One Week, One Glow, Three Flights

Well, I took the week after Labor Day off, and it gave me a chance to fly. It had been several months since my last flight, so I needed to get current. It had also been a long time since I had a lesson toward my commercial certificate, so I wanted to fly with David. Wednesday morning gave me a chance to do both. David, Dudley and I met at the usual spot, and drove to Vilonia for a lesson flight. Since I needed to land several times, we decided to work on our "HALO" landings, where we flew over a landing site and dropped fast into the field. We had three good landings (some smoother than others) then a final landing, just on the edge of Conway (home of Kris Allen!) A quick breakfast at the Waffle House, and a drive home made for a good morning!

Friday, Jill and I drove to Harrison for the Arkansas State Hot Air Balloon Championships. At 5:00, we had our pilots' briefing at a soccer complex. For a town of Harrison's size, they have great athletic facilities! The soccer complex was to host much of the balloon championships. After the briefing, the balloonists all prepared our balloons for tethering and glowing (most flew tethers, but I don't have tethering equipment, so I just glowed).

My balloon hadn't been inflated since its annual inspection. The vent line was tangled, but I didn't realize it until the balloon was standing, but not standing right. I couldn't deflate it using the vent, so I let it cool, and we pulled it down, fixed the line, and re-inflated it. We kept the balloon up for about two hours, taking pictures, talking to spectators, and getting to know our terrific crew members, Chris and Emily.

Saturday morning came early, and a 6:00 am pilots' briefing gave way to a morning competition. It was a two part judge declared goal event, with a $10,000 pole grab. I hadn't ever flown in Harrison before, so I tagged along with some friends (Alan, Patty, and Jim) to find a launch site. We picked the fairgrounds, inflated and launched. I sandbagged a little. My first inflation wasn't going well, as some of my top tabs came out before the balloon was standing, so I deflated and started again. It worked out that my friends all launched and once I was in the air, gave me a good view of how to fly to get to the target. Emily flew with me, and the team did well. After the morning flight, we were in 2nd place, with two pretty good tosses at the target. I need to practice baggie drops, as I kind of blew the drop at the 2nd target.

Jill wanted to see Mallori's new apartment, so we drove to Springfield, and spent a couple hours helping her move, then back to Harrison for Saturday evening's flight.

Saturday evening was a hare and hound. We finally got inflated on the first effort, and with Chris with me, we did a pretty well flying to the hare, but didn't get quite close enough to score. I don't think anyone else did much better, and it was a great flight, so it was a great evening!

Sunday morning, the weather looked iffy, and Jill and I were tired, so I decided I wasn't going to fly. The competition was on, so Mike (the weather guy) Mills, did a great job, and put his bean bag between two of the legs of the X. I'm sure I got beat out, but as it started raining before the balloons landed, I felt like I won!

We drove home, and I had a reception for work. It was a really nice weekend!