It was a AAAA or Albuquerque Aerostat Ascention Association Meet on the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park zone. Whew! Every other or almost every other month we fly off of the park.
But I will get back to that in a moment.....
FIRST!!!
Because no one would know unless I told you.... I got more of my shed clean!! WOO HOO!!!
Yeah.. exciting news.
I did go through all my books that have been stuffed there forever. It was a pile.. ok .. a large bin and a half. What did I find.. that most of them I cant throw away because they are out of print or not digitized yet. Great huh! After reading so much on the EYEpad I've almost forgotten how it feels to lug around a book again. Got to though as I have run out of real good things to read on the pad and want to reread a bunch in the pile below.
A mix of stuff you cant throw away as I said.
Standards.. I wonder how far out of date they are now.
Nifty find here... Going to have to look through this again.
I found a bunch of other stuff too... pictures I had thought were gone for good ... found.. next is to scan them in for safe keeping... not that they are amazing pictures but they are history.. or my history..
So what do I do with these books.. guess they go in a more accessible box.
More to do still.. Also some people who I know are going to see some pics thought lost.. oops.
BACK TO THE BALLOONS!!
Wow.. it was a nice day for ballooning in Albuquerque!
Flying from fiesta field takes a lot of practice and lots of ability. There are few good spots for a clean high speed landing South (/ East / North) of the field until you get to the airport.... well past the airport... So its mostly hope for lower speed winds and or maneuverable winds. I usually only fly from the field during Fiesta because I hate being stuck at 500 to 1000 feet above the ground. For me the fun is getting close to the ground and flying the terrain.
Now during Fiesta there are 550ish balloons to fly about so that is completely awesome fun for me. Then I have no problem with flying in that space. There isn't anything like it anywhere. 3 dimensional flying. The only fun factor of flying the Park off Fiesta time is the river. If the winds are going to the river its a great time for a splash and dash then run to Rio Rancho... But rarely.
Today there was a hare and hound.. in which a balloon takes off with the target.. fly's away while everyone else waits then the hare finds a place to land and set out the target, then the other balloons have to get there and drop a baggie on the target... harder than you think but some great pilots can do it no problem.
I got to the field later than I usually do for these things as I was not paying attention and so I got shots of most but not all... but the sky was full of clouds and that makes shooting balloons much more special... I also shot tons of crew pictures as they are the best for funny things... and a mix of everything else...
Below are about 14 or so... out of 110 total good shots. Oh..and I do not give permission for any company to use my shots unless paid in full.. Everything I shoot is copyrighted by ME. Since some idiot judge decided that some pictures can be used as fair use even when company's are making money off them.. not here but on the East coast... So my statement goes for all my shots. Yeah.. fun huh!
Just a few... Ill post all of the shots to my website right after I finish here then post the link.
Installing the Crown velcro ( or springs in an Aerostar ) Grass is damp and try and not get tangled up in the load tapes.
Thumbs up means the air space above is clear....
Mistaking the thumbs up for a need for a hug...... Or was that thumbs up back at ya.... Never know.
As many or more balloons than some remote rally's out there. Albuquerque is the heart home for hot air balloons so why wouldn't we have 60 plus flying every month or so.. and the weekends when we are just goofing off have usually 20 or so up. The Sid Cutter building and the Balloon Museum in the background.
Overhead with the crown of clouds!
Working for the reflection off the windows... not at this angle.
Kicking the heat to the balloon! Such a comfortable position.
Looking like he is riding the cloud bank....
Returning to the field using those famous box winds... and settling down to the ground...
Taking some time to reflect .. and seal the throat as well.... come here often?
With a three or so year old instructing on how to pack an envelope into a bag for storage...
With camp kids in basket off they go.... Balloon Camp is a thing... You can send your kids to it!
A return to almost the exact place you launched from.. and the eager crew who got to sit around while you looped around... making it look easy.
Swoopen it.... As the morning went on the winds shifted and the low South wind went away and turned to the West.... But a lot got back....
There was eve a cooking competition and ice cream from the cancelled ice cream social.. and then it got hot.
It took about three hours to deal with the shots... Plus I have this irritating issue with my camera... it show this ( FULL ) icon... and I cant find out what it means in any of the docs that came with the camera...
I can find every damn other icon but not this one.. Camera is not full nor is the frame full nor is the focus full or the light meter full.. so.......
Oh.. Here are two freebee panos.. one from my visit to the Sunport and this mornings field from my standing spot on it.
The Sunport is a very nicely decorated airport. I really like how if feels, looks and it even smells nice with all that wood up there.
After flying tailgating.. so many you can barely see in this shot. And yes.. we have nice lush green grass at Fiesta Park. If we could get the soccer players to pick up their used water bottles that would be nice... Balloonists are the cleanest people I know.
In the end I wanted to go to Vics for breakfast but it was too late and there were more people waiting outside than there were seats inside.... so... another day for that breakfast burrito with red and green on the side.....
Ill post the link to the full picture set here in a bit... stay tuned!!
