Today Judy and Pat celebrated their 44th anniversary, and Forest Winds was there! Also joining the celebration was Robert, who had received a gift certificate for his birthday last year. Judy and Pat drove down from Winchester to visit their daughter, Melanie, in Roanoke. Melanie wanted to do something very special for her parents, so she gave Forest Winds a call and scheduled a hot air balloon ride for today. Everyone got together a precisely 6:00 AM. Ken (pilot) did a quick wind assessment and pretty soon the entire gang was on their way to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School for the inflation. Once there, Ken did another quick wind assessment to confirm wind direction and speed. As it turned out, the wind direction had changed and it looked like New London airport (W90) would provide the most favorable site. So we all got back into the car and headed south to New London. Once there, Lisa and Ed (our incredible ground crew) assembled the balloon and began the inflation.
In about 25 minutes, The Pride of Forest hot air balloon was brought to life, and Judy, Pat, and Robert climbed aboard. On the surface, the winds were calm, the temperature was about 68°F, and the relative humidity was 90%. Lynchburg airport was reporting visibility at 8 miles.
Ready for takeoff!
At 7:23 AM, we were airborne over the south field of New London airport (W90). With a light wind from the north, we slowly climbed out and began to head south, southeast.
Airborne!
Climbout over W90
During the climbout, Judy seemed a little tense and hung on tight, but Pat was busy taking all kinds of pictures and moving about the basket. At one point, Judy turned to Pat and politely asked him to stop moving and shaking the basket. It didn’t take long however before Judy began to relax and feel comfortable with the altitude. The Pride of Forest continued its ascent to almost 3000′ AGL to find more favorable winds to turn us north. As we climbed higher and higher, the haze on the horizon became more pronounced. It was readily apparent that the hot hazy days of summer were here.
Blue skies!
No matter how high we climbed, the winds were obviously not going to change. So we continued our flight to the south, southeast. Much of the terrain to the south looked pretty wooded, so Ken elected to return to the surface and navigate towards open fields between Bethel Church Road and Evington Road.
Judy and Pat
After about 35 minutes from takeoff, we were approaching the open fields off Evington Road that Ken was navigating to. Although the winds were fairly light, they were extremely variable and it didn’t seem like we had any prevailing direction in which to anticipate the landing. Since the fields were wide enough, it seemed like it would be a lot of fun to scoot across the surface and allow Robert to lean out pick some wildflowers off the field. So up and down we went….
Robert
At one point in the flight, the landowner of the property came out to see if everything was all right (since he saw us bobbing along). Of course, everything was just fine. We were just toodling, looking for the perfect spot to set it down and begin the post flight celebration. At 8:15 AM, we were safely on the ground just off Evington Road (New London). With a pull of the vent, The Pride of Forest was quickly deflated and resting on a dry tarp.
Lisa set up a beautiful light food fare right next to the landing point, and with glasses raised high, everyone celebrated a safe and successful flight. It was a perfect setting….and a great way to start the morning!
Cheers!
Forest Winds says Happy Anniversary to Judy and Pat…and Happy Belated Birthday to Robert!
For more pictures of Judy, Pat and Robert’s flight, go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forestwindsinc/Judy_Pat_Robert_Flight_62709#
Rebecca had always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride, and on several occassions had come close, but for one reason or another had never quite made it in the air. The nice people Rebecca worked with at the Booker T. Washington National Monument apparently had known this and wanted to make her dream come true when she retired. So they contacted Forest Winds for a gift certificate and used that certificate to make a very special presentation (complete with a bouqet of balloons) at her retirement party. Rebecca wanted to share this experience with her entire family, so this past Sunday (June 14, 2009) she, her husband (Robert), and two sons (Thad and Matthew) drove up from Rocky Mount, Virginia to take an afternoon ride.
The afternoon forecast called for light winds from the southeast, partly cloudy skies, and a very small chance of afternoon thunderstorms. All signs pointed to a nice ride. At 5:30 PM, Rebecca and family met up with the Forest Winds team. After a quick wind assessment, a launch site just off the intersection of Waterlick Road and Leesville Road was chosen. We drove out to the launch site and re-confirmed the wind conditions with another pilot balloon. Ken (pilot) called the Lynchburg airport to get an update on any storm activity in the immediate area. With no storm activity in the immediate area, and light winds still from the southeast, we immediately began inflation.
After a few quick pre-flight checks, Rebecca and family climbed aboard The Pride of Forest hot air balloon.
Rebecca & family
At just after 6:30 PM, we were up and on our way. The balloon slowly climed out over the tree tops and began drifting to the north-northwest at about 6 mph.
Airborne!
The view from below!
We quickly crossed over Timberlake Road….Lynchburg airport was to our back, and the Peaks of Otter to our front. The world below seemed to be caught up in the everyday business of life, but we just continued to drift peacefully along to the northeast…ultimately climbing to an altitude of about 1900′ MSL.
