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04.2001

46

Experience of others can help prepare you for the unexpected!

Hangar Flying

edited byGeorge Denniston

First Texas
Panhandle Crossing

by Rolla Hinkle

ByFebruaryof1974IthoughtIwas
gettingto be a right smart pilot. A friend
ofmine,CharlieKoontz,fromOlden,
Texas,said,“Whydon’tyoucomefly
your balloonover here?”ThatwasallI
needed. Friday we packed the balloon up
into an old Frito Lay van. Bob Locke and
BillGlenweremygroundcrew.They
bothweighedinat over two hundred and
fiftypounds but that was key. If the bal-
loongotawayonme,theycouldgetin
front of me from below and reach up and
grabme andpullme backto earth.
We were flyingAX-6 balloons then
whichare fifty-fivethousandcubic foot
balloons good only for winter use. It was
manyyears before anyone startedflying
inthe summer. Those Ax-6’s couldonly
carry two passengers and the pilot during
the winterwith temperatures between zero
andfiftydegreesandstill have beautiful
flights. It just didn’tholduptosummer-
time though.
Anyway, we arrived in Olden, Texas
on a Friday afternoon and stayed with the
Koontzes. Saturday morningthere was a
lightsnow fallingsowe optednottogo
out.ButSundaywasadifferentmatter.
The sky was prettyclear except for a few
cloudstothenorthandtothe west.The
winds lookedcalmso the wordwent out
that it was a go. All of Olden showed up.
ThelittletownofOldeninthecentral
panhandleof Texasmusthave hadsev-
enty or eighty peopleturn out, pretty much

half the size of the town.
We inflated the balloon right in front
of Charlie Koontz’s house by the country
clubandupwe went. Thatwasthe first
balloon flight in the panhandle. As I pro-
ceeded east, the winds came up a bit but I
still figured there was no problem. Look-
ingdown, I had an entourage of as many
asonehundredcars.Thisallhappened
within the first fifteen or twenty minutes.
I had Bill and Bob stay in front of me
whileIdirectedthemtosectionroads
where they couldwait for me. As I came
up to a sectionroad, they’dreachup and
grab meand jerk the balloon to the ground
jarringmy teethlike crazy because these
big guys could really put it on the ground.
Ialwayssaidmylandingsweremuch
better thantheir pulldowns.
We’djam twopassengersinandup
we’d goagain. I figureditwasprobably
twenty- five tothirtydegreesandabout
half waywe begantohavea few snow-
flakes.Thesecloudskeptapproaching
from the north, but I figured it was all right
because wewere fine andvisibilitywas
still good.We flew and we flew andwe
passedone quarterway.I asked the guy
withme,“What’sthatlittletowndown
there?” He said, “That’s Quarter Way and
we’re coming up on Half Way.” It just so
happens that on US 70 between Olden and
Plainview, there are towns called Quarter
Way, Half WayandThree Quarter Way.
I said, “All right, we’ll try for Plainview.”

That was twenty-eight miles away but we
were goingata pretty goodclip.
InthemeantimeIkeptlo oking
around. We wereabout thirty-five to forty
minutesintotheflight.Itseemedlike
therewereonethousandcarsonallof
thosedirtroads.Allovertheareathere
was a car somewhere.It was Sunday morn-
ingandeveryone was either out going to
church, or watching this new flyingsau-
certhathadjustinvadedthepanhandle.
Incidentally, a lot of them didn’t make it
tochurch that day.
I startedgettingprettybrave,andI
had some experience, soI dropped down
prettylowaswewereapproachingthe
town of Half Way. It was about 11:15 a.m.
and we were coming right down due east
onUS 70,maybea littlebit totheright
side. Up on the horizon appears a beauti-
ful white church with a steeple ona little
hill.Theguywithmesaid,“Oh,you
won’t bother them because they probably
won’t even hear you.” We were approach-
ingHalfWayandtherecouldn’thave
beenmore thantwelvebuildingstotal. I
camerightinnexttothesteepleofthat
church,butIhadtomake aprettylong
burn in order to keep from wiping it out. I
missedandafter I passed the church, the
wind kind of slowed down and we stalled
there for a bit.
Just like little kids do when they have
theirhands together to make a steeple, and
thenopentheir fingersandoutcomeall

