2017 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta ( The Pictures )

A week later and still there is the want to go flying. There is also the want to stay in a warm bed past 5am and the need for endless supplies of coffee. Lets make it so baseball is played at 5am and ballooning can be done anytime during the day! Good trade off...

Morghan glowing Mojos Reverse Gravity Machine or Ytivarg. Good action shot with him blurred out a bit.

Let me start off with the ideas for T-shirts for ballooning aficionados.

Black and white styled big font front or back plates:

BALLOON CREW.

CREW! fly for free!

I am a BALLOON GROUPIE!

I came for the PHOTOGRAPHS!

Show me your BURNERS!

Will CREW for Coffee and Doughnuts!

LIFTOFFS optional LANDINGS mandatory!

BALLOONING, Where drinking before 10am is acceptable!

Many more coming.. but I have to work on the logos and layouts.. this all came from a re-imagined logo set...

So that is going off in interesting directions.....

Still have these too...

Some edits to each are quite possible on a fee basis. Have to think about retirement... or something like that.

Setting up via my Daughters Digital Stitches Store for a web site to order from. Massive amount of choices and prices are excellent.

So onto the fiesta final ( hah ) visit..... I said I would put up a few things I have not yet... Story of the dancing men on the In Czech pin and also a run down of the days of flying... so Lets start off with the dancing men portion and go from there.. end out with some select finished shots of Fiesta ( not all though ).

Closer

Very good detail for a pin. If you know the stories already skip this part and pick up where the (B) is...

Quick and easy. The families second balloon was called Patturns in the sky because she had two turning vents and so Pat turns was nice and fun and she had a square pattern of red and blue on yellow... ( our adopted colors now )  comes along the Lindstrand Racer and a full design from Lindstrand USA... modification of the red blue squares on yellow.. dual turning vents.. she is fast.. she is predictably unpredictable ( she is like a very spirited horse.. easy to control but turn away for a second and your riding a bronco ) so the name Patturns Highperactive came about.. Pat Turns High ( in the sky ) active as she is, as I was as a child.. hyperactive... and then we had the chance to buy and adopt one of the most historic and still flying balloons, Terpsnickery. She is white and soft yellow... so very elegant and very smooth in her flying... cant just go crazy with the renaming...and I wanted it to fit in the Pat turns thing as she also has two turning vents... so... I asked a friend... and right away a response came.. In Czech... I was told it was because I needed to be controlled as I was so hyperactive and I am part Cheq and she is checkered....soooooo.... there you go...BUT!!! There has to be a logo to go along with such a name as Patturns In The Shy had two golden arrows circling the balloon and Highperactive had her fast heartbeat pattern... what could be holding me in Czech..... Heh!..... Straight Jackets.... so the little guys or dancing men ( Sherlock Holmes nod ) are wearing straight jackets and then they arnt... because its a constant battle to keep me in Czech... or so I think.

Now you know the dancing men story as it happened.... Balloon Naming and conventions are somewhat like ship and boat names. Damned fun and can drive you crazy....

(B)

Some oblique shots...

Grid marker.... Some are just white.. some have red tops... L9 was our grid this year. Last year it was K9... next year we are thinking of moving North on the field to the Q row like Q8, 9 or 10. This would get us off the field quicker as the L row is usually the last to launch and for the crew its nearer the porta potties... hahaha.

 Turtle Mountian Grill and Bar. Had a good visit with some friends. Too much food ... most came home but a good chat was had. Lots of information was passed and ideas created out of thin air.

Working on the hand position for a hand squeezing a burner. Going to have to get pictures "WITH" the burner in it.. and some on different burners so I can do the logo mock up.

Flights from Fiesta "Park" ( North is always up )

This was the first flight of AIBF and first flight with the Lindstrant Clear Choice basket so I played it safe and also the wind was going South... period.. so we rode it to the park on Osuna. The city created it and with some pleas left it developed for balloons to land in. Normally coming in from the east over the channel never works as there seems to be an air barrier that pushes you off.. It worked this time. Video of this flight can be seen here... http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e99c5b886

Classic box winds and the reason its so awesome to fly in Albuquerque.. South drainage winds and boost up 500 feet and you get a North flow. Bennie Bos and I used this to get a nice run around the field so he could get some shots then dropped down over the North channel and cruised over the trees towards the industrial park where there are grass areas ( baseball fields ) to land on. Had to keep it low to make it as the winds were shifting back and forth but we found a patch of grass to land on... Video of this flight can be seen here.... http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e99849fa1

 Perfect BOX flight with Patricia. I dwelled at the top or Northern section ( orange colored line section ) to draw us farther East to make a landing on the open park area but the winds went to the South East instead which threw that out the window. The dark/light blue line going South was all looking for a clear place to land. Ended up landing over a school near Masthead with the assist of Clair's crew. It was nice enough to land without help but it was so much nicer to be held in place. Video not processed yet with this one.

