Learning To Fly A Balloon (part1)
A year after my first wonderful balloon ride I returned to Albuquerque determined to learn how to fly a balloon. I had no idea where to start but eventually met a balloonist who suggested I try Beth Wright Smith at World Balloon (the then largest balloon ride operator in New Mexico). One Friday I telephoned Beth and asked about flying lessons - she said she would send me all the information, I suggested I come by and pick it up.
I had no idea what was normal but it all seemed fine and I asked when I could begin - she told me to be there at 4.30 a.m. on Monday! I think I was hoping that the early hour for ballooning was only during the balloon fiesta - I was wrong. Ballooning usually takes place during the first two hours after sunrise and the two hours before sunset - otherwise one might encounter thermals and these can play havoc with a balloon. I appeared that Monday and was introduced to Don Rose who would be with me as crew and general friend in need throughout my flight training. The balloon I would be learning on was called “Orange Slice”. We packed the balloon basket, envelope and a large fan in a truck and I learned that we also needed radios to communicate between chase crew and balloon. These and the flight instruments were put in the truck along with two balloons filled with helium. These are called ‘pibals” (for pilot balloons) and would give us an indication of the wind speed and direction when released at our launch site. The next step was to ring flight services for a weather briefing. Then we drove off in the darkness to the launch site.
At the launch site we kicked dirt around for awhile and waited for sunrise. Then we released a pibal and watched where it went. Depending on what the pibal does, one may decide to launch from another site. The weather briefing together with the pibal are the first hints of what you will encounter once airborne.
Then we took the balloon out of the truck and assembled it. Mostly I watched. First comes the basket, to which upright poles are attached. On top of these poles the burner is placed and hooked up to the propane tanks in the basket of the balloon. Once this has been done, one performs a “burner check” to make sure that there are no leaks in the propane lines and that there is enough pressure in the burners for safe flight. Then the instruments are attached to an upright. The instruments will show the altitude, rate of rise and descent, and when hooked up to the pyrometer in the top of the envelope, also show the temperature inside the balloon. In the case of most balloons one does not want a temperature to exceed 225 degrees fahrenheit. Then the basket is laid on its side and the envelope is attached, in the case of the balloon I learned on, to carabiners (my nemesis). The envelope is then laid out, the fan placed to the side of the basket and started, forcing cold air into the throat of the balloon. At the other end of the balloon, it is now time to begin attaching velcro tabs that hold the top on to the envelope and prevent air escaping. At this stage also a crew member takes hold of the “crown line” - a rope attached to the top of the balloon which will hold it steady during inflation. Once the balloon is ‘cold packed’ hot air is added through the burners and the balloon stands up. Obviously I was not allowed to do this final stage until much later! With a few more safety checks we are ready for flight. On this first flight I was allowed to use the burners but Beth would tell me when to burn - it all seemed very easy thanks to her expertise. In a balloon added heat from the burners makes the craft ascend and pulling on the red line which unseats the top and allows cold air to enter the envelope, makes it go down. I wasn’t allowed to use the red line for awhile either.
This first flight lesson was bliss - until we landed and I realized that the envelope had to be ‘milked’ to get all the air out (hard work), then gathered up and replaced in the bag (more hard work) and then the bag and basket had to be loaded back in the truck (still more hard work). I was exhausted. We drove back to World Balloon and I was shown how to refuel the propane tanks. This had taken all morning! But....I wasn’t finished yet. After an hour for lunch I had two hours of ‘ground school’. I’am sure I didn’t understand half of what I was being told and was having a hard enough time keeping my eyes open. I dragged myself home, tired to make sense out of what I had learned and went to bed early so I could repeat the whole process again the next day. Perhaps I should mention the criteria needed to be a hot air balloon pilot. One has to have at least 10 hours of instruction in a balloon. It is necessary to make a solo flight and then to have a ‘check ride’ from a commercial pilot who is certified to give pilot certificates (at that time there were two men qualified to do this in Albuquerque). It is also necessary to take various tests as per FAR 61 during one’s ground school and take a FAA written examination and pass it.
For the next two weeks I flew every day except Sunday with Beth in the morning and did ground school in the afternoons. The next part of my physical training in a balloon was done by Don Boyer, a lovely man who I am sure despaired he was ever going to make a pilot of me. I say this because on our first flight he told me to spit over the side of the balloon (pilots do this to see what the wind directions are below them, especially when trying to negotiate a landing). I told Don that I was definitely NOT going to spit and I think I said something about ladies not spitting - the next day he brought me a can of shaving foam. I recently saw Don at a gathering and he proudly told the person he was with that he had taught me how to spit! He was right, shaving foam is simply not as reliable! I carried on flying in the morning, doing ground school in the afternoon for what seemed like forever. I had passed the FAA test and a pre-solo test but no one seemed to want to let me take that solo flight. I was beginning to worry that I was never going to be good enough. It turned out that Don had been a bit worried about how to tell me I was going to take a solo flight - usually the instructor just leaps out of the balloon and off you go. Don didn’t think I would like this so he very gently suggested to me that it was time for a solo and would I mind if he got out of the balloon - he didn’t know how much I had been looking forward to that moment!
I finally had my solo flight and the sheer exhilaration of it all was amazing. I knew instantly that this had been a good thing to learn, that all the exhaustive training had been worth every moment - and most of all that I didn’t want that particular moment of flight to ever end.
(INFORMATION UPDATE. Rainbow Ryders is now the largest hot air balloon ride operator in Albuquerque. Beth Wright Smith continues to teach hot air ballooning through her own company - Airborne Heat)
By Mardi Cone.
