Offi cials

“There are as many as 650 balloons participating in a mass ascension,” explains Jordan, “but they can’t all inflate at the same time because there simply isn’t enough space. Too many balloons crushed together could create a dangerous situation for pilots and guests.”

“That’s why we launch in waves,” adds CourtneyBueno. “Ascensions start on the downwind side of the field and continue in row-by-row formation. Matching the number of balloons to available space helps maintain order and ensure safety.”

Replacing pandemonium with precision is only one aspect of Launch Committee action. The group must also aid, abet, and guide each pilot’s trip aloft. The 60+ member launch team covers the entire field, eyeballing gondolas and envelopes for safety infractions and violations. Integrating specific communication techniques, they monitor, control, and direct air traffic. “Some situations are not as concerning as others,” continues Jordan. For example, envelope to envelope contact [between balloons] isn’t of as much concern as gondola with envelope contact would be. Of course, we try to prevent any balloon-to-balloon contact by alerting our pilots to obstacles: we can be their ‘sonar’, if necessary.”

Pilots depend upon launch directors for visual direction because they cannot, obviously, look up through the top of the balloon to see who might be hovering overhead in their flight paths. Launch directors perform the same duties as controllers in airport towers. They’re closer to the action, but must make the same on-the-spot critical decisions.

“Pilots depend upon us and trust our decisions,” Jordan says. “We try to provide consistent non-verbal signals, since shouts can’t always be heard above the sound of propane burners and crowd excitement.”

Using a prescribed set of signals, launch directors indicate when hot air balloons should begin inflation, hold their field positions, or fly aloft.

Communication, flexibility, and good judgment are ideal attributes for members of the launch team. “We’re enthusiasts on and off the field,” laughs Courtney-Bueno.

“Absolutely right,” agrees Jordan. “We’re proud of our competence and deliberate efforts to cooperate with one another. We’re a non-competitive group, here to prevent Balloon Fiesta mishaps. Launch Directors are privileged to have esprit de corps; for nine inspiring days we are a family – as sturdy and staunch and sure as our Zebra counterparts.”

Above: Zebra esprit de corps!

Above: Families help launch and safety officials with the flag flown from the Balloon of the Day.

• Counseling pilots, including for violations of Balloon

Fiesta rules • Making reports on pilots who need further counseling • Helping to resolve pilot conflicts • Monitoring Dawn Patrol, Mass Ascension, and

Balloon Glow briefings and alerts • Working with AIBF Pubic Safety officials in liaison and coordination efforts • Checking propane refueling activities for safety issues • Monitoring on-field and off-field target areas for safety issues, such as spectators who may interfere with scoring or balloon landings • Patrolling the America’s Challenge gas balloon launch area for safety issues and keeping guests out of the secured area while the balloons are being filled • Helping to monitor and enforce any safety issues occurring when balloons land on the field; • Monitoring, testing, allocating, and fixing audio equipment used for inter- and intra-official team communications and the scooters officials use to get around • Coordinating, displaying, and updating official maps that alert pilots to sensitive or prohibited areas • Producing, the pilot safety video and recording viewership of same as well as completion of required pilot documentation as pilots register

The Safety Officers’ job is not all enforcement. Tom Bueno described the joy the team gets from letting families with young kids help raise the green flag of the day, which indicates that the balloons will be flying soon and that the fun is about to begin. Another satisfying part of this team’s job is helping the Weather and Launch Teams have a young balloonist (future pilot) release the Pi-ball at the morning weather briefing. Tom says the love of ballooning, of the people and camaraderie and teamwork of those involved, and the many friendships make this an important and return-to job. The Safety Team often gets both positive and negative feedback from pilots, spectators and others, making this an interesting learning experience. Plus, all the other officials listen to the Safety Team when new ideas and approaches about increasing flight safety arise.

Scoring

Chief of Scoring Tammy Luna has an experienced group of helpers, including Rita Brennan, Assistant Scoring Chief, Mike Gilligan, Chief Scoring Tech, and Jay Luna, Chief of Targets. Although Tammy is not a pilot, she has decades of working on a chase crew, and 30 years as a scoring officer.

The “tasks” pilots are asked to complete in competition have varied over the years, but the basic principle always has been for the pilot to fly to a target. The target is usually an “X”, but poles, giant playing

PHOTO: ALESSA KLUGE

cards, golf pins, and even a boat are used for some tasks. Once there, the pilot drops or places an official marker (a streamered, weighted baggie, ring, or other “scoring device”) as close to the middle of the target as possible. Who got closest? The Scoring Team’s job is to find out.

