May1999
posesunique problems whether pilotinga
balloon or chasing one. “There are some
very woodedareashere,”saidV anAnder-
son,of Morgantown. “Thatcan be amajor
problem.”
Rotorwindsblowingover andaround
the hillskeep pilotson their toes, he said.
Morningfog iscommoninthe valleysand
pilots haveto beawareofpowerlines
hung between mountain tops.
Andpilotsshouldn’texpecttheir
crewstocatch them whenthey land. “You
will have to accept that here,” Anderson
said. “You can actually be a mile from
your balloon, but you have to go 10 miles
away to get to it.”
Crews can drive for miles to find a
bridge while a balloon can be easily lost
when it dips below a hill, out of view and
radiorange.Andersonusesa GPStoaidin
recovery; hecan phoneinhis landing
coordinates to the chase. But that’s only
useful if the chase has a GPS too.
“It’snota ballooningMecca,”Ander-
sonsaid. “Sometimes you have to land in
aback yard where that’sthe onlyopening.
It makes you feel great when you get to
someplace like Albuquerque.”
Since landing spots can bescarce,
often the landowner has no prior experi-
ence with balloonists on their property.
“West Virginia farmers are like anyone
else. It’s just a matter of using common
sense,” Anderson said. “The balloonists
in West Virginia maintain a tremendous
amount of respect with landowners.”
State forests—Coopers Rock in the
north, and Kanawha to the south—also
region is rugged and interspersedwith
canyons. A good landing spot may be a
logging road.
“Bepreparedto landin whatever you
get,” Anderson said. Yearsago during an
evening flightnear Charleston, Anderson
recallshe wasdriftingover a wooded area
with no place to land.
“Iwas looking for a tree to land it on
and I put it down on a logging road,” he
said. “A couple of boys who were coon
hunting came by. We drove a half hour
before we got to a hard road.”
Butthevaried terrain hasitsbenefits.
“It’sfun, because you can drop downin a
valley and get atotally differentwind
shift,” Anderson said.
Steve Bond, of Huntington, agrees.
“One thing I like about flying here is we
dohave somuch variationin our topogra-
phy,”Bondsaid.“We canplay withdrain-
agewinds anddo alot ofsteeringby
dropping in the valleys.”
Despite the steerage,largelanding
a big enough field to land a balloon on,
somebody’sputa house or agardenonit,”
Bond said. “We joke that there are only
about a dozen balloons in West Virginia
because there are only about two dozen
landing places.”
Gary Forney,whohaslivedinWheel-
ingfor about five years, said the terrain in
theregionissounfavorabletoballooning,
hedrives15minutesacross theOhio
River to fly over farmland in Ohio.
“Wheeling proper would be a very
hard flying area,” said Forney, who also
lived in Idaho and Missouri. “The hills
here are very steep.”
He said he’s never seen another bal-
loon in the air when he’s flying. “It usu-
ally attracts a lot of attentionwhen I fly,”
he said.
Anderson, theonly designatedex-
aminer for balloonsin the state, estimates
there are about a dozen active balloonists
inWest Virginia, and they aren’t concen-
trated inany one area. Repairsand inspec-
Charleston Sternwheel Regatta: 10
balloons;lastweekend inAugust;Friday
evening glow, Saturday evening flight.
RobertaJones,POB 2749,
Charleston,WV 25330. 304-348-8012.
MountaineerBalloon Festival: 50
balloons;varyingdates, thisyear, Oct. 8-
10. Contact: Jeff Berryman, POB 590,
Morgantown,WV 26507.304-296-8356.
• Charleston
Huntington
May1999
Marcel Fortin, of Tornado (possibly
the worst-named town for a balloonist),
said he helped form theWest Virginia
BalloonSocietyseveralyears ago, butthe
organizationdied ayearlater. “Therewere
sofew of us around that itwasjusthard to
get everybody together,” he said. “If you
have one person in Charleston who flies,
the next closest oneis 30 to40 miles
away.”
A newsletter was printed during that
year and the largest turnout at a meeting
was whenabout 10pilots and crew mem-
bers showed up.
Rallies areabout as scarceas bal-
loonistsin West Virginia. The largest, in
Morgantown, is held each fall, when the
leavesare blazing. The concept for a rally
there beganafter Andersonparticipatedat
the Adirondack Balloon Festival in New
York. He left that festivalwanting a rally
at home.
“He said Morgantown needs some
sort of fall festival,” said Jeff Berryman,
directorofparksandrecreationfor
Morgantown.
In1983,six balloons flewduring
Morgantown’s first balloon festival. To-
day, up to50 balloonscompete and more
Thursday evening with a Nite Glow at a
Morgantown shoppingcenter. Non-sanc-
tioned competition flights are scheduled
Friday evening,Saturdaymorning and
evening,andSundaymorningat
Morgantown MunicipalAirport, situated
atop a hill to avoid the morning fog. An
optionalflightis held Sunday evening. A
fewballoons participateinapredawn
flight Sunday morning.
The 10 top-scoring pilotsfrom each
event win prize money. Up to $7,500 in
prize money is awarded. Spectators can
also purchase ridesduring the festival for
$150. The rally draws about 40,000spec-
tators, Berryman said.
The weekend of the rally variesfrom
year to year. It can’t coincide with home
football games at West V irginia Univer-
sity;the stadium holds65,000and isoften
sold-out.
“It’d beludicrous to haveanother
major event in town,” Berryman said.
But the leaves are always colorful,
regardless of which weekend is selected.
“It’s usually very beautiful, whether it’s
early or late,” Berryman said.
WestVirginiapilotssay Morgantown
is probably the easiest place to fly in the
uncommon for pilots to make it to Penn-
sylvania to the north.
In Charleston, the state capital, bal-
loons have been part of the Sternwheel
Regatta for nearly 20 years. The Beach
Boyshaveperformedattheregatta, which
featuresconcerts,acarnival,aparade,
fireworks and boatraces on the Kanawha
River.Theevent is limited to10 bal-
loons—there’s not room for any more. A
glow is scheduled Friday evening and a
freeflightscheduledonSaturdayevening.
Pilots comefromWest V irginia, Ohio,
Kentucky and Virginia.
“It’s strictly fun,” Fortin said. “The
mornings aresofoggy,it’snot worth
trying to get people up.”
Fortin’sadvice for those considering
getting intoballooningin West V irginia:
“Don’tplanonmakingmoneyatit.There’s
not enough people willing to pay you to
make it worth your while.”
But thebeautifulsceneryandthe
challenge of finding a good landing spot
are what WestVirginiaballoonistssavor.
“Ithinkyou’re a better pilotfrom learning
to fly here,”Bond said. “I find if you can
fly here, you can fly anywhere.”
