Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

After being in Albuquerque since the beginning of September, volunteering at the Balloon Fiesta office, and also helping with Pilot Registration a few days before Fiesta begins, now is the official start of the Balloon Fiesta. Thankfully, I was given a RV spot on top of the hill overlooking the Balloon Fiesta field and I was able to get rides up and down the steep hill on golf carts. I also had electric hookups which was really great, lots better than having to run the generator a few times a day to keep my batteries charged.

There are three albums with pictures taken during my time both before and during Balloon Fiesta 2015. This link will take you to my main album page and you can scroll through the albums to see the pictures for this year, and further down, there are albums from previous years 2011, 2012, and 2014.

There are also albums of pictures I took during the balloon competition in Longview, Texas in July 2015, and Granbury, Texas in October 2015, and I wrote stories about my experiences at each event. Feel free to look through my photo albums and read my stories.

I am the unofficial photographer for Scott’s balloon, Big Blue, because Scott is always busy when his balloon launches. I take pictures of all stages of inflating and landing when possible. By posting these photos, it gives people who are not familiar with how a balloon inflates and gets packed, many of my pictures give my readers a visual on what it takes to inflate and pack a balloon. It’s extremely important that the pilot check to be sure all of the lines are properly connected or the balloon will not fly or react properly when the lines are pulled for various functions during flight or landing. The pictures directly below this paragraph are not in order, but it’s easy to tell which are packing or unpacking. Generally, if there is nice grass under the balloon, it’s being unpacked and inflated.

In addition to volunteering in the Balloon Fiesta office since September 1st, I also worked on Pilot Registration Committee. It was great fun, and also as I worked with pilots during registration I had the opportunity to meet many of them, and when I saw a picture of their balloon or they told me what it looked like, as I was taking pictures I kept them in mind and took extra photos of their balloons and I told them they could see them on my website. It really made it more interesting for me when I saw a balloon launch or fly and think I met the pilot for that particular balloon, and in some cases it was a couple and they each had a balloon. Some of the pilots were for balloons that I have loved looking at over the past years, others were for new balloons.

Every day, I went for breakfast at 5:00 a.m. and then about 6:00 a.m. I met my pilot Scott and the rest of the crew in our grid space in preparation for our daily launch, I also went to the Pilot’s Briefing daily. I am so glad that it was not as cold this year as it was in previous years. No frost on my sneakers is a good thing. Predictions before Fiesta began were that the weather would not be good for flying the first few days, however, that was not the case. We were able to fly every day. Other pilots I know did not like wind conditions any day and did not fly once during the entire 9 day event. Each pilot makes the decision on what he feels is best for him and his crew.

I have crewed for Pilot Scott for four years now, and I really like Scott and his Big Blue crew. I am now also more familiar with what needs to be done and I don’t always have to ask what they need me to do. Neither Scott or the other crew members would let me do anything they felt would be too hard on my body, I think they went a bit overboard but it’s okay. They really had enough crew members most days so I manned the fan, held open the envelope, or took pictures. I even had some pictures taken with me in them, usually I am not in photos. One the last day of the Balloon Fiesta, I give Scott and others that want one, a flash drive with all of the pictures I took during the entire 9 day event. They are so busy getting the balloon ready for flight and launch that they don’t have time to take pictures. This gives them nice memories too, especially since Scott’s two sons help several days. This gives them several family photos.

Unexpectedly, Sunday morning. Day 3,  as we were getting ready to inflate, I was told that I would be going up for a ride today. WOW… I was surprised and thrilled. I love to go up in the balloon and will do it anytime. The day I went up was cool temperature, and also cloudy and overcast. Tina took some pictures of me going up in the balloon and a day or so later Scott and the crew presented me with a picture of me going up in the balloon. Tina said that because it was dark and cloudy the picture of me in the balloon basket as we launched was not light enough to see that it was me in the basket, but I could tell by the outline of the shape that it was. The picture of me in the basket before we launched came out clear. They said they wanted to give me this picture because I am always taking pictures of Scott and his crew and balloon, and all of the other balloons.

