by Jon Radowski
Expect the unexpected. Await the unusual. Prepare
for the most fun you've had in a long time! These were just a few of the
warnings I received from colleagues before attending the Fifth Annual Experimental
Balloon and Airship Association Meet in Post Mills, Vermont held May 15-17,
1998. Balloonmeister Brian Boland has hosted this "extravaganza"
since 1994 when the first congregation of experimental aeronauts gathered
at his airport and established an ongoing tradition.
The EBAA exists due to Boland's relentless pursuit of experimentation in aeronautics. The EBAA helps support and foster the creativity of the sometimes isolated experimental balloonist by promoting the "Homebuilt/Experimental" movement. The organization is comprised of many enthusiasts who build, own, or fly experimental, homebuilt, or ultralight balloons and/or airships. Many people are members and don't even know about it. One can also be an associate member just by being in touch with Brian or having a passion for experimentation. As an almost unorganized organization, the EBAA tries to host at least one gathering of members and enthusiasts per calendar year. This particular year was the fifth annual meeting of the sort.
Post Mills Airport (2B9) serves as the nucleus of the experimental ballooning world, mostly due to Brian's very own workshop and balloon production facilities on site. Even with these facilities, the old-time grass strip is still more of an experimenter's destination: the Experimental Balloon and Airship Museum! Construction was finally completed in May 1997, literally just as the fourth annual meet began. The museum, quite simply put, is huge. That's not very hard to say when it measures 200 feet long and 40 feet wide, and is two stories tall. Resembling a wooden dirigible hangar, it currently houses over 60 balloons, airships, and specialty vehicles as well as artifacts and other interesting objects worthy of display. The second floor is usually uncluttered and used for laying out balloons for inspection or construction. At the end of the building, large glass panels invite light into the structure while the other end joins Brian's unique house at the cutting room. The cutting room resembles a large ship. If this boat doesn't say something, I honestly don't know what does!
Friday
Balloons and airships were definitely the order
of the weekend. When I arrived at the airport Friday afternoon after a hearty
six hour drive, I noticed that I was not the only nut to trek to the middle
of nowhere for a weekend. A group of schoolchildren had constructed a large
model balloon of pink, white and gray nylon and were inflating it with the
help of Brian, a weed burner of his, and a few extra people. I had barely
arrived at the airport and something interesting was happening already!
After a few alterations in connecting the small load ring to the envelope,
the group helped cold pack the balloon with an idling inflator fan. Brian
then turned the weed burner on. To everyone's enjoyment, the balloon stood
up and tugged on the hands of the people holding it down. A few chance breezes
picked up at this time and the group decided to wait until the next morning
to put it up on a tether.
After the demonstration, I took an opportunity to explore the balloon museum and loft. If you get a chance to walk through the museum on your own, you'll most likely think how lonely it is in there. But throw a bunch of interested onlookers in there with Brian leading an illustrated walking tour, and you have a regular circus act. Each time around, Brian tries to tell different stories about each balloon, airship, or interesting artifact. This method works quite well.
By the time I reached the end of the ground floor, the stairs leading to the loft beckoned my name... Up the stairs I bounded, a ravenous balloonivore starving for some nylon and wicker. Upon reaching the second floor, I was astounded by the vast emptiness stretching from where I stood down to the sewing machines at the very end near Brian's house. Between the sewing machines and I stood small piles of multicolored strips of nylon. I found out later they were to be used to build an envelope completely of scraps. A phalanx of brand-new aluminum cylinders stood at the ready, looking as if they were about to march out the wide overlook and off the balcony. At the end of the loft that attaches to Brian's house at the cutting room, at least two sewing machines sat in place for balloon construction or the occasional quick repair. On the walls of the loft were the scrawling of people who left their names and memories in writing, as I did later on just before leaving.
The weather promised to be perfect throughout much of the weekend, with chances of isolated showers closer to Sunday. On Friday afternoon, the nearly cloudless blue sky and almost nonexistent winds foreshadowed a perfect flight. As more pilots and crews arrived, The pace picked up slightly and balloons began to spring from nowhere. A few people helped assemble a Boland collapsible basket giving me the chance to see firsthand how they are constructed.
