Rochester-23rd Annual Mayor's Cup Invitational

This past weekend I headed east to Rochester, MN for the balloon rally there. The rally is a fairly small event, but great fun with many fun pilots in attendance. Sue and I headed over early so I could take a look at the weather. On the way, we stopped in Fairmont, MN for a Channel Inn Burger. For those who have never had a Channel Inn Burger, I highly recommend the heart attack on a plate. When coming out of the restaurant, I noticed that a local had backed into my chase vehicle. Not sure why someone felt the urge to park on top of my rig, but fortunately there was no damage!

The weather was less than ideal for Rochesterfest, but the balloons didn't stay in the trailer completely. Friday night the glow was winded out, so we did a field of fire instead. It was the first time I had experienced a field of fire in person. The field of fire was kinda cool, but the wait two hour wait in the propane line was hardly worth it.

Saturday morning was extremely windy aloft, but relatively light winds on the surface. Five balloons flew, covering 20 miles in 40 minutes. I elected to stay on the ground, but cold inflated for the crowd. It was a good thing I decided to do that, since my lines were all tied up in knots from the last pack up.

Saturday evening we had thunderstorms over the city and the airport. The field, which was on the far north side of town got sprinkled on, but nothing more. As sunset approached, the thunderstorms dissipated and winds dropped off to near nothing. A cold front was poised ~30 miles west of the field, with 35-45 mph gusts behind it. Even though the strong winds were not far away, it was evident the front would not be pushing through in the next few hours. In addition the rain showers were giving way to clear skies, so I elected to try to glow for the crowd. It was the first time I had the opportunity to glow, it was great.

Sunday morning the front came through between 4-5 am, ending any opportunity to fly. Since mother nature won this year not allowing the pilots a competitive flight for only the second time in 23 years, the meteorologist for the event was presented the last place trophy.

Field of fire Friday night. John is running the burners, and Sue is doing her fire dance.

Here is a picture of me being a dork messing around inside the envelope.

Field of fire on Saturday evening.

Night glow.

A few more pictures from last weekend...

Busy Week

TGIF (or at least for me)... It has been an incredibly long week this week with mother nature copping a little bit of an attitude and the balloon event in town. On Wednesday, I worked a day shift but the atmosphere was primed for a decent severe weather outbreak so I stayed well beyond my scheduled shift to help out. My primary duty was to serve as a second radar operator in an outbreak that required up to three radar operators at times. On Thursday, I was given the opportunity to go out and conduct a damage survey with the Science Operations Officer of our office. Together we rated three tornado tracks, two in southwest Minnesota and one just to the south of Spencer, IA. For pictures and a summary of our ratings, check out http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/?n=tor2008jun11. The hamlet of Spencer was incredibly lucky as the tornado came within a mile of the southeast side of town. While completing the last survey in southwest Minnesota, we noticed some thunderstorms trying to develop off to our west. These thunderstorms became severe about the time we returned to the office, and I ended up working the phones for high based thunderstorms that were kicking out some good wind. All in all, I put 27 hours in at the office on Wednesday and Thursday.

After I got out of the office on Friday afternoon, I headed over to a local hotel to put the final touches on the check in party for the balloon event in town for the weekend. After the party wound down, I went home to hook up the trailer for what looked to be a flyable morning.
3 am on Saturday morning came quicker than I would like. The weather was quite tricky, with west winds of 25+ knots a few hundred feet above the surface and a band of showers to the north threatening to kickout an outflow boundary or two. After pouring over the data and calling my office, I headed to the field to give John Ninomiya a briefing for his cluster balloon. While the conditions appeared to be less than ideal, we decided to give it a shot with this being his third attempt in as many years. Winds were quite brisk while filling the helium balloons, gusting up to 10-15 mph in the pre-dawn hours. As sunrise approached, the gusts began to die off and I called the office quick to get an update on the showers to the north. I was informed the showers had produced multiple outflow boundaries that were headed towards Sioux Falls, producing north winds of 10-15 mph. John launched right at sunrise, and shortly thereafter I was on deck to give my briefing. As I gave my briefing, an outflow boundary came through changing the prevailing winds from the southwest to the north. The winds were not overly strong, and a hare and hound was called. A secondary outflow boundary hit as the hare balloon began to add heat, reinforcing the north winds. He took off fairly quickly heading south south east for 20 minutes before finding a landing spot. Balloons began quickly taking to the air, and before I knew it, I was the last balloon on the field. By this time the winds behind the outflow boundary had moderated to 6-7 mph. Throughout the flight the winds continued to slow, and by the time we had made it a mile south, the synoptic conditions began to take over with a light west wind developing at the surface. With the conditions changing, only three balloons made it to the target area...those that took off immediately after the hare.

I was fairly confident Saturday night was going to be characterized by thunderstorms, as moisture was expected to return from the south. However, as the day wore on (while I was at work), it became more and more evident that the moisture was going to stay to the south in Iowa (where there don't need the rain). Because the moisture stayed south, we were able to get another flight in that night. It was another hare and hound, but no one was able to catch the hare. He ended up just north of Madison while the rest of us stayed south. I ended up landing in the middle of Pine Lake Hills Estates, a beautiful neighborhood just outside the city.

It was a little breezy with a wind out of the southwest.

Preparing the balloons for launch.

Away he goes! When he wants to come down, he releases a balloon one at a time.

Morning launch...my balloon is in the foreground just beginning the inflation.

Morning fight. This was taken right before the wind change, I am in the lower righthand corner.

Saturday evening launch.

Saturday evening flight. The big cleared lot in this picture is where the tumbleweeds are born. My house is just off the top of this picture.

I went up to 2500 feet to try to find a wind to take me north, no such luck.

Looking back towards town.

Getting towards sunset, time to land.

New License

On June 1st, I headed down to Iowa to get my annual inspection completed on my balloon. The weather was nice then as well, so I went ahead and completed my checkride. The winds on the surface were light out of the west with a north wind aloft. We took off at Banner Park, and landed at the balloon field. It was the first time I had landed at the balloon field. I am now a licensed private pilot! Below are a couple of pictures of the post celebration. Thank goodness I had brought a change of clothes!!

Be passionate about life...

Randy Pausch, someone who is inspiring and lives to live life, recently gave the charge at the commencement ceremony at CMU. It is a short, yet effective speech. Live for today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATiyfX1I45I