47

www.balloonlife.com

04.2001

HANGAR FLYING with George Den-
niston is presented to enhance safe flying
by providing balloonists the opportunity
to gain experience from others without
actually flying. The column is edited by
George Denniston who is a doctor and
balloonist living in Seattle, Washington.
Articles may be signed or anonymous to
protect the privacy of those involv ed, as
the author wishes. If you have an experi-
ence th at you would like to share with
others, send your manuscript to Balloo n
Life magazine, Hangar Flying with
George Denniston, 2336 47th Ave SW,
Seattle, WA 98116-2 331. Submissions
may be typewritten, submitted on disk
(Mac or IBM format), or e-mailed to
tom@balloonlife.com. Balloon Life pays
$35 for each story used.

thepeople,wellitlookedjustlikethe
steeple had opened up and out came all the
people. They were all waving at us and I
waswavingback. Itwasa fantasticday.
Eventheministercameoutandhewas
wavingtousonhislittleporchwithhis
blackrobeonandthe goodbookunder
one hand. As we pulled away, I could see
alot of peoplefrom the congregation were
gettingintotheircarsandfollowingthe
restoftheentourageofcars.Looking
back at the preacher, he was waving at me
andhekeptlookingbackatallthese
people leaving. Helookedatthem, then
he looked at me, and then he threwme the
prettiesthighsign.OfcourseIrecipro-
cated. He threw his book down, went back
into the door and disappeared.I laterfound
out the reasonhe was so upset. The plate
had not been passed around and he had not
receivedhis Sundayofferings.
I was still changingoutpassengers.
FinallyI hadtakenthelastguy, Charlie
Koontz, the one that started all of this. He
didn’t want to fly but after he saw all of his
buddies fly, he finally got in. At that time,
theballoonmovedbacka littletowards
the north and we were headedfor a feed
yard. Being an old feed yard manager, he
said, “God Almighty, we’ll scare all those
cattle.” Beinganoldfeedyardmanager
andcattle gurumyself, I said, “I know it
won’t bother them.”
We flew over the southwest corner of
thefeedyardbelongingtoa guybythe
nameofBobCarter.Theballoonpro-
ceeded to stall out and here we are sitting

right over the top of the cattle which were
mostlyb lackandwhiteHolsteins.I
thought,“Boy, look at all of those black
and white Easter eggs down there.” Pretty
soon they started going in a circle and we
kindofstopped.IfiguredI’dtrytogo
higher andgetaway fromthem butwith
the roar of the burners, they accidentally
knocked open the gate in a panic and here
go about three hundred Holsteins running
and looking curiously up at the balloon. I
said, “Oh no Charlie!”Charlie said, “Carter
is going to kill me!” I said, “What doyou
thinkhe’lldo tome?” We moved a little
further and almost wiped out some horses
on top of it all.
We finally landed pretty close to the
town of Plainview and here comes Carter
driving up. Steam was comingout of his
windows ashe was madas hellat us, not
knowingwhowasintheballoon.The
balloonwasdownonitssideandthe
gondolawastippedonitssideaswell.
CharlieandIwerecrawlingoutofthe
gondola with hundreds of cars and people
everywhere.Cartercomesupandsays,
“Hinkle, Koontz, I should have known it
was you two guys that opened the gate on
myHolsteins.” The next thingwe know
wearealldrinkingbeerandhappy.He
said he’d get the cows back someday and
it wasn’t much of a problem. It was a great
flight and the whole crew had a good time.
We headed back to Roswell later that day
tired but very elated over our first real out
of town flight.

This story from Rolla Hinkle’s new book, Non-ScheduledFlightsIntothe
Unkn own (Terminating in Controlled Crashes). The book is full of tales of an
early balloonist, all pretty humorous. If you enjoyed this Hangar Flying, you
will like the book. The bo ok is approximately 100 printed pag es.
Cost$23 postpa id. Make check payable to Rolla Hinkle II and send to 303
Coal, Ruidoso, NM 88345.