The Balloonist's Prayer       The winds have welcomed you with softness The sun has blessed you with his warm hands. You have flown so high and so well that God joined you in laughter and set you gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

The Call of the wind

Captain Gene Johnsey gave me a call April 27.

"Can you crew for me tomorrow morning?" he asked, "It is looking good for flying."

"Wow, Yes ... sure can," I stammered.

"Great," said Gene, "be at my house at 5:45".

"5:45 in the Morning?" I was looking for clarification, "I haven't been anywhere that early since I was an Altar Boy in Eighth grade."

Gene was firm in his response, "A quarter to six we will pull out."  It was clear to me from his tone that I was about to be initiated into a new experience.

I spent a restless night, and woke at 4:43, just in time to see that I had not overslept the 4:45 alarm. It buzzed a minute later.   I had to turn on lights to figure out how to turn it off and fumbled to get it silenced.

Chaos was followed by Coffee, and I was operating on 5 of 6 cylinders when I departed. No Camera, no money, no wallet .... but my pants were on front wards.

Gene was ready to go when I arrived. He said we would meet the rest of the crew in Alvin. The balloon was in a custom trailer hooked behind his Suburban. We went over the bridge to Kemah and were immediately into a rather dense fog.  This had not been in the previous nights forecast.

Flight Planning at MacDonald's

The fog was still thick when we arrived in Alvin. We pulled into the parking lot South of town on Highway 35. The MacDonald's is the meeting place. Willie Bright and Larry Bright showed up a few minutes later and we had a conference in a booth. Gene had copies of local area maps. One is for the Chase Driver and one for the Navigator on board.

The plan is to fly from a field south of Liverpool on a predicted Southeast wind for about a half an hour then drop to convenient field and exchange one of the flying crew to the Chase vehicle then take off for another half hour or so. That way everyone would get some flying time.

We would have to wait for the fog to lift.  Meanwhile we went out to the trailer and Gene briefed Larry and me, both first time fliers, on the equipment and our assignments. These instructions would be repeated again when we prepared the balloon for flight.  He assured us that events would happen slowly and deliberately... much like on a sailboat.

The Hay Field

We all piled into Gene's Van and headed off South into the fog. The visibility was less than a quarter of a mile but we were all optimistic. The forecast was for a cloudless and warm day, surely this would burn off soon.

Along the way Gene pointed out some of the terrain features from a Balloonist's viewpoint.

"That field is nice and smooth, no trees, but it is a rice field." he explained, "farmers get upset when you land in the crops."

"That one looks like a great pasture... but it has cows in it."

"That one has Horses, so we can't land there, Livestock pastures are off limits except in emergencies."

We also learned that Radio towers, Power lines, Fences, tall buildings, trees and water should be avoided.

When we got to the hayfield I could see that this was obviously the right kind of place for Launch or Landing.  There was no fence by the road, and there was easy access into the field.

The field was, however,  3/4 full of fog.  That meant no flying.  So we set about getting rid of the fog. First we tried waiting for the fog to lift.  Waiting didn't seem to work.

Then we tried wishing, and that helped a little, because if you wished real hard you could see further down the pasture. Gene sent up a Pibal (pilot balloon), its a trial balloon.  Really ... that's what it was, a regular black party balloon filled with helium. It went straight up about 100 feet before it started North East on a light air current.

Gene said, "There are two tall towers off over there... beyond Chocolate Bayou ...and past the trees at the other end of the field. We are not flying till I can see those towers... they are about 2,000 feet tall."

We moved the trailer into the field about 100 yards into the direction the wind was coming from..  That way the balloon could be up and away, before it crossed the road, and the low fence on the other side.

After about an hour the fog began to dissipate. We could see the trees at the other end of the field, and we could even see trees beyond the Bayou. It was time to begin Launch preparations.

Launch Preparations

We started pulling stuff out of the trailer.  The Basket you ride in had three large tanks filled with propane aboard. There are rope handles to hang onto, an altimeter, a VHF radio to talk with the Chase vehicle, and a  GPS for tracking speed and direction.

The Envelope (that's tech talk for the balloon part) is about 80 feet high and 50 feet in diameter at the widest part. It is comparable in size to the spinnaker for an America's cup racer. The material is Nylon and has been treated to  reduce porosity and to increase resistance to mildew.

The Envelope is attached to the Basket with stout nylon webbing.  The nylon webbing (20 vertical strips that run from the crown to the throat) is connected to steel cables. The steel cables, 20 in all, connect to the burner frame,  5 at each corner.  The Burner frame is held up by four flexible nylon poles and is also attached by four very heavy steel cables to carry the basket aloft. The Eagle has two burners and each is connected to a Propane tank.  Each burner is rated at between 10 and 20 million BTU each.