No signal was given, no announcement was made, but all of a sudden somebody started inflating. There was no rush to get airborne. One by one, balloons started to fill up as I ran in circles taking pictures and soaking in the atmosphere. The pressure to fly like at a major festival was not present. Some balloons began lifting off even before some pilots considered taking their systems off the back of their trucks (or even cars). No congested airspace was to be seen anywhere near Post Mills over the weekend. At first it was surprising to see that many homebuilt balloons in one place at the same time, but the fact that I was at Brian Boland's place kicked in and I realized this is normal. Over the weekend I counted about 30 balloons in all.
I obtained my first burner time thanks to Mule Ferguson and Lawrence Feir, who both drove from North Carolina to attend the Meet. Lawrence's balloon "Renaissance" is unique in that it has six gores and has a homebuilt 5-sided basket. The six points poking out around the equator also add to the "oddity." I also got a chance to see Mike Emich's record-breaking homebuilt AX-5 balloon, "Silver Shadow." The top half is metalized nylon (for minimum heat loss) and the bottom half alternates black and white.
After all the balloons came back and the crews took the tethering balloons down, everyone roamed about the museum area talking and discussing everything from radio-controlled model blimps to ancient cars sitting in the museum. After a couple of hours of hearty conversation, I felt the need to sleep. By that time it was about 12:30 AM and I wanted to be up bright and early.
Saturday
It was actually dark and early at 4:45 AM when
I woke up in a hurry - I thought I slept late! After tossing on some new
clothes inside the cramped single-person tent, I jumped out of the flap
and noticed it was dark out. I took advantage of the full moon over the
fog-enshrouded airport and took a few pictures. I finally spotted another
person roaming around the still-dark airport and then realized I was probably
the first one up.
As the morning came and blossomed into brightness, more and more people gathered around the museum and Brian's house awaiting the star attraction this year: THE BLIMP! Brian emerged from the house and recruited some people to lower the airship envelope bag from the second floor of the museum by the block-and-tackle installed in the ceiling. As the airship envelope was spread out, the car was wheeled into place and attached to the envelope. Some last-minute engine testing found out that one engine would not start. No problem - there was the other one, which would provide more than enough power alone.
Inflation began and the crowd began to grow large. Some other now-familiar balloons began inflation as well, and about 15 minutes later the airship was almost completely inflated. The first balloons began lifting off in nearly still winds. A radio-controlled airship was launched out of one of the museum doors to the enjoyment of the crowd - and flew straight into the inflating airship! More balloons began lifting off as the uninjured hot-air-airship stood up and prepared for flight. Meanwhile the radio-controlled blimp, piloted from the ground by Taras von Hrechniw of New York, circled overhead and played with the sky. The airborne balloons flowed south along the runway at a tiptoe pace.
Brian strapped himself into the pilot's seat (bench?) of the airship car and started the engine after the pressurizing inflator fan was hung from the front of the car. Last-minute system checks ensued, and pretty soon the long burn to reach equilibrium began. As soon as the airship let go of the ground, the crowd cheered and clapped. The first turn took the airship to the left - around Brian's house and over the Post Mills Graveyard - and back into the pack of balloons now airborne over the runway. Brian toyed around for quite a few minutes before touching down for good on the far side of the runway near the planes. By this time the rest of the balloons were airborne or close to it. I helped set up and inflate "Renaissance" again while taking lots of pictures of the colorful world around me.
The next hour saw the balloons hovering over the runway while a few got stuck over the woods on the side. I was a passenger in a balloon becalmed over the woods for a time - the pilot took the first chance to make a landing as soon as the balloon cleared the treeline. If you guys are out there reading, thanks again for the ride - I don't quite remember your names. While I was on my flight, I witnessed the model balloon (that I saw inflated the day before) float up on a tether with a propane grill cylinder attached to the weed burner heating it. Other smaller tissue paper balloons were launched and climbed up pretty high over the airport.
