Experience of others can help prepare you for the unexpected!

HangarFlying

editedbyGeorgeDenniston

Seeing

Purple

by Tom Hamilton

Every year the Kodak Albuquerque Inter-
national BalloonFiesta, weather permit-
ting, conducts five days of flying compe-
tition.Thetasksincludemultiplejudge
declaredgoals,fly-ins,andkeygrabs.
The scoring device is a bird seed baggie,
but in the “old days” theyincludedtum-
bleweeds (you had to find your own),hula
hoops,sharppointedskewers, andlarge
Kodakfilm boxes.
Highestscoringpilotsreceive valu-
ablegiftsthathaveincludednewve-
hicles, balloons, orother equallyexpen-
sivemerchandiseprizes.Eachyearthe
identityof thoseprizes have beenkept a
closelyguardedsecretuntiltheawards
ceremony.
Thisyear’seventhadthreedaysof
the competition canceled because of high
winds. The two remaining days made for
interesting flying.
Wednesday all balloons were sched-
uled to fly from the field to multiple judge
declaredtargets. It was also Flightof the
Nations Day with International pilots be-
ingthe first tolaunch. Windson the sur-
face were light and from the south-south-
east. Forecast called for the surface winds
topickupafew hoursafter sunriseex-
ceeding 15knots.
NormalflightpatternfromBalloon
Fiesta Park is to the south, traveling in the
morningdrainage withinafewhundred
feetof the surface.Thismorningwould
notbenormalandtheofficialsquickly
movethe targetstoanareanorthof the
field.
BecausetheSandiaIndianPueblo
lies to the north the target area was limited

tothe 40acreswhereballoonswereal-
lowed to launch at the Pueblo. This made
flyingtothe scoringarea difficult given
the morningwinds.
Earlyballoonsthattook off hadthe
advantage of flyinglow after leaving the
fieldandmaneuveringtowardthetarget
area.Notmanywereabletoreachthe
target area and throw theirmarkers within
the200footscoringarea.Asone of the
early balloons launched out ofFiesta Park,
Iwas able to work the slowlow level wind
and achieve an 11 inch drop. Good enough
for firstinmy flightandthirdoverallin
the standing.
Agood friend, Larry, launched a few
hundredfeet west of me at the same time
I did. He immediately climbed to 500 feet
AGL anddeparted the area to the north-
west clocking 25mph onhis GPS. After
throwingmymarkerI radioedthe crew
andadvisedthem that Iwouldcrossthe
Rio Grande and landin the northern part
of RioRancho,abouttenmilesaway.I
took theopportunity to do a splash ‘n dash
inthe RioGrande. Larrywasnow well
ahead of me. I climbed to 1200 feet AGL
andcaughtupwithhim.Myestimated
speed—about 40 mph.
I watchedhim doa greathighwind
landing as I startedmylong approachto
thewideopenspaces.Withthelanding
area free ofobstructions Ielected to round
theballoonoutless than100feetabove
the ground. Much to my surprise the wind
directionwas 90degrees to the right and
onlyfour mph. I waited until I crosseda
dirt road and did a standuplanding.
The next opportunity to fly competi-

tionwas Friday. Aswe arrivedatFiesta
Park I would not have given two cents for
beingable tofly.Afterthesuncameup
the surface winds mellowed and the com-
petitionwason. Balloonsfilledthe sky,
putting on aspectacular show for the large
crowdg atheredtowatchtheSpecial
Shapes Rodeo and fly-in, keygrab com-
petition.
The taskwassimple. Finda takeoff
location outside the one mile radius of the
field, fly-in andtoss the baggie onone of
three targets displayed onthe field. As a
bonus,fivepoleswereerectedonthe
downwindside.Grabtheenvelopeat-
tached and winmoney. Capture the pole
withtheflashinglightandwinanew
truck.
Where to take off? I ruled out the 40
acregravelpitonthePueblodirectly
northof thefieldfor tworeasons.First,
most of the hundreds of balloons flying in
would be there. It would be too crowded.
Second,the direction from there just didn’t
seemquite right.
Severalof usremainedonthe field
while the Special Shapes were launching
reading the winds and determining where
wewanted to go.Low level winds changed
severaltimes, butthe upper levelwinds
remainedconstantfromthenorthwest.
Acrossthe river in Corraleswasa possi-
bility. But, I hada better idea.
On Sunday I had landed in an area on
the map colored purple. The purple color-
ingmeantsensitivearea.Italsomeant
IndianPueblo. Okay toland, not okayto
take off from. Much to my surprise I was
informed by the landowner that thePueblo

