by Gary Meddock
I was invited to enter a chamber
from hell and I jumped at the offer. It was a spectacular winter day. El
Niño had blessed northern Wisconsin with a cloudless sky and no wind,
with temperatures pushing into the 40's. I was about to trade the sunshine
for flames and coal black smoke.
This wasn't a pact with the devil, but a chance to help Peter Krieg perform a daredevil smoke balloon ascent. Krieg is the only person in the world who currently flies smoke balloons and thanks to a grant by the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Committee, he brought his act to the Hudson Hot Air Affair, an annual hot air balloon meet held in February.
With the perfect day as a backdrop, Krieg was about to treat the crowd to a two hour show-part showmanship, part Chautauqua, with an "extreme-sport" adrenaline charged climax. For those not familiar with smoke ballooning, here's a quick primer. The balloon is made of a heavy muslin like fabric. The throat of the balloon is staked to the ground. Poles and ropes are used to support the balloon while a hot smoky fire is started insidethe smoke is an essential ingredient helping to seal the porous fabric. As the balloons fills, the supporting poles and ropes are removed. When the balloon is well stoked, someone cuts the rope restraining the beast and it snatches the pilot, hooked in a harness, from the ground. The balloon soars skyward with the pilot swinging wildly below. At some point, the heat runs out, the pilot cuts loose and parachutes back to the ground. The balloon inverts, spills it's heat and plummets where it may, to earth with a thud.
I met up with Krieg late Saturday
morning after driving out to a lonely section of road surrounded by fields,
only a few minutes from Hudson. Peter Krieg is a compact, trim gentleman
who has changed little in the 15 plus years since I last saw him. In his
late fifties, sporting a jaunty cap, his appearance is more distinguished
than daredevil. Krieg has an affable manor and a calm, direct style effective
in directing help from the crowd. Since I was the only one there who had
even seen a smoke balloon before, he asked if I would run the burner inside
the balloon. I was honored to participate.
The first step is to set a circle of a dozen stakes. A rope which will hold the balloon to the ground is pulled taught around the stakes and secured with a "weak-link." At the proper moment, a stroke with a hatchet will server the link and swap potential for kinetic energy.
Next, the balloon is unrolled and dragged carefully over the stakes and small biners secure the balloon to the restraining rope. By this point a sizable crowd had gathered and Krieg was sharing stories and recruiting help with the heavy heap of sooty fabric.
Now things were beginning to take shape. The base of the balloon has a small doorway to gain entrance to the interior. A pole goes inside which can be extended to hold the envelope to near its full height. The crude propane fired burner and the "smoker" go in and it was time for me to go in too. It had been over twenty years since I had helped with a smoke balloon and I asked Pete to reacquaint me with the procedures. Everything seemed straight forward until Pete reached the part where he said, "and you will stay inside while I take off."
Memories of my brother Dodds' last smoke balloon flight flashed in my mind. On that flight the restraining rope slipped over the stakes, jerking him prematurely airborne and snagging a ground pole. The pole swung full-length, smacking him on the elbow, shattering the bones. Stunned, with no way to abort, he was pulled skyward. After further potentially catastrophic complications, Dodds landed more or less safely. Doctors employed the shish kabob method to skewer the myriad bone fragments into something resembling an elbow. I was keenly aware of the element of risk in flying a smoke balloon.
Despite my reservations we went inside to bring the thing to life. First, Krieg lit a fuel oil fire in a "modified garbage can" burner, using the lid for control. Dense smoke belched into the balloon. Don Piccard, who was conducting a subsequent civil war gas balloon flight recreation at another location, came by and provided a colorful commentary via PA about the operation. I started the propane burner and slowly the balloon began lifting from its ground-bound support. Some of the helpful local firefighters came inside to remove the center pole which Krieg warned, "would be hotter than hell."
Krieg went back out to continue preparations as I stoked the balloon following his shouted instructions. When the balloon was fully inflated and launch only minutes away, Krieg came back inside for a final check. For probably the third time I asked, "so I just lay down in the center and the thing will take off right over me?"
"Yep," Krieg responded, "just lay down in the middle and I'll go right over you."
Sensing my concern he added, "if somehow you get caught up, just stay with it, I'll stay with you, we'll both ride it up and just ride it back down. Just stay with it." You can count on that I thought. If I go up, I'll definitely hang around for the whole ride.
Moments later, Krieg was hooked
in and began the countdown. I laid as flat as a human possibly could, and
whack, the ax fell and in a heartbeat Krieg was snatched neatly from where
he stood.
It's not possible to overstate the excitement and crowd appeal of that moment. Part of it is the startling speed at which the whole thing rockets skyward. Part is the silence as the crowd stares in stunned amazement at the fellow who had just stood among them, levitating into the sky, swinging dramatically to and fro. People could not have been more dazzled if Krieg had been beamed into an alien spaceship.
And the excitement intensified. As the balloon reached its pinnacle, the crowd held its breath, awaiting the moment when Krieg will cut loose from the bag and fall. He did and then, his cute billowed in the sky. Everyone went wild. Ponderously, the balloon upended, leaving a cloud of soot in the sky and crashing to earth nearby. Krieg landed a few hundred yards away, delighting the cheering crowd.
Krieg has developed his smoke balloon system primarily on his own and the whole operation is extremely faithful to the rich traditions of smoke ballooning. Many of us who flew balloons in the 70's were fortunate to know Captain Eddie Allen, one of the most famous smoke balloonists of this century. He and his family devoted their lives to smoke ballooning. I know Captain Eddie would be proud to see the craft carried on in such a professional and crowd pleasing manor.
If you have a chance to see Peter Krieg fly, do not miss the opportunity. He puts on one hell of a show and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
