Saturday Morning West Little Rock Flight

After some successful flights last weekend, I feel like I'm making some progress with my pilot skills, so I felt pretty comfortable planning a flight on the west side. Making me more comfortable was the fact the David was planning a flight, and we could fly side-by-side.

Ever since Jill went to work for Arkansas State University, she's wanted to give a balloon ride to her boss, and we figured this was a great morning for it. We'd be launching practically from her back yard, as the forecast winds were from the south, and our target was several miles north. Jill's boss decided to give the ride to her son, who just graduated from high school and also just turned 18. So, Genia, Marshall, Jill and I inflated the balloon in a nice, clean parking lot beside where David was inflating his balloon.

Once both balloons were standing, we launched for a great flight over West Little Rock. It was clear that we had chosen our launch site well, and would need to stay fairly low to keep on track for our chosen landing site. Our track took us over lots of shopping centers as well as directly over the swimming pool where Marshall works. No one was swimming at that early hour, but on the bright side, no one was running on the deck, either!

We cleared Highway 10, then the ridge, then we dropped down to a nice landing in Two Rivers Park. David landed in the same field I did, so we helped each other pack up, and we shared our toast with our passengers before heading off on some errands.

What a great start to the weekend!