BalloonLife,November 1999

wasseveralblocksnorth.Turnsoutthe
landownerandmylong-timeAlbuquer-
que crew were goodfriends.
On Friday their yard just looked like
therightplacetotakeofffrom.Some-
thingintheback ofmy mindsaid, “No,
this isn’t right.”I dismissed thelittle voice
with the argument I knew the landowner,
had their permission, and it wasn’t on the
Pueblo.
Off I headed with two more balloon-
ists in tow. Maybe 20 other balloons were
inthe sameareajustoutsideofthe one
mile circle andnot on the Puebloprepar-
ingtheiraerostatsandwaitingforthe
Okayon KKOB 770tolaunch.
Wegreetedour friendlylandowner
and secured permission to launch. As the
equipment was being readied the Okay to
launchwasannounced.ShortlyafterI
was in the air with my local crew chief of
the last17 yearson board.
As we head in towards the field I read
the balloons ahead and determined where
I wanted topositionmyself.Onthe sur-
face, within the scoring area, there was a
30 degree turntothe left. That wouldset
me up to try for the left, or east, target. As
I begin the descent I notice that the flash-
inglightforthe newtruckisonapole
whichhasadirectlinefromthecenter
target.
I decide to be greedy and ascend 100
feet to holdthe line for the center “X”.
Holdingmyline I make a steepap-

proach and toss the baggie 14 inches from
the center of the target. Now five feet off
the ground the balloon begins to turn left,
straightforthepolewiththeflashing
light.Thewinddirection,howev er,
changes ever soslightly to the south and
the balloonsplitstwo poles.
Nonewtruck,butwhocares.My
crewchiefandIarecelebratingwhat
looks like a possible first place overall in
the competition and a new $25,0002000
Subaru Outbackwith all wheel drive.
Asweclear thescoringarea Ilook
backtosee Steve Lombardi of Houston,
Texas pluckthe truckkeys off the pole.
After landing and refueling I stayon
thefielduntilthemorningresultsare
posted around 2 p.m. The closest distance
inmy flight is 26plusfeet. This can’t be
right. I look at the DQ list and there is my
name. Infringement? Taking off in a pro-
hibitedzone.
Can’tbe.Ifindthechiefscoring
officerandtellhimthere mustbe some
mistake.I wasnotonthePueblo.I had
landowner permission. I wasoutside the
circle.
And where did I take off?
I give him the specific location-right
inthe purple area.
I had blanked out the purple coloring
becauseI knew itwasn’tonthePueblo
andI knew the landowner. I blankedout
the factthe rules specified purple as sen-
sitive areas wheretakeoffswere prohib-

ited. Ilet theotherinformation color blind
me. A $25,000mistake.
I had become careless with the infor-
mation.
Myfinalplacewasseventhoverall
taking home his andher watches.
Having blundered, the title of cham-
pionwouldhavegonetoSachaHiam
fromBrazil. Leader on distance after the
first day’s competition, hehad a two meter
drop on Friday. Not good enough for first
inhisflight,butgoodenoughtobe the
total points leader.
After dropping his markerin the scor-
ingareaheflewon.EventuallySacha
flewoverayellowtargetusedforthe
Special Shapes. Not knowingwhy it was
on the ground, and having two blue baggies
leftoverfromBlackJackcompetition
earlier in the week, he tossed one of them
at the target. A $25,000 mistake.
Sacha wasDQ’dforthrowingmul-
tiple markers.
WithSachaandmyselftakingour-
selv esou toft hecomp etit io nWil
LaPointe’s result on Friday placed him in
second overall. Inline for a new $10,000
HarleyDavidsonmotorcycle.Wilalso
saw the yellow targetandcouldn’tresist
tossing a left over blue marker. A $10,000
mistake. DQ.
Notstayingmentallyawakewasa
veryexpensive lessonfor three pilotson
the lastdayof competition.

HANGAR FLYING with George Den-
niston is presented to enhance safe flyin g
by providing balloonists the oppo rtunity
to gain experience from others without
actually flying. The column is edited b y
George Denniston who is a d octor and
balloonist living in Seattle, Washington.
Articles may be signed or anonymous to
protect the privacy of those involv ed, as
the author wishes. If you have an experi-
ence th at you would like to share with
others, send your manuscript to Balloo n
Life magazine, Hangar Fly ing wi th
George Denniston, 2336 47th Ave SW,
Seattle, WA 98116-2 331. Submissions
may be typewritten, submitted on disk
(Mac or IBM format), or e-mailed to
tom@balloonlife.com. Balloon Life pays
$35 for each story used.