The long run NorthWest. Augmented BOX. I took my brother up for the first time in a long time. Usually I take Nick with me when I think it might be a rough landing day. Turned out GRAND!! It was quicker than normal and I had to work hard to get into the river but with the help of a friendly sandbar we stopped on it then popped over to sail the river for a bit... that's the dark blue in the river bit then back up high to fly off to Rio Rancho. See the red box. That is a park I saw as we were passing it high up. I picked it out as our landing spot and went far North of it to catch the ( light blue ) wind direction to take us there.. it was a bit long of a ground track but excellent flying... Video coming on this also. Clip of the river part here.... http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e99237a17

This day we ran out of people to fly as we had some down days where the winds were too quick or going in the wrong direction to fly. When asked during the year of people.. I always say.. come out to the field and hang around and help.. you never know when I might be able to grab you out of the crowd for a flight... so... no one but Andy... my secondary test subject, victim, lucky guy.... We flew Highperactive and had a good time popping around about but ended up over I-25 and Paseo Del Norte with nary a place to land.. We tried to follow another balloon to a landing spot but the winds went away and we were flying down the frontage road South. Loads of fun that. I was able to pop us over a tall building and saw a tiny park like area between it and another building so decided to try and get in it. With the racer it was no problem but we had a tree in the way and had to work to get around it.. we did and it was a lot of fun to plant the basket and see all the wide open eyes of the people in the building looking at us. Then my son found a short cut and boomed into the park too. Crew were there to stop his basket from bounding about.. Pretty much awesome day. Video coming.

Last Saturday.. Sunday was blown out sadly... but this was different. Everyone.. EVERYONE headed South West slow and low but I saw a high East at 7300 ish feet... I proceeded to do something different and lifted up into it and went pretty much straight East. Hoping to catch that Soft South West on dropping to slightly above ground level but it had gone away. Worked like crazy to get back over the highway and was becalmed over two building areas but did in the end land in front of a building and my fantastic crew dragged ( Sherpa'ed ) ( the dark blue squiggle heading south next to the red square ) us to a nearby park to lay out in. Fun times. Video also also coming.

That was the flying. We did one static of Highperactive since we couldn't fly. Kick butt Fiesta!

Now some of the shots....

Bennies shot of the glass floor and his wild shoe laces.. Note that my feet gravitated to the runners.

Off the ground with Andy. I look out and around.. rarely directly down. Novel and love to have one of these if I flew grass all the time. Now burners.. I would love a set of the Vortech burners with all the accents in the soft yellow color.. wooooo....

Patricia looking down as we start out 500 return flight across the field. Straight down the field too...

A picture from a friend of our ground track right back to the park I picked out. Nothing more fun than having herds or gaggles or whatever you call tons of jack rabbits running ahead of you.

Okay.. now some shots from my DSLR...

Did I forget anything.. hmmmm...... Not that I can remember and I tore up my list already.. oh well.

I took this weekend off to recover but my Son didn't. He had a good flight today but there was a thermal that grabbed him close to the end of his flight. Not a fun thing. But he and his passengers are safe and sound on the ground with just a bit of fun in there.

Next weekend is the TAOS rally.. They didn't think it was going to go off but it is... I will try and fly down here on the West side to get back in the mode of flying Highperactive fast... work on catching her falling out of the sky. That's always a lot of fun.

Before that is a full week of work and interesting things as well as some seriously boring bits ( arcane paperwork ). Oh.. gotta do up some floor plans so we can work on some office changes... that WILL be fun.

Hope you have a good week that is fulfilling and that making Friday show up all the quicker for whatever fun you have planned.   Reminds me I need a fish catcher.

2017 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta ( the comments )

Its over already! What was ten days went by in a blink of the eye. Gone for another 137 days... that's when registration for the 2018 AIBF will start.  That is also all I will say of that... I don't like sleeping in my truck.

