Wow, you’re all ready for tomorrow morning. Your clothes are all laid out on the chair and you are lying there in bed dreaming about this new adventure that you are going to become a part of in the morning. The pilot said he would call you about two hours before sunrise to give you enough time to get to the meeting place on time. TWO HOURS BEFORE SUNRISE!!! What have you gotten yourself into? When was the last time you actually even saw a sunrise. Well, now that you are part of a balloon crew you are going to see plenty of them. Soon you will wonder why you let this beautiful part of the day slip buy without you being there to enjoy the sensation. Sunrise, in my opinion, is the most beautiful time of day.
I am going to spend a short paragraph on pilot etiquette here. A pilot should make arrangements for crew at least a day or two before the planned flight. Unless they already have an arrangement, I think that a pilot takes a lot for granted when he calls a crew person at 5 a.m. to ask him to crew for his flight that morning. I also let my crew know that if the flight is canceled due to bad weather that I will not call and wake them to tell them that we are not going to fly. The pilot has to get up to check the weather which could include his or her own observations, a call to flight service for a weather briefing and checking weather satellite pictures on the net. I feel the pilot should awake crew only if the flight is a go. That way, if the weather is bad, you get to sleep in.
The anticipation is keeping you awake. You have been lying awake for hours and just dozed off and the phone rings. You glance at the clock. Sure enough, it says 5 a.m. and your pilot is on the phone. He is going to tell you two very important things that you must remember:
1. Where to meet him.
2. What time to meet him.
If you are one of those people who does not register when you first awaken I suggest that you keep a pad and pencil near the phone. Write down the where and when and refer to it after you come out of the shower and are finally awake. Nothing is more embarrassing than going to the wrong location or being late. Some pilots will pick you up at home, but most will not. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the meeting place on time. Remember, a balloon crew consists of 4 or 5 people and you do not want to be the one that causes everyone to be delayed.
A quick note about personal hygiene. How can I handle this subject as delicately as possible? I guess I’ll just go ahead and say what I want to say. Please shower. You are going to be in a vehicle with several other people and you do not want to cause olfactory discomfort to your companions.
Some pilots have a central meeting place that is used before every flight. Some pilots vary the meeting place depending upon their plans for the flight. Hopefully your meeting place will have minimum creature comforts. My crew and I meet in the parking lot of a large hotel. There is plenty of parking space, coffee, bathrooms and telephones. If your meeting place does not have these conveniences, plan ahead and take care of necessities before arriving.
If your meeting place is anything like ours there will be several other pilots and crews there. This will be your chance to observe and learn. Check out the other crew people but remember, some will be crewing for a fun flight while others will be crewing for a commercial ride operation. These morning meetings also are great social events and you get to meet and talk to many new people and see old friends.
While you were meeting and greeting other crew people, the pilots probably got together and had an informal meeting of the minds on weather conditions, launch site and possible landing sites. They probably released several small helium filled balloons, known as Pibals, to check wind speed and direction. This is a very important part of flight planning. Most pilots will share this information with their crew if they show an interest.
Most balloonists meet about 30 minutes before flight time if they are flying in the same general vicinity. In some locations it could be as much as an hour before flight time depending upon how far you have to go from the meeting place to the launch site. While the meetings are very informal, please stay close to your pilot and/or his vehicle. Once the launch site decision has been made he will want to load up and get on the road as quickly as possible. If you leave the immediate vicinity for any reason check with your pilot first. We always try to allow for that few extra minutes for a pit stop just before leaving the meeting place for the launch site.
So far all I have discussed are sunrise flights. Balloons do fly in the afternoons, usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before sunset. Meeting time will also precede flight time by about 30 minutes and usually a pilot will let you know what time he plans to “call the flight.” By that I mean that a specific time will be set for him to do his pre-flight planning and to make the go/no go decision. On afternoon flights you should receive a call at that time to inform you of the decision.
Sometimes a go/no go decision cannot be made that far in advance of a flight. In these cases the decision is usually not made until you have met and driven to the launch site. This happens often in Texas due to the quick changes in weather patterns. Many times a flight will get off without a hitch, however, often what looked like good to marginal flight conditions will deteriorate by the time you reach the launch site. In these instances the flight will be scrubbed at the launch site.
We have a saying in ballooning that, “I’d rather be on the ground, wishing I was in the air instead of in the air, wishing I was on the ground.” In order to ease the disappointment of my passengers when we have a cancellation at the launch site I will usually conduct a champagne celebration with the following prayer:
The winds have not welcomed us with softness.
They have kept us on the ground.
So, let’s open another bottle
and have another round.
Your crewing adventure is about to begin. You are on the road headed for the
launch field.
Note: Please send comments, suggestions or criticisms to me at aerobp@flash.net.