Timberlake Road
Robert, Thad, Rebecca & Matthew
We don’t often get lucky enough to fly directly over Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest home, but today we did. Very cool!
Poplar Forest
The Pride of Forest continued to make its zig-zag flight path across the Forest landscape. As we neared Rt. 221, you could see a rain front building off to the north just beyond the Bedford and Amherst County line around the Natural Bridge area. Just about that time, Lynchburg tower called up on the aircraft radio and advised of the same. Activity was apparently moving south from the Lexington area. That was our cue to get the balloon safely on the ground.
Cruising!
Based upon our current flight path, it looked like we would be able to successfully set down in a field just off Gumtree Road, but as we neared the field it became readily apparent that the field had been recently seeded…so we made the decision to fly on to the next field just off to the west. The final approach brought us in at a speed of about 7 mph, but the field was long enough to allow the balloon to glide just above the ground and conduct a gentle set down. Once we were on the ground, it became a race against Mother Nature. Everyone pitched in to quickly deflate and pack up the balloon, probably setting a world record for quickest pack up. We then took the post flight celebration over to a nearby covered pavillion. No sooner after we had just made the toast, the skies opened up with the rain. We however stayed nice and dry under the pavillion!
The celebration toast!
For more pictures of Rebecca & family’s flight, go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forestwindsinc/RebeccaSFlight61409#
This past Saturday (June 6, 2009), Kevin and Donna drove up from Raleigh-Durham to ride with Forest Winds on a hot air balloon adventure. Donna and Kevin used to live in Roanoke, and Donna worked for Blue Ridge PBS. You may recall that Blue Ridge PBS did a story on Forest Winds back in September 2008. It was through that story that Donna learned about Forest Winds, and she thought it would be a great idea to give her husband Kevin a hot air balloon ride for his birthday. As luck would have it though, Kevin and Donna moved to Raleigh-Durham before they could schedule the ride. This didn’t present too much of a problem for the couple however, as we just scheduled the ride for the afternoon so they wouldn’t have to make an early morning drive.
At precisely 6:00 PM, Donna and Kevin met up with the balloon team. Within minutes, the paperwork and wind assessment were complete and we were on our way to Heritage United Methodist Church for inflation. While at the church, another quick wind assessment was completed, and without too much surprise it was noted that the wind direction had shifted by almost 90°. This of course necessitated “Plan B,” which was to take off from the New London airport. So we all got back into the chase vehicle and drove to New London.
After arriving at New London, we conducted another wind assessment just to confirm the conditions hadn’t changed again. They of course did, but it looked like we’d be all right with a northwesterly flight path. In about 25 minutes we The Peaks of Otter Trotter inflated and ready to go in the tall grassy field at the end of Runway 17. Donna and Kevin then climbed aboard.
Ready to go!
The Peaks of Otter Trotter
Ken (the pilot) issued the “weight off” command, and slowly the balloon ascended over the field. Donna and Kevin took a brief moment to wave to the ground crew below.
See ya later!
It didn’t take too long before we were high over the airport and catching a moderate southeasterly breeze.
New London Airport
Off to the northeast we could see a tractor-pull competition just off Rt. 460. Visibility was > 10 miles, but there was definitely haze on the horizon. The balloon was headed west to nortwesterly at about 10 mph and Donna and Kevin seemed pretty impressed by the peacefulness and serenity of the flight.
Kevin & Donna
Over Bedford County we floated…the sun setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains was spectacular. From time to time the ground crew below would check in by radio and ask where it looked like the balloon was going. By all indications, it looked like Goode….perhaps along Goode Station Road. The wind forecast for the evening called for the winds to die off closer to sunset, but as we continued to cruise along at 10 mph, it definitely didn’t appear to be the case. We would need a nice long open field to provide for a good landing.
Over Bedford County
As it became closer and closer to sunset, the time was drawing short to find a suitable landing spot. We had already passed over Goode Station Road and were flying parallel to the Big Otter River next to Bells Mill Road. The ground crew was somewhere on Goode Station Road, and trying to find a way to get closer to where the balloon was (which wasn’t an easy task with the direction we were flying). With about 10 minutes left before sunset, Ken found a small spot in a field along Bells Mill Road. Still cruising about 10 mph above the tree tops, it was critical to perform a rapid descent just as the balloon crossed over the trees lining the field. So at the right moment, we conducted a rapid descent manuever, quickly bringing the balloon down….first topping a pine tree, then setting down on a large pile of brush, then rebounding up and hopping over a very large mud pit….ultimately coming to a rest on the other side. It took some time before the ground crew caught up with us, but it all turned out pretty well…..cause we celebrated the flight and the “hopping” landing by MOONLIGHT!
Toasting a cool landing!
For more pictures of Donna and Kevin’s flight, go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forestwindsinc/Kevin_and_Donna_Flight_6609#