 

Second highest in the air on this long run to Rio Rancho after a wonderful splash and dash with my brother.

So its over. AIBF put on a great show. The team and volunteers did a fantastic job of putting it all together. Amazing work. Sam Parks our Balloon Meister was excellent.. and he will also remember forever the little horses!

I was going to blow out the blog with amazing pictures but I am just too tired. What you are going to see is outtakes from my phone camera and some from the 360 cam and some from friends and one or two from the professional Fiesta photographer Bennie Bos.

Ill try and relate each picture.. and later when I sort out my thoughts I will blog the time line as best as I remember it.

Upward!

At 7450 or 2250ish feet above the ground I found a nice East going wind to take me across the field below and towards the nearby highway where I intended to drop to about 200 feet and take the Westerly wind back to the field. It didn't happen.. but we did get a visit by this damn huge blue chicken... who came up at us .. stayed a while and then zipped right back down to the field. Much closer than this lens shows. Sis, Carolyn along for the ride.

Since I could not get back to the field on this Friday the 13th flight I nudged my balloon off a few roofs and to the other side of some power lines and descended to the ground. My lovely Sherpa crew dragged my poor self off to a nice park to the South to lay down in grass. The best way I find to drop the system is to lay down with the upright pole behind me and just go down with it. Other Pilots have other methods. New crew member learning the ropes to the left and Justin to the right. My Ex Son in law. Great guy.

The Lindstrand Clear Choice basket with an acrylic clear floor. Lisa lent it to me for the weekend and I made good use of it flying one of my crew, Andy and then Bennie Bos the official photographer. Both excellent flights. More on the basket as we go....

 Here the basket is laid out after landing in a park. We had to weave ourselves through a bunch of other balloons standing up nearby to get to the grass. I seemed to have told myself that I would take off from grass and land on grass while I had this basket. Did it too!

My Granddaughter Emmers was out for a few days and had a great time making faces at anyone with a camera pointed in her direction. She is the sweetest kid Ive ever known.

Morning Pilot brief at 0600! The first day we were almost late due to the amount of traffic trying to get in to the field.. and we have our own entry ways just for Pilots and crew. The blow up pylon is to show us how high 75 feet is during competition.

On landing the second day I had to search quite a bit to find some grass... and I did but I didn't want to lay the beautiful leather on the grass so I had Reed run to the truck to get a cushion.. he did but tripped while coming back and I was able to grab the cushion and slip it between the grass and the leather with inches to spare. It was impressive. Yes.. the leather would have been fine but I treat other peoples equipment as I treat my own...

A new special shape off to our West on the field. Very cute. Bob ( in the hat with the flower ) is watching the balloons inflate South of us.. this indicates when we need to be inflated and ready to lift.

 Hedgehog... someone had a video of a hedgehog somewhere I saw... Another new special shape... as cute as the video was. Probably more noisy though. Pulling a leg here.

Bumper sticker on a friends trailer.. Seriously correct. We are having far too much fun most of the time. The only serious thing is safety and flight behavior. Everything else is up to be made fun of .. so you had better be able to give and take out there.

Mounted Police. They are some of the best folk out there and keep us safe... and the horses are a lot of fun for the kids... and some of the older kids.

Lindstrand.... And here I am going to get a bit fussy.... I looked over many balloon builders before having Lindstrand USA build my system. They did everything I asked and did it with a perfection you rarely see.. and attention to detail I keep noticing on everything they make. Beauty, Quality, Attention to detail and lastly ( I know this because I bug them constantly about upgraded equipment they are coming out with ) Service and Support.

These are the new Vortech burners. So damn awesome. If I had the cash I would buy them in a microsecond and never look back. The only change would be all the blue would be yellow.

Bolster sewing ( this is the upper padded edge of the basket. Perfectly straight sewing and neat seams and fittings. Every bit as straight and true... not just where you see it everyday but everywhere.

Underside of the swing bolster on a basket with a door. Doors are to get people who have handicaps in and out easily. Special made and to exacting standards. Even the flippin laces are sweet.

Not a great shot but this is the kick leather on the bottom of the doorway. its not a wedge or a slight lip but a real hard leather covered lip and the soft blonde wooden floor behind.

All the colors you can have on the Vortech burners. See that yellow there... the last before the silver.. that is what I want.

Side view of the burner bottoms... yummy!!!!