After the balloons landed, most were walked back to the launch spot and tethered for a while before being packed away. A local group was holding their pancake breakfast and a performing group was showing off their dancing skills for the crowd. A little bit later, a three-member jazz band played live from Brian's deck. I utilized this free time to take out two of my own model balloons and inflate them for the world to see. I actually launched the smaller (500 cubic feet) balloon but deliberately did not let it float very high for fear it might drift away. The bigger one (2000 cubic feet) drew a small gathering of onlookers and admirers, but was not launched since I had only completed construction at 12:00 midnight the night before coming up to Vermont.
During the day, gliders were launched and landed continually, and the winds picked up in the afternoon. By the time of the evening launch, most pilots elected to wait on the ground to see what would happen. One experienced pilot launched and flew out of the valley over a distant ridge. After the only balloon flew out of sight, conversation began again and lasted into the night. One topic (burners) spurred the group to bring out two burners to see the differences in flame characteristics. Scott Adams' Lindstrand Hopper burner was pitted against Phil MacNutt's FireFly T3-017 and some hearty burns followed. I used my digital camera to take pictures of both burner flames and then displayed them to the group. Everyone unanimously agreed that the Lindstrand flame was considerable higher, but was much more yellow and had an unwanted "ball" of flame at the tip. Meanwhile, the T3-017 had the precise, tight blue flame that it is renowned and prized for.
Later on in the museum, Mike Emich gathered a small audience and gave an intriguing presentation about his latest record attempt for the AX-5 distance record. I was later surprised quite unexpectedly... "Wild" Bill Whelan, Robert Godin and the rest of the Eh-Team from Canada helped me out on my way into ballooning by donating an old homebuilt envelope to me for a dollar! So far I've also picked up a used sewing machine and am on my way to beginning a balloon project sometime later this summer. I also bought a parachute harness from Mike Emich and plan to fly with a ten-gallon tank. After discussions died down for the night, I headed back to the tent again and cooked myself some soup, then went to sleep.
Sunday
I awoke the next morning at about 5:15 and jumped into some more fresh clothes. The morning turned out mostly cloudy to overcast, but the same calm winds as the previous morning were still evident. Some balloons began inflating as Taras' model blimp came out of the museum again for some more fun flying. Only about half of the balloons flew because of the possibility for scattered showers later in the morning.
As the balloons inflated for the last time of the meet, a bagpiper appeared from thin air and played some songs before being hoisted aloft in the Eh-Team's chariot basket for some more songs. Brian took out his "Sheep in Heat" balloon - a black balloon with two rainbow rings and a white sheep on the parachute. Phil MacNutt also flew his one-man 25,000 cubic foot homebuilt tank seat "Ran Outta Pink." This balloon is all pink (plus black Nomex) with one fluorescent yellow gore. He really ran out of pink! The yellow also serves a purpose - it signifies the #1 gore. It flew throughout the weekend and I got the chance to crew for him on Friday.
The balloons (no hot airship this time) drifted slowly northwards and most wound up landing in the backyards of farm houses nearby. A few balloons stayed back and tethered at the airport once again. And then the rain came... The drizzling caught at least two tethering balloons off guard but both managed to get packed away before the heavier rain began. After the rain began, more groups formed in the museum and more discussions commenced and lasted throughout the morning. And then, just as quickly as we arrived, it was time to leave. Before I left, I snuck upstairs and scrawled my name and a message permanently on the wall of the loft where many others have done. I said my good-byes to everyone I met over the weekend and then bid farewell to Brian and Louise.
On the long drive back to New Jersey, I thought about the whole weekend and how it had changed me. Aside from being duly introduced to the art of homebuilt ballooning, I met many people who share similar interests and just plain love to fly balloons! From my visit I've learned many techniques and ideas that I will use in my future balloon-building. I recommend attending this balloon meet at least once in your lifetime just to see what experimental ballooning is all about (and to meet Brian and Louise!). You'll agree that it's even more fun than regular ballooning. Try it, you'll see what I'm talking about.
