that that was going to make getting to any target easy. They went up ... went in any direction that was not toward a target and after a lot of ups and downs landed in a street Southwest of the launch area.
Fun but no luck with the targets.
After we got everything packed up and back to the field I raced home, got right out and worked on the tubing for the pond ( couldn't glue anything as I am missing one correct T fitting or two screw on pipe fittings.. soo.... decided I needed to work on the trailer since I was out there and soaked already. Got the basket out, got the new support bar ( rail ) in ( this stops the basket from being tweaked at the top towards the wall ) installed four ring braces so the spare tire could be secured up and out of the way and then got everything sorted and back together where its supposed to be. Whew!
It was so wet and hot and sloggy. Nice and cool now inside.
Here are shots from the above....
Saturday...
Large bush avoidance training.
Finding that exact comfortable spot to take a nap.
360 before leveling. Balloon above, Crew below. Dead Cat "not" licking my envelope.
Crew taxi and loft around the balloons on the ground.
Passing The Cat nicely and moving forward.
Faster and higher and into the air-stream heading Southish... more Southeast but.....
Sunday flight of Mojo.... taken from a friends balloon... Squeeze me!
Mojo's Reverse Gravity Machine down low.
Mojo just before launching. Everyone kinda stacked up above to you had to lift slowly.
Jeff and Mo move off.
Farther up and first view of the target area directly North... not that that helped at all.
Wrong way completely but if you gots no winds you gots no way... but a cool shot of the motor-cross area in the lower left.
Landing in a quiet little neighborhood... a few people either came out or opened windows to say hit. Dropped in.. packed up...and away!
Mojo poking along ....
It was a load of fun but man am I tired now.. and Monday does not look like its going to be a happy day too... so..I think I need a vat of coffee just to get through it. UGH.
This is an edit of a shot from Angel Fire and Debs balloon just riding there.. For once I processed it with border and titling.... Even color coded it to Debs balloon..Purple! She liked it so much she printed it. Sweet!
Fully functional revamped trailer.
Tire strapped to wall with covering so ratchets dont damage the rubber. Highperactive envelope just below. In Czech to the right of her with enough space between to swing a leg. Hot Aero ( Aerco ) Trapeze camera mount ready to go to the right of the tire. Helmet bag, Tether line bag, Chairs, and plate, bowl and utensil container next. Fan has had its tie down strap cut short so no more getting that all over the place and cooler still locked in place. New 2x4 on wall on left to give more support to the basket. I will be covering it in carpet as soon as I find carpet to cover it with. Done and done!
Im sooo tired now...
Oh.. here is the flight from Saturday... Video!
http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e904b376d
Fun with some speed in there.
Alright.. now that that is out there I hope you all have a bunch of fun this week and I will be sitting here deciding if I can fly three weekends in a row and not fall apart.
