It's About Time!

Nearly half a year has passed since my last flight! Time has gone too quickly. My schedule, crew availability, and weather conspired against me that whole time! Today, though, I got the best of all of the forces against my ballooning adventures!

I needed to fly solo and get some landings in, which is always a bit of a bummer, but I was able to round up some new crew. Mike and Cynthia recently moved into the house a few doors down. They're a very nice young couple. Both are Air Force Pilots! When I invited them to help me, they both seemed very excited. I didn't even need to drive to pick them up!

We left the neighborhood a little before 6:00, drove to Vilonia, AR, and began inflating. Since there were just three of us, and because Mike and Cynthia were new crew, we took our time and inflated slowly. I was in the air right at 7:00.

Wind at the surface was out of the East, and just a few hundred feet up, it was out of the South. Talk about steerability! I made my way West, then North, then West again. I made two touch and go landings. I was a little rusty, and it's unusual to fly with no passengers, so that made flying a little different, but it was a good flight.

As I was approaching my second landing, I heard the aircraft radio fire up. An airplane announced it was approaching Conway Airport. He was about 5 miles East, and inbound to land. I quickly announced that I was about 2 miles East, making sure he knew where I was. The plane's pilot chuckled and said he had already seen me. Then I heard his engines as he flew past me, a little higher and farther South than I was.

When the winds let you steer your balloon it's nice. When you accurately use those winds to set down in the middle of a beautiful, mowed grass landing field (clean, flat, dry) it's FANTASTIC! As I made my approach I was careful to use my quiet burner and talk to the horses I flew over. They were a bit wary, but not too spooked by my presence. Then I waved to the landowner who was out drinking his coffee, and gently set down in his yard. I bounced and dragged a bit as I didn't want to vent too aggressively, and because the balloon was lighter than usual without a passenger, but it was a very nice landing. The chase crew was right there to ask the landowner's permission to pack up there. Not only did he agree, but he helped packup while his wife took pictures!

We shared a post-flight toast (water and Gatorade...no champagne as I was flying solo, and didn't anticipate toasting with landowners) with everyone and headed for home. We did make a brief stop on the way. A nearby resident saw the balloon in the air and chased. She helped us pack up, then invited us over to see her goats and horses. We were thrilled to do that, so we visited her farm and enjoyed seeing her pets!

I was too busy training new crew (I did a great job training them, because they were terrific crew!) to turn on my GPS to track my flight or to take any pictures, so here are some pictures of the goats. As you can see, even though the boy goat (identifiable by his John Deere cap) had been fixed the day before, he was still pretty randy toward the female.

Flying season is definitely here. I hope to get some more flying in next week during RiverFest! I am especially looking forward to seeing some of my ballooning friends from up North who are making the trip down for the event!