March 2000
Flying
byGeorgeDenniston
overPharaohs
nearLuxorincentralEgyptisa
balloonist’sparadise.Usuallythereare
winds atdifferentaltitudesgoingindif-
ferent directions, so it is possible to travel
about at will.
Luxor is a village situated on theEast
Bank of the Nile as it flows north toward
theMediterraneanSea.Amileorso
downriveronthesame bankisthe huge
Temple of Karnak. Across theriver, be-
yond two miles of farmers’ fields lies the
Necropolis of Thebes, nestled in front of
and on the slopes of the West hills. To the
Westof the hillsis desert.
I have flown more than 700 flights in
this area—some takingoff from the Val-
ley of the Kings, others from the Valley of
the Queens,or the Valleyof the Nobles.
Once I took off from the village of Luxor,
fro minfrontofQueenHatsh epsut’s
Temple,andlandedontherampofher
beautifultombacross the river.
I wasusuallyable tocomplete three
flightseachmorning. The firstbeganat
5:30 a.m., the second at 7:00 a.m., and the
third at8:30. I was outof the air by9:30
a.m.It was a wonderful place to flypas-
sengers.
Here is what it was oftenpossible to
do duringa morningflight. After climb-
ing several hundred feet above the ground,
I could gowest to east at one level, go up
100 feet and go north, go up 20 feet and go
south,goup200feetandcomebackto
where I took off, go up 300 more feet and
cross the Nile, go up 30feet andgo from
Luxor totheKarnakTemple,goup 200
feet, recross the Nile and land 20 feet from
where I tookoff.
Itwasnotagoodideatocrossthe
West Hills. If you happened to do so, you
were indeeptroublefortherewasonly
desert, and noroads. Inthe afternoons in
tothewestwhichwouldtakeyouover
those hills, but most of the time, this was
notarisk, sincethepredominantwinds
were out of the west.
Thermals were not a bigproblem. If
theywere out over the desert, theywere
smoother and easier to handle. They were
moredifficulttohandleovercultivated
landneartheNile. It wasexcitingto fly
overtheValleyoftheKingswhereso
many ancient pharaohsare buried, espe-
ciallyasI usuallyflew a royalblue bal-
loonwith KingTut’s gold mask onit.
Majorarcheological discoveries were
made while I was flying there. In 1989 at
Karnaktempleonthewestsideofthe
Nile, surveyors were doing a check of the
water level, to determine how much dam-
agewasbein gdon eb ythechanges
wroughtbytheAswanHighDam.As
they dug down, a huge stone slab that they
did not know was there halted them. They
cleared thedirt away, and pulled it up, and
found a cache of more than 40 statues of
ancient pharaohs. The high priests appar-
entlyhaddugahole tohidethemfrom
invaders. The statueswere about tenfeet
high,blemish-free,andlookedlike they
hadjust beencreated.I was perhaps the
first unofficial person to see these extraor-
dinarystatues.
Inthepast10years,Ihaveflown
commercially in 35 countries. To do that,
Ihavehadtoobtain6commercialli-
censes.Thetoughestonetoobtainwas
Australia,whilemostof the others were
tougherthantheAmericancommercial
rating.
Maintenanceof theballoons in Egypt
and other eastern countries is quite differ-
ent—quite a contrast from the way we do
it in America. For me it was a rude awak-
we useda different
fuel—butane.
Butaneatthesame temperature and
altitude as propane has much lessstand-
ingpressure.If propane were at100 psi,
thenbutanewouldonlybeat20psi.
Butane also has muchmore carbonin it.
Oneneedstohavefiltersinthelineat
everypoint.Eventhen,thereisextra
maintenance on the burners.Usually the
pilotshavetotake themapartandclean
them.Thenforeachflightwehaveto
pressurizethe butane with on-board nitro-
gen. The acidic nature of butane eats away
at thetank containing it, producing sludge,
whichhas tobe cleanedout regularly.
Alsowealwayscarriedacomplete
SurvivalKitthatincluded,amongother
things, space blankets, flare guns, batter-
ies, chocolate bars, food and water, and a
first aid kit.
Withrespecttotheweather,a pilot
needs a real firm grip on the basics. Tem-
perature, pressure and density altitude are
factorsyoureallyhitonindeveloping
countries. You cannot pickupthe phone
and get a full report as you do in the West.
Therearenocomputerprogramsthere
either.One mustlearnthetrendsof the
area, and get onwith it. Start off slowly,
andgraduallyexpand your flyingarea.
Lookatthemapsof the area,travel
around the area in a vehicle, and see it for
yourself.Talkwithfixedwingandheli-
copterpilots,especiallymilitarypilots,
and learn about the terrain, and the things
to look out for. It is good procedure if you
neverhavethe slightestproblemsaying
no, I won’t go today. Also, hang on to the
adage,“Wheneverindoubt,land.” Too
oftenI have seen ego, orthepressureto
makemoney,getinthewayofthese
simple, buteffective, safetyrules.
