November 1999
It’sjust way toohot downhere...
I started sweatingthe moment that I
steppedoff the plane, there wererecord
hightemperaturesinTexasandIwas
wondering why I left the mountain s
fortheweekendoftheBallun ar
LiftoffFestival1999.OnAugust
27-30,1999,ninetysixpilotscon-
vergedonHoustonSpaceCenter,
despite th eheat and it’s proximity to
the ocean, it’sa great place tofly.
The first evening, the pilo ts and
guests were invited to meet the many
sponsors at a reception hosted at the
JohnsonSpaceCenter.Theywere
treatedto“homemovies” by astro-
nau tBobCab an ao nth eSp ace
Shuttle Mir... quite the view of outer
spaceon an IMAG screen .
Fridaymorning’sfligh twasa
flyintask.Severalofthespecial
shapes including the host, RE/MAX
MagellenTBear,Burg erKin g
Whopper,TheEagle,The Famou s
FootwearShoeandthetwoFesto
Balloon stetheredonthefield.A
targetwassetonthe field, andthe
scoringcrew snoozed...asthema-
jorityofthe90balloonsflewina
steady stream a mile or two south of
thefield. Some pilotsclaimedthat
NASAhadaforcefieldgoingal-
thoug hthree pilotsfromMichigan
flew over onlyto splitthetargetin
three differentdirections.
It was windy Friday evening but the
crowdsenjoyedTheGrandParadeof
BalloonPilots and The TexGas Ballunar
Glow. There was also musical entertain-
ment, midway rides, a Business and Arts
& Crafts Fair to rou nd out the evening’s
festivities.
Saturday morning, some ofthe pilots
figured outthe early morningwindshift
andflewoverthefield .Thekeygrab,
named the “Shuttle Docking” was a timed
cash prize ... but some-one... hit the pole,
knockedit over andthenhitth e ground
withou t getting the prize. Everyone else’s
“timingwasoff andthe “Shuttle Dock-
The big challenge (besides getting to
the target...) was to get out of the air,
before you flew to the bay. On the back of
the p ilot badges it not only listed the
&Firedepartmentsbutalsothe
USCoastGuard.BillBusseytoldme
stories of the first time he flew to o far an d
ended up in the bay with a local astronaut.
My mom has pictures of my dad with his
balloonin thebaydoingthe samething
while John &Paul crewed for him in the
mid80’s.
For the crew’s enjoyment, there was
aGPSscavengerhuntwiththeofficial
cry pto grapherDebb ieRom ero ,yo u
pickedupthecluesheetatre-fueling.
Overthecourseoftheweekend,you
couldturninyourstoryforthe“Hard
LuckAward”.Therewereso meb ig
“boohoos”includingtheguythatdru g
thatwithhisbadluck,he haddone that
before...) . One group had Inflator fan fall
off the front o f a chase veh icle andthen
they ran over it... But the winnerwas truly
hard luck, Allen Harland & h is crew
from Louisiana had their battery an d
alternator goouton theirtruckan d
thenfixeditbutnotuntil theyhad
almostlostthenewpartsandthe
storygoeson and on...
Th ecrowdsSaturdaywere
huge, NASAand The Johnson Space
Center Hosted an open housein con-
junctionwiththe event. The Hous-
ton Area Light Flyers were on hand,
TheRock etClub,USParachute
Assoc.andtheYoungEaglewere
therewithdemonstrations.
BySundaymorning,mostpi-
lotsfiguredoutthewindshiftand
most flew overthe field tossing their
baggies.Th e“ShuttleDo ck ing”
elu dedeveryo neagainbutprize
moneywashandedoutattheban-
qu ettoo ver3 0p ilo ts.Dan iel
MartindalefromMississippiwo n
1st overall and ErnieParker ofHous-
tonwonbraggingrightsasBFA
Texas State Champion.
ASundaynightflightwitha
funcompetitionwasheldfor those
who stayed over.It was a great week-
end,CarolCann onandL’lon i
Lombard iremindedmetoth ink
about them at the beach this winter, while
I’m watch ingit snow backhere inColo-
rado.
Several of the special shapes includ-
ing the host, RE/MAX Magellen T Bear,
BurgerKingWhopper,TheEagle,The
Famou s FootwearShoe and the two Festo
Balloon s tethered onthe field.
A target was set on the field, and the
scoring crew snoozed... as themajority of
the 90 balloons flew in a steady stream a
mile or twosouth of the field.
Some pilots claimed that NASA had
a force fieldgoingalthoughthree pilots
fromMichiganflewoverbutsplitthe
target inthree differentdirections.