Everything gets assembled laying out on its side in the Field. There is a Big Fan with an Airplane style propeller, driven by a 9 hp engine. This will be used to blow up the balloon with "cold air".

We got introduced to the equipment and were assigned flight jobs. I would be Navigator, so I got the map. Larry would be in charge of Ground Communications: He got the radio. Gene was the Pilot and did the actual flying.

Ready to Launch

Another Pibol is launched to gauge wind speed and direction.  It did much the same as before, up and then to the North East.

Visibility has improved markedly but Gene is still complaining, "I can't see those towers and we are not launching  until I do".

The countdown has halted at T -10 minutes. We are waiting for the fog bank over Chocolate Bayou to burn off.

"You got a map and a compass?" I ask. " Lets plot the position of those towers so we can look for them in the right direction."

Willie lives in the neighborhood and she points out where she thinks they are on the map. We do some line of sight plotting and conclude they are at about 60 degrees. We had been looking for them around 30 degrees. We now try to get rid of the fog by staring through it. That finally worked. After less than 2 minutes of staring in the right direction Willie said "I can see the top of one tower... And there is the other."

Gene announced, "I can see the bottom of the left one too. Let's Launch."

After finally seeing them myself I said, "Damn, them are Big Towers... No wonder you didn't want to launch."

We did not see them in a distance peeping, over tree tops. No! These monsters were so big, and so close, that you had to look well above the horizon to see them. The fog had hidden them well.

Now there was work for all four of us. Willie handled the tether at the top of the Balloon. Her job was to control the direction when it started to rise. Larry and I held the throat of the envelope open. Gene fired up the Big fan and blew air into the throat.  Slowly the balloon began to fill. My other job was to feed the valve release line into the balloon. Larry's other job was to put away the fan.

The fan almost completely filled the balloon but it was laying on its side. Next Gene moved from the Fan to the Burners. "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" went the burners, and the flames rushed right by where I was standing. It was frightening for a second, but I could see that it was quite safe in Gene's expert hands.

Very slowly the balloon began to rise... at first just filling up fully ... then it straightened up with the Hot air.

"Wind shift," someone shouted, and the rising balloon started rolling and veering from the North West heading to due North.

"Hang on to the Basket and hold it down, " shouted Gene as he climbed in. " Now y'all climb aboard, we are ready to fly."  Larry and I followed quickly.

Willie came in with the top tether and it was tied of to the basket . Gene released the safety tether to the trailer. We were free of restraints but still sitting on the ground.  A light breeze swayed the balloon, but we only rocked in place.

Then "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" and the balloon was airborne.  At first I looked up, and watched the flames rising into the throat of the balloon.  It's a mighty roar, like a jet's afterburner. I was mesmerized by the power.

By the time I got around to looking down, the balloon was above 200 feet. Our Launch spot was almost directly below. The rise was so gentle there was almost no feeling of motion.
 

The Flight "Towers 30 degrees off the starboard bow," I proclaim. I'm taking my navigator job seriously. "There is no bow," explained Gene, "the balloon will twist around as it goes... there is no front end." I could see what he meant because the balloon slowly rotated on its axis as we headed up the bayou. What is a navigator to do with only two directions...  up and down? The flying sensation is all together delightful. The world below drifts slowly by. The dogs respond immediately by barking and running around.

 We saw cars on the roads, a train going through the town, but no one came out and waved. We were the watchers but not the watched. That is except the Chase vehicle, Willie kept a good eye on us.

Our course took us up Chocolate Bayou... not that we had any choice. The bayou has dense forest on either side for at least a half a mile. There is no place to land... all forest and small open patches.  There is a residential area below but all the homes are surrounded by trees.

At first we flew along at about 200 feet. The balloon seemed to track the bayou. Gene really wanted to get away from the bayou and the surrounding trees. There are no safe landing spots there. It's always good to have a potential landing site coming up on the current track.  Every time it appeared we would be heading away from the bayou the wind would bring us back.

"Is everything all right?" I asked Gene.

"Sure," he answered, "I just need to find a level where the wind will get us away from this track."

With this comment from him, I got serious about tracking our heading more precisely.  When you are moving very slowly at a high altitude it is very difficult to tell which direction you are going.  You seem to be standing still.

