Beautiful, Awesome, Clouds, Balloons Words of the day.

A beautifully cloud filled day for the balloons to look awesome against. Striking off in the distance even though they were far far away or much higher than the balloons when you zoomed in they looked like they were brushing up against them.  Not gonna happen per the FAA regulations but very nice.

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 I wonder how far out of date they are now.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.

With 90 photographs!

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!!

Antics on the West side and Every landing of a hot air balloon is a controlled crash.... and why.

Seconds first....

This is my opinion so..... ( subject to modification at any time ).

Every landing of a hot air balloon is a controlled crash. Sounds scary huh! Its not. How about....

 Every landing of a hot air balloon is a processed evolution that the Pilot in command makes depending on the situation he/she has seen and adjusted for to bring the contents of the basket ( aka Passenger/Crew ) to a safe and unharmed return to earth..... Better?

Any news that you hear that says a balloon crashed is probably garbage reporting. Any reporter worth their weight in chicken scratch would have gone out and found a Hot Air Balloon Pilot and got a ride ( we Pilots loved to fly reporters )  and learned the ins and outs of this type of flying and never report a standard landing as anything but a standard landing... even if its in the middle of a street..

If you hear the wild report of  a crash... verify and check to be sure you are not just getting a pile of that huuey.

HABs or Hot Air Balloons have no wheels, no brakes, nor rudders or control stick. It is in fact seat of the pants flying. We launch from where every and land over there. We can set up a course and an idea of where we might want to land but as soon as the envelope hits the wind currents and the basket is off the ground all those plans are worth squat.

So what the heck does the Pilot do to get back down safely? He/She finds currents of wind going in the direction they want to go or he/she goes the way the winds take them and lands as safely as possible at the end of the flight.

There are two different ways to land.. like a helicopter or like a fixed wing aircraft. Helicopter landings are gently descending to lightly touch the ground and the fixed wind landings are when you descend quickly to impact onto the ground and drag to a stop ( like a plane without reverse thrust ). Both are fully under control...even if it does not look like it. If a Pilot needs to hit a specific spot to get you safely on the ground they will drop in at a speed that is safe but is rather jarring. Always hold on, always listen to the Pilot, always bend your knees.

Changes in wind direction happen all the time, so swift and almost constant pre thinking of your landing plan is a norm for HAB Pilots. Follow their instructions. Even soft landings can be amazingly odd at times.

Last word.. or second to last word.. Have fun. Almost every flight is a bunch of fun and the landings are something to tell "yarns" about.

Last, last word... Never believe what some no brain bobble head is trying to tell you without you checking it out on your own.

Wow.. that was some major soap box stuff there....

We had a lot of fun with the flying this weekend. We flew a 1 year old for her birthday safely in the arms of her parents and we watched one of our framily gain her winds as a Private Pilot. We also enjoyed the heck out of getting more new friends into the air for the first time.. its what we do this for.

Some pictures below and some other pictures as well.... statements for each shot....

Here we see PITAS Kiss HAB and the crew positioned correctly to open the throat during cold inflation. Notice the left foot on the edge of the scoop and the hands not wrapped in line. Also not in direct path of fan air. Great crew!

The birthday girl with Dad.. giving the photographer the stink eye....

Nearby flying ultralight.

See the speck in the lower left corner.. yeah... great lens reach. LOL Sony RX10V4. Get U 1!

PITAS Kiss descending into the loving arms of the crew. So soft a landing that the passengers didn't know they were down.

Crew taxiing the balloon through a narrow gap in the fence to lay the system down in the parking lot.

Correct and honorable and proper handing of the American flag. Good parenting there. Good kids there.

Here we see one of the most difficult jobs to packing a balloon away.... Its a rough life.

Laid out and prepped for bagging.

Another photo shoot pose for Mama...

Yes... she is loving every bit but is holding out for her own cake later.

A good time from very iffy weather at the beginning. Waiting in that field in the middle ( almost ) of nowhere for an hour and a half paid off. Lovely flight.

*

Today ( Sunday ) There was family to fly and friends to watch on their Check Ride to get their HAB Licence. Another awesome day with no wait to launch as the winds were going straight up until you hit about 200 feet then they went west then about 800 feet they went South... and all that changed right away.

The below shots are selects from about 120.. those from the 760 shots total. Many dupes or different distances away and slightly different angles because you never quite know what is perfect....

Oh.. the size of these do them little justice as they are awesome enlarged.

Morning test burn against the Sandia Mountains. See the spiral in the yellow?

A diffused moon. It was a thick atmosphere this morning.

A lift off and a licence at the end of a great flight.....

Going East then heading West.. a fun time to try and guess where you were going minute by minute.

So fabric to fabric touching is fine.. these two need to find a room. Really they were not close at all.

Civil Air Patrol is very Civil.

One of our local ride companies cruises into our launch area gracefully. Love the close medium and far aspects of this shot.

Special shape.. special shape.. no really just trying to get the balloon to go down with only a little weight in the basket....its hard to do quickly. Someone needs cement shoes or at least some sandbags.

And there were so many shots I could fill this blog up with but not this time. You will have to visit my website for the whole set....

http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/


Here are some outtake shots I really liked..... because I can.

X marks.. not this time. This is just where a positioning line is attached inside for the crown. Need to know more.. Come ballooning.... Nice stitching though.

What a perfectly lined up shot.... yeah.. cheated. But I love the color glow.

You pretty much have to hug the basket and be very close to anyone else to get this shot from outside of that basket. Another cool patterns of colors. Lindstrand Envelope.

A Kubicek basket has very large runners on the bottom. Keeps the bottom of the basket happy. The line ( rope ) is the tether to secure the balloon to the vehicle so it does not leave before its required to.

Digitool instruments that are now set for HABs. Nifty little things. Have not had the chance to fly with them yet.

A HUGE crevasse I had to cross to get to the other side... yeah... HUGE!  okay.. not that huge.. but I did stick the truck in 4 wheel drive just in case.. heh.. nice and smooth and off after the balloons again.

On the overlooking hill watching the chase crews fling up dust as they head off to chase their balloons. Even at 5 mph the dust was everywhere.... so... its the desert.

It was a load of fun and the tail gate after was also a lot of fun... though a bit hot. Again.. its the desert.

Now all I have to do is close this blog out and then upload those hundred or so shots to the web site and I am done for the day....

Oh.. have to look up what FULL means on the Sony. Hit that one today for some reason.... not that the chip was full.

Happy week to you all.. See you in seven.