It was a pretty good day to fly and I think the flight was about 40 minutes. We landed in a field near some houses and it turns out that when we landed there was a gal and her family helping us to land. Our chase crew arrived shortly after we landed, they had to find a road to get to us. I love taking pictures as we rise in the sky and also flying and taking photos of balloons at eye level, and looking down at them. At one point we realized that we were almost in the clouds, so we had to go lower. It’s against rules to fly in the clouds, there is poor or no visibility. This flight it was only Scott and I, in the flights in previous years there was always one other person besides us. This was a nice change, there was more room in the basket to move around. The other difference this year is the wind direction was a different direction, so, instead of flying over more desert and close to the reservation we stayed mostly over populated Albuquerque and landed in a neighborhood, on grass, instead of dirt fields. It had rained the night before, so we had to be careful not to land in grassy areas that were full of water. This flight, I got to see a different aerial view of the city. As we lifted off, I was able to see where my camper was parked and I got a picture of it. From the air the ground looks level, but trust me, it wasn’t!!!

The young woman that met us at our landing site wanted to help, and she also said she would like a ride. She said she and her parents were driving and watching the balloons and as she saw us coming down they drove to where we were landing. I don’t remember her name at the moment, but she was thrilled to help us deflate and pack the balloon. Her parents took some pictures with my camera too so I am in some of the pictures. The next day she and her parents came to our launch site at the balloon field, she helped us crew and Scott took her up for a balloon ride. She was thrilled!!!

This time since there were only a few of us to deflate and pack the balloon, I helped Tina pull the crown line at the top of the balloon tight while Scott milked the air out of the balloon so we could get it ready for packing. This was my first time at the top of the balloon, usually I am helping to milk the air out of the envelope. I was surprised at how much hot and warm air escaped out the top of the balloon envelope. I don’t know why I’m surprised, all of the hot air that was put into the envelope when Scott lit the propane burners went into the balloon envelope so naturally, it would have to come out when the vents were opened. I was glad to have this new experience in ballooning. For a change, I took many pictures of the crew attaching the top of the balloon to the envelope.

A few of Scott’s landings were on either dirt roads or in dirt pastures, or some with dirt, brush, and stickers, some of the times we really had to look for the side roads that would bring us to where he landed. Even though we tried, we did not always arrive before he landed. One one of his flights we noticed his balloon spinning, it turns out that one of the zipties holding his sponsor banner to the balloon broke which caused his balloon to spin, still Scott landed the balloon safely. Another time we had to travel down a one lane dirt road and we had to move an old chair, branches, etc. out of the road before we could get to him. We weren’t the only one landing in some of the areas so we had to watch for the other balloons and help them land a distance away from us, or catch them because their crew did not arrive yet. When Scott landed in the brush, we had to walk the balloon onto the road or a surface that would not damage the balloon and basket, that is if there was somewhere to move it to. That is not always the case.

One of the landings was close to the balloon field, and we had to hop a barbed wire fence. Thankfully, we were able to put the lift gate on his truck over the wire so we could get in safely. We had driven all around to see if there was a gate into the area, but there wasn’t. There was so much traffic that often it took us almost an hour of driving to get back to where we needed to pick Scott up near the balloon field where he landed. One of the days he landed near the Indian Reservation, we could see his balloon but the tribal police would not let anyone onto a service road to the highway so we could get there so we had to drive all the way back and try a different route. It was really frustrating, not only for us but for all of the chase crews since a lot landed in the same area.

One morning after Scott launched his balloon, and the other pilot in our grid was preparing to launch his balloon, it was about halfway inflated, the Yoda balloon descended onto the field and coming down almost into our grid where the other balloon was inflating. Everyone ran quickly to the balloon being inflated and tried to pull it out of the way of the Yoda balloon coming down quickly, thankfully everyone working together quickly prevented any damage to the balloon.

No balloon pilot is supposed to land a balloon on the field when other balloons are on the field waiting to be launched. This is against the rules, and I found out that Yoda and Darth Vader balloons are piloted by pilots from another country, but they have been here before and know the rules. It didn’t look like the Yoda pilot had any emergency situation that would have caused him to land quickly and almost land on other balloons. Everyone was upset that this happened and felt the Yoda pilot should receive some type of penalty, but we found out later on that nothing happened to this pilot. He was not even reprimanded from what we were told. Other than that incident, all went well as far as near our little corner of the field.

