2011 BFA Balloon Camp
BFA Junior Balloonist Camp - Albion, Mi
by Tom Jones
The BFA Jr. Balloonist Hot Air Balloon Camp is under way in Albion, Michigan this week. The camp is running from Sunday afternoon 17-Jul to Thursday afternoon 21-Jul. We have nineteen campers from eight different states (MI, IN, IL, OH, NY, PA, AZ, CA) attending this year at Albion, Michigan. Activites have included sessions on a basket search (find ballooning components like blast valve, fuel connections, fire extingisher, instruments, etc) on a Cameron, Aerostar and two Firefly baskets as well on balloon construction by Kim Wooge.
This year's camp has been a hot one. We have had heat indexes of over 100 degrees and please remember that most older Michigan colleges don't have air conditioned dorm rooms. We were able to find some air conditioned classrooms to do our ground school activities.
Tuesday was the ever popular Cameron Balloon US factory tour. After this morning's tether, today's sessions on crew safety and maps as well as breakout sessions in Flight Planning, Pilot Requirements and Weather Briefings.
As part of the camp, we have various 'Judge Declared Goals' where a competition X is set out for the campers and pilots (usually) throw regulation baggies. Results are calcuated both on individual camper score and team average score (pilot, crew chief and campers). Attached are the results from the JDGs for Sunday afternoon from the exterior steps of one of the campus buildings and the second from the top of the loading dock platform at Cameron Balloons. We also had an interesting team baggie throw where members of the team were placed on different levels of a stair well to drop.
Since some of our campers are avid BalloonPong followers, we have been asked to send them for possible posting.
To help follow camp activities and pictures, check out our facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Great-Lakes-BFA-Hot-Air-Balloon-Camp/114692108580489
Thanks to all of the individuals, organizations and companies who help support the camp thru both their financial and material support.