The Scoring Team places the targets at designated locations both off-field and on-field. As pilots fly toward the target, the Scoring Team keeps a close watch to make sure they obey the altitude limitations in approaching the target (at least 75 feet off the ground until inside the flagged scoring area), about touching ground, landing on the field, not interfering with other balloons, or otherwise not sticking to the competition rules. Once pilots drop their scoring device, the scorers measure its distance from the center of the target down to fractions of an inch. Winners are decided using a formula containing a series of measurements of that specific pilot’s distances from the target over the course of Balloon Fiesta. The overall winner may get a new automobile or truck, motorcycle, balloon, or prize money. Other prizes go to the lower scoring balloons.

There are 5 weekdays designated as competition days, unless one or more mornings are weathered out. But even when the weather prohibits competition, the team stays busy. Targets may need repair, there are hundreds of “returned” baggies to sort, and Tammy says the team is responsible for marking and updating the big

map on the briefing tower and on the web site, so pilots will have the latest landing obstructions or changes in locations of PZs or other landowner data. Tammy works closely with the Safety Team, Launch Directors, and the FAA. This team gets few compliments, but many complaints, such as when a penalty, disqualification, or “no score” has been assessed. Tammy says the best part of the job is “being part of the best event in the world.” To learn more about competition and scoring, see the article on page 224, and visit the Collectors Corner in the Merchandise section of the Balloon Fiesta website to view articles from past Balloon Fiesta programs: “Games Balloonists Play” by Kim Vesely, pp 98-99, 2010; and “Competition, Yesterday and Today” by Marilee SchmitNason and Wally Book, pp 62-68, 2018. Top: Getting ready to release the “pibal” which pilots use to get an idea of winds aloft. Above: Measuring scoring devices – this shows why fractions of an inch make a difference! Weather For Balloon Fiesta 2022, our Weather Team consists of Brad Temeyer, with the help of Duncan Dunavent, John Elrick, Katherine Kelly, and Robert Wise. The team also includes Randy Lefevre, long-time Balloon Fiesta weather guy and one of a handful of experts in the world on forecasting long distance weather trajectories for scientific and manned balloons, as the meteorologist for the America’s Challenge gas balloon race. The Weather Team starts work on Wednesday before Balloon Fiesta, setting up their office in one end of the Safety Trailer and briefing the Safety Team and any

Above: Using the theodolite to gather weather data. Below: Dropping into a friendly neighborhood.

Landowner Relations

Nancy Wertz and her team, consisting of Larry Merry, Janette and Orbin Stone, Jim and Nancy Holley, Wally Book, and Karen Brown, are the folks who monitor and visit unhappy landowners. The landowners where balloons land, or in some cases fly over a remuda of horses or goats or sheep or emus, sometimes are upset by their livestock responding to the noise of the balloon burners, or balloon trucks driving over recently irrigated pasture, or balloons hitting a house or some other object while landing. It is the duty of the Landowner group to visit those folks and see if there is some way to settle emotions down, or explain what happened, or in other ways to mollify the landowners. This team also heads the effort to lay out white sheets or other signs that balloons are welcome to land on their property, in case the landowner is friendly to balloon landings.

other officials in the trailer. This team uses 1) Weather Underground (which has sites in Corrales, Rio Rancho, Bernalillo et al), 2) the National Weather Service for Albuquerque, and 3) the Weather Profiler. The profiler belongs to the City of Albuquerque, usually set up at Double Eagle Airport, but during Balloon Fiesta, it is moved to the north end of Balloon Fiesta Park. This device uses radar, looking at the reflection of air particles surface to 1500 feet AGL and higher in increments of speed and direction. Wind sensors are positioned around the field, along with a lightning detector.

The team begins collecting weather data each morning beginning around 3:30 - 4:00 a.m. Three weather people monitor the computers, a fourth person inputs the data, and a fifth runs the theodolite, which is basically a precision telescope mounted on a transit which monitors a pi-bal (pilot ball, essentially a large latex balloon) for wind speed and direction using horizontal and vertical plane measurements. They report these data to the Dawn Patrol balloon pilots, usually already flying early in the morning.

The team also reports data from the WINDSONDE (more accurately defined as a radiosonde), a batterypowered telemetry instrument carried aloft on a small helium balloon which records temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, humidity and geographical position. This device is then released from the helium balloon and dropped to the ground, later to be retrieved (by the landowners relations group). Brad is at the briefing tower, giving weather reports orally to pilots, while the rest of the team is back at the weather part of the safety trailer. For evening events, the team starts about 3 p.m. with the same devices and reports to give to the Balloonmeister and other officials.

John Elrick says the best part of the job is seeing all the people at Balloon Fiesta, giving out pins to kids, and working as part of a larger team.

Above: The Balloon Fiesta’s “gas station”: pilots refueling

During Balloon Fiesta, Nancy’s team cruises around the metro area, usually Sandia Reservation, Corrales and Bernalillo. When a call comes in, the team heads to the spot in order to find out what happened and to talk to the landowners. Nancy’s team has keys to various locked gates (e.g. AMAFCA or city parks or private/commercial properties) in order to facilitate helping to inform and calm landowner issues. The Balloon Fiesta also provides and encourages landowners to display a “white sheet” or “white X” on their property to signal balloonists that it is OK to land there.