On the river run day... Thursday... we scooted out to the Rio Rancho area and came down over a big arroyo so that I could tack back towards a park at low level and as we got to the park and set down the penguin came over to check us out. I don't think it was peeping in those windows but I don't know for sure.

Heading to propane after the flight. Due to a slowdown we were backed up. Fueling 550 plus balloons every day after we fly is a daunting task but it gets pulled off nicely... so what if you have to wait a bit... Its all good fun.

Wednesday is Whiskey and cigar day... its a serious business. I do not partake but I do enjoy the colors. We now have a Gin Saturday and I think they are trying to come up with other days as well.. Nowhere did anyone speak of a milk and cherry pie day so I am a bit miffed.

Patturns Highperactive laid out waiting to get cold inflated. We stood her up for a static display and also flew her but it was somewhat hot out for her though she fly's so wonderfully.. but I will speak of that in a moment.

Tailgating is another thing we kind of go overboard with. Everyone contributes and everyone is welcome. Coolers full of water, soda, beer and other items to drink and food of every kind.

Our last day was blown out and we couldn't fly due to the high winds so we stood around in the cold until it was official and then went and had breakfast at Vics. Great food but when you hit a small restaurant with 35 people it kind of opens their eyes... but they handled it nicely and we were very happy. Andy was posing and now we have claimed our grid spot for the Queen Of England. Hope she is happy with it.

Some of the Zebras using the trailer to shield them from the cold wind... We knew then that we were not going to get to fly. Zebras launch us. You cannot fly unless a zebra allows you to. Makes for safe flights.

A shot up at my Kennedy Envelope, In Czech, attached to the Lindstrand Clear Choice Acrylic bottomed basket. Its really really clear.

Here we are in Kurt's picture sitting on the sandbar on Thursday. You had to cross the river farther to the right on a higher wind then drop down quickly to grab the low winds going to the left in this picture to get to the river. It was fast and hard to slow down to get in. I used the sandbar as a break then popped into the river for a good sail before jumping back up in the fast Westerly.

Eric got this ballooner eclipse of In Czech as we were lifting off the field. I love this shot. So many balloons and we only touched fabric one time with a friend. Excellent control with that many balloons in such a tight packed place.

Another great shot by a friend. In Czech is such a camera magnet. One of a kind.. and Mo my son in the yellow balloon with the black thunderbolt down below me just coming up to play.

A Bennie Bos spectacular shot of us sitting on the river edge. Love it so much.

The underside of the Lindstrand Vortech burners. Just wow!

The usual suspects lined up and ready to run. Right to left.. Bob Mass in Pitas Kiss, Myself In Patturns Highperactive, Eric Hodges in Kkisses Of Fire, Lori Van Sant in Black Magic Woman, Her hubbys balloon next, Kurt Van Sant in Burning Desire, ( dunno who this is or I forget ( old age )), Paul Olguin in Silver Linings, ( and another I cant tell you.

Another shot of the clear floor. You just cant get tired of looking through it. Yes it is very novel to fly. Scary.. not really. I didn't get much of a chance to get weird with it as I look out more than directly down. My passengers loved the heck out of it.

Patturns Highperactive.... A little back story for those that are new to this blog. Everyone else can go past this.

She is a purpose built racer shape balloon. She is made to go up and down at extreme speeds. She is small and nimble but will kick your butt if you let loose the controls. She is made that way. You can fly her and never have a problem but if you are going to fly her they way you are supposed to you can get her to do some amazing things.

An amazing thing was getting this 69,000 cubic foot balloon into a tiny park between three tall buildings and not touch anything but that tree in front of us and that only lightly. What looks to be a huge expanse of grass was really only 15 feet from where I sat to the building edge. we were touching that tree. We had to come in over another building and around another tree to get in here. All the people working in the buildings around came out to watch us and visit. Lots of goggly eyes on faces in the windows of the building in front of us. Even a good friend was there in one building so that was a total bonus for fitting PH in there.

Then just to show me he could do it My son found a way to get lower and cut in another way to land exactly where I did... though he had people there to stop him when I did not. hahaha unless you count this very nice guy on a bike with his little doggie. Totally wild day and awesome landing Ill never forget. The video will be out later and when it is ill post it here.

Here is a clip of my river run with my Brother Nick. Just a bit.... speeded up.

http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e99237a17

Ill try and load the tracks as well soon.

So much to talk about but this blog is way over sized as it is.

Gotta do a thing before I pass out so... Have a great remainder of your day and more to follow.