Great June for the Balloon!

Well, June of 2008 is one of my best ballooning months ever!

It all began on the first, when David Hoover and I flew our balloons side by side in West Little Rock. (see previous post)

Then, the next weekend, we met several other pilots on Mulberry Mountain for the first balloon event there. While the topography are inhospitable to ballooning, we all made short hops across the concert field on Friday evening, then on Saturday, some made the short flight, some stood up for a balloon glow. I glowed, but only briefly. It was pretty windy. Jill and I enjoyed spending the day Saturday with Charlie and Norma, driving around the mountains and visiting Ozark, Arkansas.

The third weekend was Bushwhacker Days. Saturday morning was great! I had a nice, calm flight with Marty's dad, Red Redburn. It could only have been better if my dad, Max Maxfield, had been there! It was a slow flight, from Nevada's airport, north about 4 miles. Look for a flight track to be uploaded soon. All of you Google Earth users, just ask and I'll send you the 3d version. Saturday evening, it was so calm that several of us launched and landed at the airport. A few pilots flew off the airport, but short hops were all we had wind for. Sunday, there were storms in the area, so there was no flying done that morning.

After a week in Chicago, I got a Saturday morning flight in on the 21st. Jill's friend, John wanted to go for a ride, so we did. All week, the forecasts were for wind out of the Northwest, and lo and behold, it was! I used Google Earth to find a good area for landing spots, then followed the predicted wind back to a good launch site. I dropped by Friday afternoon to ask for permission, which was enthusiastically granted by the girls' school that owns the land we flew from. The residents even came out to watch us set up and fly away! After a beautiful flight, we landed at the home of a junior high school teacher who had both Jill and John in her class! She was happy to let us pack up in her yard!

Finally this morning, the last day of June, I got to take a flight with my friend David. The last time we flew in the same basket was in his balloon. This morning, we launched from a site on Colonel Glenn Road, and made our way south and west where we landed in the middle of a street in a residential neighborhood. Our chase crew had trouble finding us, even though they could see the balloon after it was on the ground. It was a subdivision with only two entrances, and they "couldn't get there from here."

With any luck, I'll get another month like this one soon! it was really fun spending so much time under the envelope!

One Weekend, Two Days, Two Flights!

On Saturday, I got to fly with David Hoover, joining him on a passenger flight he was conducting over the west side of Little Rock. It was a nice flight, with only a minor incident on launch. I was at the burner, and the winds were stronger than I realized, so my ascent was a bit too slow, and we hit some trees. Sorry, David :-(

On Sunday, the weather was forecast to be really good and it was! Light winds from the south southwest. The plan was for me to fly my balloon, and David was taking his. We set up on the west side of town, and planned a flight to the river. The winds were perfect, light, with a slight right high up and a slight left down low.

We played leapfrog as we traveled north. David would climb above me, move from my left to my right, then descend. Then I would climb, and move back to his right. It was pretty fun!

The scenery was FANTASTIC! To our north, fog moved in on the river and some of the valleys with several ridges and Pinnacle Mountain rising above it. To our East, the city's skyline could be seen in the distance. It was a very pretty flight.

After about an hour in the air, we were ready to land, but we were short of our intended landing area. Fortunately, several fields and parking lots were available to us. David landed in a parking lot, and I tried to get into a field at a church, but the winds wouldn't allow it. Fortunately, the winds down low had shifted and were directing me back to the south, and straight into a parking lot at a shopping center. After clearing some power lines and some trees, I dropped in for a gentle parking lot landing.

Thanks to Philip and Dan (and Abby!), my crew this morning. Philip was a great passenger, and seemed to have a really nice time. I'll update this posting when I get some pictures. While I didn't have a camera, David had one in his balloon, so he got some good shots of my balloon!