The annual hot air balloon festival in Albuqurque, NM. coincides with the annual PPG fly-in at Paramotor city. Thanks to Jerry & Michelle Daniele, and Eric & Elizabeth Dufour for hosting a great event.
Also, a big thanks to Mike Vann of the Texas Wing Nuts for hauling my flying gear out to Albuquerque, and to Andy McAvin for hauling me around while there and the ride back to the airport.
The fly-in unofficially started on Thursday Oct. 5th with lots of pilots showing up and getting registered. Unfortunately there was a fatality on Thursday. Two pilots collided in mid-air at approximately 200 feet AGL. One pilot got tangled in his wing and fell to his death, the other was able to recover and land safely, although severely shaken. The accident had everyone reflecting on their own mortality and reviewing the safety procedures while flying in a group. You can find more information about the accident at...
I arrived Friday about 11:30 a.m. Albuquerque time via SW airlines. The world famous Mike Vann had just finished a morning flight and was good enough to come and pick me up. The wind had picked up and everyone was grounded back at paramotor city. We met up with Andy and had lunch after checking in to our hotel.
We headed to the field around 4:00 pm to find the wind still strong and unflyable, blowing up to about 20 mph. It made time for visiting with old friends and making some new ones. Dinner was served on site, tortilla burgers with green chili sauce (hot baby, the red sauce even hotter!) A band made up of pilots entertained the crowd and Michelle Danielle of paramotor city sang an original PPG song.
4:30 a.m. came early on Saturday. We drove to the field only to have the rain start falling. The 5:30 a.m. dawn patrol balloon launch was cancelled, and the 7:00 a.m. mass ascension was doubtful. Everyone stood around and watched it rain, drank coffee, ate donuts and asked each other if they thought it was going to stop.
There was a 15 mile cross country flight scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to an LZ outside the 5 mile radius no fly zone where non official event balloons were taking off. Some of us decided to drive over there and launch, while several pilots opted for the XC. I was part of the contingent that drove to the LZ, along with Andy, Mike, and several other pilots. When we arrived it was about 8:15 a.m. and there were balloons still launching. As we tried to gauge the wind, which was pretty much non existent, we ended up setting up on one side of the dirt launch area and switching as the wind shifted around. Andy launched first and only stayed up for a short time. The XC group was heading in as I set up for a launch. It took about 6 tries, but I got in the air and shot some HDV footage. Mike (digger) launched with some flair as usual but got into the air unscathed. We flew around the LZ for about 30 minutes or so and landed. Some of the XC pilots re-fueled and flew back to paramotor city.
Of the scheduled 700 balloons that were to go up, only about 200 ventured into the air.
Back at paramotor city the wind came up again and everyone was grounded. The Saturday night banquet featured fajitas and green chili stew, tasty stuff. A salsa band entertained and everyone had a great time.
Sunday morning brought rain so Andy & I headed to the balloon field to do some shopping and check out the classic car show. No balloons launched due to the weather. We got a call from paramotor city that it was clear over there and several pilots were in the air. Andy broke some speed limit laws and we made it over to the field in time for some pretty good air time, "Flying the Pig" being the hilight.
Around 1:00 p.m. the wind started shifting with thermal activity and the flying ceased. Mike headed back to Houston while Andy & I hung out and talked shop with friends and pilots. It rained again and really turned the dirt into a mucky mess. We headed over to the casino for all you can eat dinner and then back to the hotel.
The weekend was filled with fun,
flying, adventure, rain, and more.
Stay Tuned...
CP.
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