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Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta
PPG Fly-In 2002
Oct 14, 2002
by Jeff Goin
There's more to come when stills are extracted from video.
This is a good start though!
Getting together with fellow flyers is always such sweet joy.
Coming to a place where everyone just wants to fly and have fun for 4 days
straight is well worth the time on it's own right. But to then have it in such a
gorgeous and varied place, to be in the desert and have grass, to have such
congenial hosts...that gives it "wow".
The desert surroundings and nearby Rio Grande river offer
scenes from a broad palette of colors and textures. But our favorite color was
green...the oasis of grass that Jerry & Michelle Danielle have been
nurturing for over 4 months in anticipation of this event. Those who've laid
their wings out in the sea of fine desert dust
 First
USPPA Event:
For the Community Too
This is state land and they wanted to have cooperation of the
national organization which we provided. We didn't have to do much but were
instrumental in helping secure the site for the Event. Lord willing, other
states will be as progressive as New Mexico in allowing varied use of their
lands. This event was enjoyed by many from surrounding communities in addition
to the PPG community.
It was a great showcase of our sport and how it can contribute
to local area by adding the flavor of variety that we humans so enjoy. Thank you
to Les Swindle of New Mexico who worked with Jerry Daniele to make this happen.
And the community came out...it was amazing to see how many
spectators spent the morning or afternoon (and some stayed a LOT more) just
watching.
 Pictured above was a grade school class, invited out for a field trip. Several groups from surrounding communities came out to learn about aviation and our particular breed of it. Bob Armond (left) was particularly adept in this regard and along with Bruce Brown, Michelle Daniele and others gave a wonderfully received presentation on various subjects.
Thanks to Rob Reynolds, we got a special edition of the USPPA
newsletter out which included an article on the nearby airspace and it's
limitations. This was especially helpful for those either flying from the 19th
Ave launch and doing a cross country there.
The Field
 20
Acres of sod allowed departures in any direction...it was easy to avoid the
campers and activity tents by moving North or South of them. Even if you ran off
the sod there was solid ground in all directions...only the South provided
easily avoidable obstacles...the irrigation pipes. And even those were sparse
enough to run around easily.
Like all fly-ins there were power lines...but here they were
quite a distance away and offered no problems.
Access was easy and right off the main North/South highway
running into Albuquerque, I-25.
Flying
Get up, fuel up, and fly. That's the beauty of these events
especially for those staying at the field as I did. The surrounding terrain was
spectacular and widely different terrain was reachable in one flight.
  Arnon
from Isreal, pictured left (by Bruce Brown),
represents the Reflex wing and Vortex paramotor. He travels around from event to
event demonstrating his gear and generally being a wild man. He does this stuff
a LOT and competes internationally in various events whenever the opportunity
avails itself.
One amusing thing to watch is tape that he trails from his
leg...he says that at a length of 400' he can turn and catch the tail.
Understand that this sort of thing noticeably increases the
risk in our endeavor and so shouldn't be done casually...he has significant
experience in these maneuvers and coordinated them with the event organizers.
 Just
South and a little west of our launch sprouted this little mountain (pictured
right with Bob Armond pointing the way). Rising about 1000 feet it has a host of
geological formations to explore including mini canyons and a meadow on the top.
During one of the first days when it was windy, I landed on the top and just
stood there kiting the wing above. It was glorious. Had the wing come down it
would have been easy to relaunch although I really didn't want to try feeding
the local vegetation.
Being only a few miles away made it a popular destination and
many of us cruised over there...some gorgeous video was shot by Bruce Brown.
Volcanoes
 Ron
Estrada and I headed off for the volcanoes one morning to enjoy their spectacle.
All bundled up with camera gear dangling we headed Northwest.
They're big!
From a distance they look like smallish mounds of wannabe
mountains...but closer inspection shows you could probably launch from inside
the crater. Of course you wouldn't want to blow it...some of the vegetation
would enjoy a little nylon morsel served on kevlar lines. Pictured left is the
larger of several mounds...Ron shot this one as I flew a couple hundred feet
over the mouth.
They kicked off some nice thermals too as their dark Eastern
surface heated nicely in the early sun.
Playing
photos in this section by Bruce Brown
After returning from the volcano trip the field was bare
except for one wing and some cones: Eric Dufour. Oooh yeah...I couldn't resist
and joined in the fun.
A perfect little breeze ran about 8-12 mph of reasonably
smooth air through the flags which made for perfect gaming. This is the stuff we
do at home and some it was inspired in me by Eric back in 1999 during this same
event.  This
is one of those activities for which PPG earns it's special place in my aviation
experience.
We would walk around the cones, pick up the cones, put the
cones back, carry the cones and do some of this in formation on the ground. It
was soooo cool. We never did close formation in flight but on the ground it was
fun to "taxi" a wingtip through his and vice-versa. Besides just being
a joy to do, it improves ground handling skills and stretches them a bit with
each new maneuver.
   At
one point after Eric kicked over two cones on one pass, I flew by right after
and picked up one on each foot (pictured far left). Not to be out-done, Eric
came by and got one-per-foot then proceeded to pick up the third cone. Nice
job...that thought never crossed my mind...it will next time!
After about a half hour of that I landed for the morning. It
was starting to get a bit bumpier and I didn't want to push my luck. This
activity does increase the chances for a cage "oops" since it's so low
to the ground.
Oh boy...I had to go back and play with those! So for
another half hour we kicked, carried and generally had a great time. We kept it
far enough away from the tents so that no stray balls would get close to the
spectators. What a blast.
Para-Soccer is where the goal is to kick the ball the farthest
down the field. There are many techniques and they all have their advantages but
the most fun was to pick it up and carry it.  Of
course a miss meant and entire lap would be lost.
So for another half hour we cavorted with the game and had a
wonderful time just playing. It was all very slow speed as the steady wind kept
us moving only 5-8 mph over the ground. I would climb up, circle around and
repeat. There was actually enough breeze to stand and kite the wing so on a few
occasions (yes, when I missed the ball) I would land, walk back with the wing
overhead and re-engage or pick up the ball at lift off.
   
