October1999
Hot Air Balloon
Championship
Bad Waltersdorf,
Austria
by Alex Nagorski
Photos by Dick Stamberg
meeteverytwoyears,usuallyin
somedistantcountry,todeterminethe
best competitive balloo nistinthe world.
Thechampionsandtoppilotsofeach
country, which is amember ofthe Fédéra-
tionAéronautiqueInternatio nale’sBal-
looningCommission, assemble for three
reasons1)todeterminethechampio n
pilot, 2) to reinforce friendships amongst
aeronautsof all nations, and3) tostimu-
late the dev elopment of aerostation by an
international comp arison ofp erformance
of pilotsandaerostats. ThispastAugust
28 they met in Bad Waltersdorf, Au stria.
It is a unique commun ity that gathers
here.Someregularpilo ts,officials,ob-
servers, andcrewswhogreeteachother
asoldfriendsthattheymayonlysee
everyfew years.New pilotsbewildered
by the famous names, intimidated by pre-
viouschampions,orthinking“Ihave
never competed in terrain like this. How
doI adjustmyflyinghabits?” Theysat
throughtheeventbriefingwatchinga
paradeoforganizersandexperienced
competition officials who make the event
possible.
It is a serious but friendly commu-
nity, forit is not only fun in competing for
achampionship b ut thereis a challenge in
flying in another co untry, terrain an d
with other very skilled pilo ts.There is a
lot that can be learned just from being
there.
Asmal lv ill agel ocatedint he
Steiermarkreg ionof Austria (Southeast
corner) it is set among rolling hills, farms,
prettyvalleysandho tspringresorts.A
beautifulcountrysidefitforapostcard
and filled with friendly people. Balloon-
istsusedthecommunityindoorTennis
centeras theevent headquarters and brief-
ingareawhichprovidedalltheroom
requiredforpeo ple,butwastighto n
parking.
Bad Waltersdorf welcomedthe bal-
loonistswithaniceopeningceremon y
andfestivepartyfor almost 500people.
Typical Austrianfood, drinkandmusic
followed by playing populardancemusic
from each country. When the band played
a samba,theBrazilian teamsjumped u p
is well known that the Brazilians know
how to have a good time and they spark
the rest of those atten ding to try to at least
match their enthusiasm if not exceed it.
The central story of the event was the
wet weather. Manypilots acknowledged
thatthiswasthepoorest flyingweather
they have had for a World Championship
for many years. Thiswasthe first World
Champio nship in man y years that saw so
few flights (onlyfive) andtasks (ten). In
factneartheendoftheevent,eventhe
Meteorolog ist wanted to rename thetown
fromBadWal ters do rftoBa d
Weathersdorf.Inspiteoftheweather
therewasacompetitiontobe runanda
championto be declared.
The first morning of the competitio n
setthetonefortheweekastherewere
lightshowersandalowceilingwhen
everyone assembled forthemorning brief-
ing. Bad Waltersdorf, was on the edge of
a slow moving low pressure area. It was
disappointin g for everyo newho came out