Roads however are good reference lines on the ground below. And the shadow of the balloon is like a pointer moving across a map.  If you watch the track of the shadow with reference to a road you can get an accurate heading vector.  I got fascinated  trying to pick out landmarks ahead along the track, and then seeing if we actually passed over them.

At one point I got bold enough to predict, "See that dark field at the edge of the forest... I predict we will break out of the trees over that field."

"That's a good landing field" said Gene, "Where is it on the map?"

I spread the small map on the basket rail and pointed, "Here's Highway 35... that's the bridge down there.. This intersection is near the field on the north side."

"That's a good one," said Gene, "Larry, call Willie and give her the directions."

I looked up the road numbers, and Larry called them off to Willie on the radio. He was also tracking the Chase vehicle so he could direct her when and where to turn. Wow, what teamwork!

Alas, foiled again, the wind shifted slightly to the Southwest and moved us away from my predicted track. We were back into the clutches of the Bayou and the forest. I decide to give up predicting landing spots.
I will content myself with knowing where we are.

"Are you having fun?" asked Gene.

I think my eloquent reply was, "Wow, yes."

Then "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH", "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" ,"BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" said the burners.

"We are going up to look for a different wind direction," explained Gene. This was the first time I looked at the Altimeter. The meter read 400 and the altitude 300 feet.

"That's not 400 feet per second, is it?" I said.

"No, 400 feet per minute, but it's still a fast climb".  (That's 4.5 Miles per hour .. straight up)

Within a few minutes we were at 2100 feet... the highest we would go that day. While we were up there two airplanes flew by below us. We were Eyeball to Eyeball level with the tops of the dreaded towers. They were now about six miles to the South, and of no concern now.

Landing Time

Looking North we could see miles and miles of forest ahead.  Our climb had taken us from the Western edge of the forest to the Eastern edge. The map indicated Camp Mohawk along the banks of the bayou. Ahead was a clearing just to the East of our track. There was a large swimming pool and a parking lot nearby.

Gene started a rapid decent. It brought us down to about 100 feet. There was another clearing tantalizingly close. It was a softball field... By now we are so low that the basket grazed the tops of the trees.  We were less than fifty yards of passing over the softball field, but still over trees.

More "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH", "BRAAAACCCCCCHHHHH" and up we go to perhaps 300 feet.

The chase vehicle had pulled up the road to the softball field. We could see that we were finally going to get clear of the trees. The wind picked up a bit and we could see the leaves rustling in the breeze.
There was a crop field ahead ... looked like corn.... beyond, there was a pasture. It was wide enough that even with the fluky wind direction we would pass over it somewhere.

Larry directed Willie to turn around, go back to the next main road, left for about a mile and watch for where we land.

We were coming down fast, and moving along about 7 miles per hour.

"Remember, Face backwards, Hold on to the rope handles, Knees slightly bent to absorb the shock," said Gene. "We will hit, and bounce, and maybe drag in this wind."

The last few seconds were soundless, we settled down slowly but were moving swiftly over the pasture. there was a crackling sound for perhaps a second or two as the basket clattered through the taller weeds.
Then "FRUWUMMMP" we hit, tipped forward, and bounced up about 4 to 5 feet into the air.  Then we swung like a pendulum forward and tipped back. Now down again, "FRUWUMMMP". bounce up again, but this time no swing. Down "FRUWUMMMP", flop over, and drag on our side a few yards.

"Gentlemen, we have landed," announced our Captain, "Stay put in the basket for now."

He was letting air out of the top of the balloon so it would collapse and stop dragging us.

"OK to get out now."

The flight had been about an hour and a half.

Recovery and Celebration

Everyone was safe and happy on the ground... The basket was in good shape. Now it was time to finish deflating the Envelope and pack it up as we waited for the Chase Vehicle to get permission of the land owner to enter the field and truck us out.

We did not have to wait long. We gathered up the envelope into a long sausage and tied it every ten feet with Velcro ties. Gene headed off through the pasture to meet the truck. While he was gone Larry and I started disassembling the Basket. Another ten or fifteen minutes of grunt work and the whole thing was packed up in the trailer.

"Where will we do It?" asked Willie as we drove away from the landing site. "Here on the roadside?"

"Naw, let's do It in Alvin, if we find a park."

By now I figured out, "It", was going to be done to Larry and me.

Gene and Willie looked for places to do "It" as we drove toward Alvin. Finally he said, "Lets just do It in the field by the bank."

I don't think I am allowed to get into much detail about what "It" was. I can say "It" was pleasant and "It" involved Champagne.  You will have to take your first trip on a hot air balloon to find out.

Thank's Gene and Willie. Count me in again, and I will happily do the Chase job.