There are several prohibited zones (PZs) in the area, where landowners do not want balloons. Some are marked YELLOW (land here only if an emergency) or RED (don’t land and maintain a minimum altitude over the property). For those landowners, Nancy’s team can provide yellow or red markers. All officials stress the procedure for the landowner to record a balloon banner number or take a photo of a balloon that is causing a problem. If landowners ask that their property become a PZ after Balloon Fiesta starts, Nancy’s team keeps this information up to date, and displays all PZ information on the big map at briefing tower.

Of course, many landowners love it when balloonists drop in on them, and many balloon teams go the extra mile to make their visit to local neighborhoods special. To recognize this, the Landowner team nominates a “ambassador pilot of the day,” announced the next morning at pilot’s briefing.

And talk about multi-tasking -- Nancy is also the person who retrieves the WINDSONDE, using GPS. She then returns the device to the Weather staff, who download the data to their computer.

Propane

Mike Chandler, Propane Chief, monitors the activities of balloon pilots and crews who are refueling their balloon’s tanks. They work closely with Albuquerque Fire Department, the Albuquerque Fire Marshall and the propane contractors, who provide the trucks and personnel who actually deliver the propane to the manifolds (these are the certified gas pipes and hoses used by the propane contractors and AIBF). This year, our propane contractor is Pinnacle Propane.

The Propane Team’s job is to monitor the balloon trucks and trailers as they come in to the refueling line, check on proper identification of the pilots/balloons, remind pilots and crew to follow safety procedures (no smoking, no nylon fabrics near the propane, etc.), proper refueling procedures, and to follow common-sense precautions. These folks also keep the records of which balloon got how much propane, or whether they did not refuel at all, and then computerize the data and turn it over to the Balloonmeister.

We cannot overly stress how closely all these teams work together, along with the AIBF Executive Director, Operations Director, Board, volunteers, and staff, to make Balloon Fiesta the largest, safest and most organized balloon event in the world. And the most fun.

Dr. Tom McConnell, a.k.a. “Father Time,” is the cooriginator of the iconic Zia balloon. He’s a member and past president of the Balloon Fiesta Board of Directors and a leading historian and writer on the history of the event.

Balloon Fiesta® Competition History: Games Balloonists Play

he story goes that when Sid Cutter was

Tasked about bringing his balloon to KOB’s 50th anniversary celebration, he replied, “Sure. Maybe we could even have a balloon race.” And then it dawned on him: he had no idea how balloons “race.” But just ten days later, Sid and Don Draper were aloft as the target balloon in their very first competition.

Since that day – April 8, 1972 – competition has been an integral part of what soon became the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. These contests – in the ballooning world, called “tasks” – have varied over the years from serious world-class challenges, to whimsical, fun tests, and most recently spectator-friendly versions of the kind of tasks used in regional and national competition. However, all the tasks, whether fun or serious, have the same principle: maneuver the balloon to a target and drop a marker as close to the center of the target as possible -- tasks that test pilots on the same skills they use on every flight. Fiesta’s First Task: Hare and Hound/ Roadrunner and Coyote

The first Balloon Fiesta task – that race Sid Cutter and Don Draper found themselves flying in 1972 – was a standard ballooning competitive task of that period called a “hare and hound,” or in Albuquerque, “Roadrunner and Coyote.” A target balloon, the “hare” or “roadrunner,” takes off and flies for about a half hour before landing and laying out an X-shaped target. The rest of the balloons, called “hounds” or “coyotes,” launch from the same location about 10 minutes after the hare and follow along, trying to get as close to the target as possible. Nowadays, many events feature a similar task called a “judge-declared goal,” where instead of following a “hare” balloon, pilots fly to preset goals or targets.

Above: First Hot Air Balloon World Championships - 1973 World Championship Competitions

When Albuquerque was chosen to host the World Hot Air Balloon Championships, Balloonmeister Ed Yost and Sid Cutter – the guy who’d almost never seen a balloon race – had to come up with world-class challenges to test the best pilots on the planet. Many of their early ideas were immediately shot down by the international ballooning federation because they involved maneuvers considered to be overly dangerous. (“And they were,” Sid admitted.) Once the bad ideas were weeded out, most of the tasks in the First Worlds involved flying specific flight profiles traced on a barograph, an analog barometerbased instrument which traces a balloon’s altitude over time (today, for similar tasks, balloon races use satellitebased GPS trackers). In addition to hare and hound and barograph-type tasks, the Second Worlds included a “Le Mans” race where teams had to inflate their balloons and fly first across a finish line, and an “Elbow” task where pilots had to fly a set distance in one direction and then achieve the greatest change in direction.