There were many of the same balloons from previous years, but there were also many new ones, including special shaped balloons. I also saw some balloons that were at the Longview Balloon event I went to in July. When I was looking at my pictures after I downloaded them to my computer I noticed things I didn’t see when I was looking at the balloons, such as the piranna fish… it had a fishing hook in one side of his jaw and a partial bloody finger in the other side. I loved the turtle, it doesn’t show well in pictures, but, his shoe laces are untied. Another balloon had flip flops all around the balloon envelope. Some of the special shaped balloons were so unusual that I couldn’t even imagine being a crew member or pilot, such as the balloon with three parrots or the cow. One of the crew for the Wonder Bread balloon gave me a few bags of Wonder Bread pins to give out again this year, she gave me some the previous year too. I loved watching the expressions of children and also the adults that I surprised giving them pins. They didn’t know or expect that I had pins to give away so when I handed them one they were really surprised. It was great fun!!!

After we launched, most of the time I went on chase crew. There were a couple of days I didn’t because I helped to set up for a few of the luncheons for the volunteers. That was really great, because besides helping to get things ready, I didn’t have to stand in line for a half hour or more to come in and get my meal.

On a few days there are afternoon balloon glows and also fireworks. I helped Scott on those days, even though it was pretty windy some of the afternoons, balloons did inflate and glow. It’s not easy to keep the balloon upright, and straight when it’s really windy, but by many of us leaning on the basket, or getting in it, we seem to manage. It’s important to keep the balloon envelope straight, so that the burners do not damage the fabric. The firework displays are incredible. There are five nights of fireworks, each one different and spectacular.

One the nights when Scott was not glowing, I went back to my camper on the hill and watched the fireworks from there. It was great, I could see them really well and I didn’t have to be in the midst of large groups of people. I am so glad that the gal in charge of the RV spots assigned me to this spot on top of the hill where the officials were parked in their RVs. The only downside was that that lot was not level, all spots pretty much were on a slope so we had to work to get our RVs level. I think I had to get my front tires up about 4 inches. We had some high winds and rains a few nights, and my camper rocked quite a bit. Thankfully, I didn’t blow over!!! One of the afternoons when I was back at my camper for a rest I saw that the fireman balloon was being inflated on the field. I guess they had  to do something with the balloon, perhaps untangle lines? I don’t know, but it was a great opportunity for me to get some good pictures of that balloon. This balloon is a reminder of 911.

Between volunteering for Pilot Registration, volunteering in the Balloon Discovery Tent,  helping to set up for the various parties for the pilots and volunteers, and crewing, I kept very busy. I tried to get a nap for an hour or two between the morning and afternoon sessions if I can. I kept track of the hours I volunteered and I had about 240 volunteer hours this year. That’s a new record for me, usually it’s about 50 or 60 hours. Most of it’s because I arrived a month early and worked every day. I really liked arriving about a month early and helping in the office. It gave me more of an idea of what it takes to put on this magnificent event.

On the last day of the Balloon Fiesta, the winds were not as favorable as Scott and the other pilots would have liked. It turns out that Scott landed in someone’s yard. We got there as he was coming down. He just cleared the top of a tree, and the crew was able to pull the drop line and get him down quickly on the ground. He is such a skilled pilot. He didn’t touch the tree or house. We had to pack the balloon in the street. After he landed we all walked the balloon and basket to the road and laid it down along the shoulder and into one of the lanes. There was no where else to put the balloon without damaging it. We all had different tasks, including watching for cars so they wouldn’t run over the balloon or crew. If you look at the pictures below, he came in just barely over the top of the tree in one photo and landed in the small yard next to the house… great landing!!!

I am so very glad I made the trip to Balloon Fiesta once again. It’s such an amazing event, and I always meet new people, and learn something new. Thankfully, my health is holding fairly steady. I can feel that my tumor is growing and shifting position, but it’s not hindering my activities very much, thanks to my medicine. My balloon crew is aware of my situation and they don’t let me lift or pull anything too heavy.

After I leave here on October 12th, I will be heading back to south Florida, stopping in Fort Worth and Waco to visit my friends there for a little while. I plan to attend the balloon event in Granbury, Texas, if I can get there before the weekend after Fiesta. I will see how it goes and how I feel as the date gets closer. I also want to attend a Native American Flute Festival in Melburne, Florida, the 2nd weekend in November. That’s about it for now.