{"id":1791,"date":"2013-05-16T12:03:07","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T19:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=1791"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","slug":"first-balloon-solo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/first-balloon-solo\/","title":{"rendered":"#63 First Balloon Solo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Those who don\u2019t fly hot air balloons may not realize that there is no such thing as a Certificated Flight Instructor, Hot Air Balloon.\u00a0 (CFI, LTA).\u00a0 For some reason the FAA threw up its bureaucratic hands years ago and decided that any holder of a Commercial Pilot Certificate with a Balloon rating had the privilege of teaching.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how I managed to slither into my first job in aviation.\u00a0 I gave \u201cChampagne Flights\u201d and taught ballooning in the Medford, Oregon area. \u00a0At that time, although a Commercial Pilot in Hot Air Balloons, \u00a0I was still working on my Private Pilot’s certificate in airplanes!<\/p>\n

\"Cessna<\/a>
I ascend in the “Cessna” balloon while one of my former students pilots the “Big Al’s Drive-In” balloon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My role wasn\u2019t taken too seriously. When the FBO for which I worked was sold, \u00a0the new manager waltzed in and said, \u201cI want to have all Flight Instructors come into the meeting room\u201d.\u00a0 We all dutifully trooped toward the hall, but when the manager saw me moving toward the meeting room, he shook his head and said, \u201cNot you, Lansburgh\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

It takes a crew to launch and recover a balloon and most balloonists depend on friends and other interested people to supply this necessary work force.\u00a0 In my case, one of those who volunteered to help was a woman named Margaret, who at that time was working as a cocktail waitress at the airport bar where I spent far too much time.<\/p>\n

Margaret would rise up early in the morning and help launch those flights.\u00a0 She\u2019d chase the balloon as I drifted with my passengers and students across the Rogue Valley and then she\u2019d be there when we came back to earth.\u00a0 She\u2019d help pack up the balloon and get it back on its little trailer.\u00a0 Margaret really loved balloon flight.\u00a0 From time to time, I\u2019d give her a chance to fly.\u00a0 Here and there, bit by bit, Margaret accumulated flight time.\u00a0 Within a season or two she was ready to solo.<\/p>\n

\"Inflation<\/a>
The balloon envelope is inflated with a fan prior to the big burners blasting heat into it and causing it to rise up. I sure hope the photographer got out of there in time!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was finally working as a CFI in Montague, California.\u00a0 Margaret and the crew had brought the balloon down from Medford and I\u2019d told her that she could have a lesson in the great flying country of Siskiyou County, California.\u00a0 What she didn\u2019t realize was that it was my intention to solo her on this crisp, calm California morning.<\/p>\n

The crew bustled around, getting the balloon laid out and ready for inflation.\u00a0 Margaret assumed the duties of Pilot-in-Command and got the balloon inflated and ready for flight.\u00a0 I distracted her to allow one of the other crewmembers to perform a very important task.\u00a0 That person brought my sport parachute out of my car and hung it on the outside of the balloon basket.\u00a0 Margaret had no idea that the rig was there as she and I launched out of that field and ascended into the sky above Montague.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go up to 7,500 feet,\u201d I suggested.\u00a0 Margaret gave me a puzzled look.\u00a0 She commented that it seemed rather high, but she blasted the burners and up we went.\u00a0 We chatted about the envelope temperature and we observed the affect of the altitude on our drifting course as we ascended.\u00a0 Once at altitude, I commented to her, \u201cY\u2019know, Maggie, I think you\u2019re ready to solo this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret knew she was ready to solo, but she wasn\u2019t too concerned about it right then.\u00a0 After all, we were up at 7,500 feet and obviously it would be her NEXT flight that would be the solo.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t realize that \u201cCap\u2019n McSneaky\u201d had a trick up his nomex sleeve.<\/p>\n

\u201cYup, I think it\u2019s time,\u201d I said as I reached over the side of the wicker basket and brought my parachute aboard.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take more than about a millisecond for Margaret to realize what was going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, no, you\u2019re not going to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYup, I\u2019m going to leave you now.\u00a0 I\u2019d like you to set up a rate of descent so that when I exit, the sudden lightness of the basket won\u2019t result in too much of a sudden climb.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we\u2019ve gone so high.\u201d<\/p>\n

I explained to her that she simply needed to assume command and gradually begin to descend and find a suitable place to land\u2026 all by herself.<\/p>\n

Margaret set up a rate of descent of about 700 feet per minute as I donned my parachute and adjusted it.\u00a0 I wished her a great flight, climbed over the side of the basket and gently hopped off.<\/p>\n

A skydive out of a balloon is unlike other jumps because there is no relative wind to support you as you exit.\u00a0 When you jump out of an airplane, you are immediately supported by the relative wind and can control your body as it accelerates.\u00a0 Jumping from a balloon you\u2019re like a pussycat tossed from a balcony.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing there and it\u2019s a natural tendency to wave your arms and legs, searching for stability.<\/p>\n

After about a thirty-second freefall I reached into the leg pocket of the \u201cTop Secret\u201d harness and flung out the pilot chute.\u00a0 The \u201cStrato Cloud\u201d canopy deployed and I was swooping around over a country road.\u00a0 I spotted the support crew down below, parked by the side of the road.\u00a0 They were all waving and jumping up and down with excitement.\u00a0 I circled in a descent over the road and landed in the field next to the little group.\u00a0 I quickly gathered up my rig, hopped in the truck and we began the chase, following Margaret\u2019s balloon as she slowly drifted into the foothills north of Montague.<\/p>\n

Margaret landed in the Hornbrook City Dump.\u00a0 It may seem to be a pretty ignominious place for a first solo landing, but to both Margaret and me, it was a beautiful place to end up and she had selected a fine spot that was ideal for her arrival back on earth.<\/p>\n

The first solo is an unforgettable event in any pilot\u2019s life and there isn\u2019t a pilot alive who doesn\u2019t remember his.\u00a0 I had never soloed anyone that way before, and I\u2019ve never soloed anyone that way since.\u00a0 The memory of that solo is one of my favorites, plucked from years spent in the rich pursuit of teaching others to fly.<\/p>\n

Happy Swooping<\/p>\n

Brian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYup, I think it\u2019s time,\u201d I said as I reached over the side of the wicker basket and brought my parachute aboard. It didn\u2019t take more than about a millisecond for Margaret to realize what was going on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,38,67,89,171],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}