A few out of the ordinary items....
Doing the Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off #LDLO over Labor day.. fun but normally we take the month before and the month after off. Rest and pre rest. Not this year.
Did a photo shoot along side a drone on a new corporate balloon. Shot over 2k frames. Over 4k with raw files. Out of that I liked about 78. Took a bunch of the drone and pilots and crew and surrounding area because its always nice to have some other things. That was an awesome if very wet shoot.
Errors on that.. I wore my damn yellow coat... never wear something that bright out. Reflections and standing out is not a good thing. I will locate a nice black jacket and have a little logo put on it. I wore sneakers and they had just watered and cut the field so you got to having wads of cut grass stuck to you everywhere.
I had three cameras out. One Nikon for the 10.5 mm fisheye because you never know what cool shots that will come up with and another Nikon with a 18 to 200 mm lens and then my go to camera, the Sony RX10V4 with its 24 to 600 mm lens. I stuck with the Sony and used the Nikon for backup shots in case something failed on the Sony. Nothing did. Also noting the shots from the Nikon being too soft compared to the crispness of the Sony I didn't forward any of those. The fisheye shots didn't lend to the request so I didn't forward any of those either.
I have been asked to keep everything under lock and key until the balloons unveiling this next weekend so no shots of that yet. Next weekend will be a big blog weekend with Fiestas start as well..
Also out of the ordinary but happily so was that my Daughter and my Granddaughter came into town to visit. We had lots of fun and did a lot of Granddaughter things... mostly watching her favorite you tube videos, playing games and playing with toys... We did get to the Albuquerque Natural Museum and the Explora. Both were fun though the museum is somewhat lacking in hands on things. Explora was fun for everyone including my Son and Daughter. Lots of water to play with and bubble machines and one huge room sized elevator. Pictures hopefully below.
This week will be doing all those last minute things that need to be done before ten days of sleep deprivation and constant flying. Normally I take naps in the afternoon after flying to keep the sleep problem in check. I rarely drink so that never bothers me. Its just that with the stress levels of flying with that many balloons that many days in a row ...well.. it can hit you hard.
One of the things I do think about is out of town or out of country Pilots who rarely fly at this altitude. I like to keep a good eye out for other balloonists.. Not that that is unusual but I do watch out. I want to be ready to maneuver out of their way if they have some trouble adjusting to what we fly in year round. I know what my balloons will do at this altitude and how much time I have to react to flight characteristics. A little extra room in a very crowded airspace is a good thing.
A good rule of thumb for me is 7 seconds from action to result. Unless I push it. Something like driving a car with your foot on the gas and the break pedal. I call it powered control flying.
Over Fiesta field and in congested airspace rapid ascents and or descents is very very dangerous. It is prohibited over the field itself. 200 feet per minute climb or fall... that's it. With the Lindstrand Racer I can ( with clear sky's ) ascend and control my crown vent and or descend fully vented and burning at the same time hard control my altitude, descent rate and stopping area. If you watch the competition portion of the AIBF you will see some very very controlled ascents and descents...especially in the racer envelopes. It is awesome to see the intense control these Pilots show with their systems.
Lastly before the pictures... Mo flew Saturday. hoping to get the Granddaughter up but she was not comfortable with the burner sound so Mo took Mom up for her first flight in MRGM. A nice flight it was too.
Pictures....
Fiesta park corner markers for each grid space set aside for four hot air balloons. Some slippage kicking in my CDOTS.
View from the balloon museum upper deck of concession row. So many people will pack in there and on the field in a week.
Sandias behind the rotunda.
Rolling clouds f the West mesa.
One of the founding balloonists in Albuquerque at the AAAA meeting for a quick chat.
Mr Mezz chatting before the Pilot Video Showing.
Will had good news on flying over the open spaces and petroglyphs on the West side.
And the video explaining all the rules and reg's and flying process and every other tiny thing you need to know to fly here at the Albuquerque international Balloon Fiesta.
So much talk about PIE and not one cherry pie in evidence.
Drone control. Very cool.
Massive drone.
So much water on the field to make things nice and green.
Large balloon type thing in the sky... a bit washed out.
Inside of Jeffs Lindstrand. Very bright and beautiful.
From basket to crown shot.
Mojos Reverse Gravity Machine from basket to crown.
Everyone is happy.
Its a FIESTA Balloon!
Mojo and her nicely attached flag.
When you accidentally open your whisper valve with some moisture in your throat.
You get smoke like steam but no damage.
Crisp gore lines and bold colors.
Rainbows without rain.
Putting heat to the air.
Boldness on a beautiful morning.
New procedure before flying I think.
Perspective.
Tail numbers with no tail.
YTIVARG!! MOJOs Reverse Gravity Machine!
Off they go. Cool box in effect overhead.
600mm reach!!
Here's hoping every day of Fiesta is like Saturday.
Ground tracking through the brush to land.
Soft and slow.
Albuquerque Natural Museum viewpoint.
Black Light on Pilot.
Petrified wood look.
This is my good side.
Explorium's room sized elevator.. with couch chairs and lighted table.
It was a fun long weekend... but there are soon things to get done and delt with...
See you at registration on Thursday at 10am or on the field Saturday morning at 0545!