1 & 2 Eric and I after a pass at the grass,
3. Steve Leitch kiting his Apco while the games continue,
4. Eric doing "big ears" on an approach.
Cross Country
 About
30 miles North and just over 4 miles west of the balloon field (where the
official Balloon Fiesta takes place) is the previous launch site of 19th Avenue
(pictured right with Bruce Brown). It is plenty big but nowhere near as plush as
the new Grasslands park where American Flyers operates. But it's close to the
balloons and we wanted to fly with the balloons. So the Saturday morning cross
country was briefed on Friday evening by Jarrod Bottenelli who moslty put it
together.
The weather couldn't have been better. A bumpy headwind down
low gave way to a nice smooth and warm tailwind at 700 feet. Warm, smooth and on
our tail...THAT was a God send.
 Of
course warm is relative...the morning temperature was around 40 degrees and my
ugly brown suit is not sufficient. This is embarrassing but it was effective
(and boy did I get grief over it!). To stop the wind I used trash bags taped
around my legs and torso. Bruce dubbed me the "Glad Man".
Ron Estrada snapped this picture (left) as I strap on my
various radio and music gear. It was amazing the little top 80 could loft me and
all my gear with full fuel . Of course the climb rate was pretty marginal but
then everyone's was noticeably less than normal.
 With
all the air traffic cruising about we worked with ABQ Approach control to let
them know of our presence. First coordinating it by phone we then had one person
with an aircraft radio to let them know where we were. Everyone knew of the
airspace restrictions but all we had to do was follow Jarrod (below left).
  Finding
a sparsely populated route was actually pretty easy. For a while the Rio Grande
River works then we go West of the populace before heading East again
approaching the target. Pictured is Bruce Brown being pushed along by his BiMax
under a Trekking American Flag wing.
Bob Roberts from Colorado is behind him and the balloons are
in full view to the North.
 Our
route took us West of Albuquerque International (who we talked to on the
approach control frequency) but even though we were below their flight path,
this was in interesting sight (pictured right). The 4-engined jet looks close
but is actually about 1500' above my wing.
It was quite a site that photos just can't do justice to.
Hundreds of balloons speckled the sky in brilliant colors. We couldn't fly
closer than 4.5 miles of their launch site but they floated to the edge of that
airspace and so we got a lot closer.
At the 19th Avenue site some of the pilots had already taken
off and were flying in the area when the cross country fliers arrived.
  
1. Bruce Brown and Bob Roberts in the background
enroute during a 30 mile trip to see the mass balloon launch.
2. Bob Armond, Jack Kimble, Steve Leitch were already airborne when we got there
and enjoying the local balloons (who launched from there instead of the main
site). Photo by Jim Jackson.
3. They're everywhere! Actually they were a few miles away and would only allow
Mr. Telephoto this close. Photo by Steve Leitch.
 
1. Bruce Brown with the 19th Ave LZ behind.
2. Bob Armond circles just south of the LZ. Photo by Jim Jackson.
  
1 & 2. A few powered parachutes joined us...these are cruising South
along the Rio Grande.
3. Bruce Brown flies just over the nearby mountain.
  
1. Jeff Goin over a nearby small cliff. Photo by Ron Estrada.
2. A morning group gathers for one of several short and concise pilot briefings.
3. Paint on Silk, Bruce and Elizabeth Dufour show off some of Bruce's handiwork.
Photo by Ron Estrada.
The Gang
Saturday at noon would have been the best time for pictures as
everyone was there. But alas there was too much going on and we didn't get
around to getting the group together until Sunday so we missed several. In
addition to the ones who had left already there were some still straggling in
from the morning's balloon flying. Sorry we missed you guys (and gals).
But these were fun!
Many shots were taken and we thank Amanda for handling the
armada of cameras thrust upon her. Jerry and I wound up as coneheads...don't
know why though. One amusing shot that was not captured by my camera included
Eric Dufour wearing three cones on his feet...how appropriate!
 
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