Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
Albuquerque, NM USA
October 2015
by JOE ZVADA
Albuquerque, NM USA
October 2015
by JOE ZVADA
The sky is uniquely Albuquerque with streaks of high thin cirrus reflecting the morning sun that have not yet crested the Sandia Mountain. It’s the first day of Fiesta and I’m filled with the usual excitement and adrenalin rush that any balloonist experiences on this day, but there is something different this year; the balloon is not mine, it's round and seems bigger, and there is something painted on the side, a logo? Moreover, who are all these people around my basket… passengers?
I am flying the smallest balloon in the Rainbow Ryders stable, a 77, branded with Phillips 66 logos. Our launch site is K1, which must be marked as a picnic area on the spectator map because there is a sea of people, some of whom have set up camps where they huddle together like penguins to stay warm. The local TV stations have stages to our left where they will broadcast our launch live. The whole scene is very distant from my former sparsely populated launch site, launch site K1 is the big time. The passengers this week are all from Phillips and will be taken skyward two at a time. Since I stopped flying ride balloons a few years ago, the 18 people I’m set to fly this week will easily eclipse my passenger total for the last two years combined.
Make no mistake; I accept that there is a very distinct step from where I am in ballooning as a professional hobbyist pilot to the level of a Rainbow Ryders-type professional pilot. The trust and confidence they showed by offering me this gig means a lot to me and the responsibility of doing a good job is one I take very seriously. Their operation is unlike any I’ve seen. Structured more like an aircraft charter company, in my short time with them, it is very clear that their organization is intentionally designed to create and environment and culture that promotes and maintains a high level of safety and quality.
The Rainbows were adamant that I should still compete during the week, which of course I was happy to do. After spending most of the summer competing in a 77 racer, this 77 round balloon shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment. But the two passengers in my basket, what am I supposed to do with them?
Competitions at Fiesta are straightforward single part fly-in tasks. When the winds are on it is a lot of fun because you can launch from almost anywhere on the map and get to Fiesta Park. But when the winds are off, they are often way off, making for a lot of driving in circles chasing the winds as they change by the minute. My strategy was to stay on the field and watch the first wave of balloons launch, using them as my pibals.
The first two days provided superb conditions with lots of consistent steering. After watching the balloons launch from the field, we drove directly to a launch site and used the higher winds to navigate to the north of Fiesta Park before descending to catch the lower winds to the target for a good score each day.
The most difficult part of the first two comp flights was finding the balance of focusing on the target and entertaining the passengers. It was challenging at times, but I found that sharing the experience with others was extremely rewarding and a welcome change of pace. There was legitimate excitement about the competition from the passengers and established a true sense that together we were the Phillips 66 Balloon Team. It helps that conditions provided for some very good results.
As superb as the conditions were on the first two days, the conditions on the final two days were horrid for competition. On Thursday, we spent more time driving around chasing the changing winds to find a launch site than we actually spent in the air. Only a couple balloons made it back to the field for a score. Not a great experience for the passengers, but they took it in stride.
On Friday, the strangest conditions of the week had us chasing the winds again for launch, but this time the changes came with strong gusts at times, prompting Fiesta to eventually cancel the competition all together.
The first two tasks would decide the overall finish and the Phillips 66 team managed a 4th place finish overall, which is fantastic, but really fails to compare with the experience of flying something completely new, sharing balloon competition with a completely new group of people, and hopefully strengthening the relationship of the Phillips 66 with the sport of hot air ballooning.
I am flying the smallest balloon in the Rainbow Ryders stable, a 77, branded with Phillips 66 logos. Our launch site is K1, which must be marked as a picnic area on the spectator map because there is a sea of people, some of whom have set up camps where they huddle together like penguins to stay warm. The local TV stations have stages to our left where they will broadcast our launch live. The whole scene is very distant from my former sparsely populated launch site, launch site K1 is the big time. The passengers this week are all from Phillips and will be taken skyward two at a time. Since I stopped flying ride balloons a few years ago, the 18 people I’m set to fly this week will easily eclipse my passenger total for the last two years combined.
Make no mistake; I accept that there is a very distinct step from where I am in ballooning as a professional hobbyist pilot to the level of a Rainbow Ryders-type professional pilot. The trust and confidence they showed by offering me this gig means a lot to me and the responsibility of doing a good job is one I take very seriously. Their operation is unlike any I’ve seen. Structured more like an aircraft charter company, in my short time with them, it is very clear that their organization is intentionally designed to create and environment and culture that promotes and maintains a high level of safety and quality.
The Rainbows were adamant that I should still compete during the week, which of course I was happy to do. After spending most of the summer competing in a 77 racer, this 77 round balloon shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment. But the two passengers in my basket, what am I supposed to do with them?
Competitions at Fiesta are straightforward single part fly-in tasks. When the winds are on it is a lot of fun because you can launch from almost anywhere on the map and get to Fiesta Park. But when the winds are off, they are often way off, making for a lot of driving in circles chasing the winds as they change by the minute. My strategy was to stay on the field and watch the first wave of balloons launch, using them as my pibals.
The first two days provided superb conditions with lots of consistent steering. After watching the balloons launch from the field, we drove directly to a launch site and used the higher winds to navigate to the north of Fiesta Park before descending to catch the lower winds to the target for a good score each day.
The most difficult part of the first two comp flights was finding the balance of focusing on the target and entertaining the passengers. It was challenging at times, but I found that sharing the experience with others was extremely rewarding and a welcome change of pace. There was legitimate excitement about the competition from the passengers and established a true sense that together we were the Phillips 66 Balloon Team. It helps that conditions provided for some very good results.
As superb as the conditions were on the first two days, the conditions on the final two days were horrid for competition. On Thursday, we spent more time driving around chasing the changing winds to find a launch site than we actually spent in the air. Only a couple balloons made it back to the field for a score. Not a great experience for the passengers, but they took it in stride.
On Friday, the strangest conditions of the week had us chasing the winds again for launch, but this time the changes came with strong gusts at times, prompting Fiesta to eventually cancel the competition all together.
The first two tasks would decide the overall finish and the Phillips 66 team managed a 4th place finish overall, which is fantastic, but really fails to compare with the experience of flying something completely new, sharing balloon competition with a completely new group of people, and hopefully strengthening the relationship of the Phillips 66 with the sport of hot air ballooning.
