January Flight

A year ago, when I was offered my job, Billy Roehrenbeck, one of the Y's board members who offered me the position, jokingly said that giving him a balloon ride was one of the conditions of my employment. I told him that I'd accept that condition, and enjoy taking him for a flight. Between his schedule and mine, it's taken almost a year, but we finally flew together this morning!

Billy recruited his brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Katie, to help us, and Jill braved the cold, early morning to help, too. We met the Roehrenbecks in Maumelle and drove to Vilonia to launch. It was about 30 degrees, but there was no wind during inflation, so it didn't feel too cold. The fan was slow to start, but once it did, it puffed the balloon up in short order, even in the absence of wind!

After an easy inflation, we were off. The plan was to stay low to make some landings early on, then fly a little higher for fun and steering. By staying low, we headed mostly east, staying right by the highway, when we climbed just a few hundred feet, we got a pretty sharp right turn. The map below shows the wind's "steerability." Down low, we flew east north east. Up high, it was southeast. It sure made "driving" the balloon easy!


After a touch-and-go and a full-stop landing, we climbed up and rode that right turn south east, after a bit, we saw a nice area for landing, and used the winds to work our way in.

By the time we landed, the winds had picked up a bit, so our final landing was a little bumpy, but we didn't drag more that 10 or 15 yards before coming to a stop. The landing site was a little wet in spots, but we were able to pack up without getting the balloon very wet. It was a nice, relaxing flight, with new crew members who learned quickly and did a great job!

Billy bought breakfast after the flight, and we enjoyed the Balloonists Prayer toast over breakfast at the Conway Cracker Barrel. Thanks to Jill and the Roehrenbecks for a great morning!