Queens cup rdp pics

Cruising from Coast to Coast to Coast Never let it be said I don’t like a challenge or perhaps that should be can’t resist an adventure, especially when a balloon is involved and a decent pot for the winner! And so it was, when the BBAC announced the Queens Cup Race it was a no brainer for me and my quest for trophies.

I entered my little Lindstrand 60X Racer with a pretty pic, thereby confusing the opposition as it was much too small to fly any distance. I then removed the artwork from an old UM M90 balloon called G-KEWT and entered that, thereby confusing them even more as nobody would know who was flying that balloon!

My esteemed crew from previous adventures were now over the hill and using zimmer frames so I needed some new “friends”! A local, who we shall called Nigel, was fascinated by balloons so I asked him if he would like to drive my new van to to the seaside next weekend…. Oh, and bring a sleeping bag! One down, one to go ….

Another “friend” was always harping on about how far he could fly his hang glider on the thermals so over a beer I challenged him to come and see how far I could fly my balloon next weekend … Oh and bring a sleeping bag!

In order to have a chance at winning this epic (silly) challenge I would need some technical assistance from the 21st (although in my case 20th) century. I cobbled together my ancient Toughbook running Memory Map, with all the UK SA’s loaded to try and ensure I didn’t upset anybody en route or when I landed, 2 Garmin 12XL GPS, 3 VHF radios as I would need to call ATC, 2 crew radios, a Garmin logger, just in case I lost the official logger (which I did on Sunday morning!) and a mobile phone that really should have been replaced last year but still worked now and then. All that lot had their own batteries rechargeable from an on board golf buggy battery I borrowed from Minchinhampton golf course. There was more technical wizardry in the form of my son Mikey, who doesn’t come ballooning with Dad anymore as he thinks we are all bonkers after some delusional Observer told him he wasn’t driving along a track but in a cropped field, despite the fact that the track had been there for years and the only crop appeared to be ruts, and the farmer he wanted to talk with had just driven along it too! I digress….. Mikey was my Command & Control, he told me to download Real Time GPS Tracker onto my mobile and I told him about the Hysplit thingy which he duly mastered in 5 secs plus he knew where to go and look at other Met data. He is also a mathematician so would be able to work out whether to deflate the balloon and move it to Yorkshire for an extra km or so.

After perusing the baffling load calculation graphs for an hour or so, I gave up calculating how much weight I could lift to 10,000ft with a 90 in October and decided to see how much I could fit into the basket, much more practical! Three 60’s plus 6 Worthies, Lorna and me with no allowance for Lorna’s Observer kit. Easy.

There was one more bit of last minute planning, a call to Salisbury Plain Opns on Friday afternoon to see if they would object to my balloon overflying the Imber and Everleigh ranges on Sat morning, “No problem” said DS, “Your clearance is D05 but listen out on the radio too, have a nice flight.” Too easy, that should avoid the flak from those army types playing with their guns.

And so it was, like 3 men in a boat, we set off for Queens Square early on a dark Saturday morning, waking up an Observer called Lorna who trusted me explicitly and felt quite safe observing for me as I never flew my Observer in the basket ….. until today!

The launch and morning flight to the east was uneventual, the crew never played my launch moosic and the organisers could not afford to play any anthems either or perhaps they were afraid we would wake up the locals around Queen Square. We passed over the Beese’s Tea gardens and I resisted the temptation for another splash in the Avon. We passed the sponsors shiny new Fortnum and Mason balloon and took the lead, another Exclusive moment.

The Royal Crescent looked an ideal place to land and refuel but I was only an hour or so into the flight and I still had 6 hours endurance left, on, on. The crew went quiet, obviously reception is poor in the Little Chef.

After perambulating along for 4 hours we came to the edge of the Eveleigh ranges - D128 in building thermic conditions and had no option but to climb. Disaster struck, the balloon wobbled a bit and my brand new, very expensive aeronautical chart south fell overboard from the map board. Location marked on GPS and the crew were immediately despatched post haste to the field but despite a long search with the help of the local farmer on his quad bike, the map had vanished, probably eaten by moles. Meanwhile, I entered an entertaining phase of the flight and discovered a new sport, “balloon surfing” as up at 5000ft ahead of a decent sized Cu I found the balloon tracking east at 30kph. Good speed, good direction, do nothing, not even burn, it flew for ages without any hot air, amazing. Lorna did look a little worried but trusted her steely pilot who was quietly trying to work out what was happening! After an hour of this new found sport we had cleared the ranges and Netheravon, etc and the first airway was approaching so we ducked down just past Andover and spotted a lovely field for a refuel. Unfortunately the crew reported the all too familiar locked gate/nobody in conundrum, so I flew on and landed in a reclamation yard where the workers were quickly on the scene to see if they could recycle me! The refuel was quickly achieved and Lorna was able to disappear behind a hedge!

Not a lot happened on the next flight to Angmering. I talked a lot to Southampton ATC, they cleared me through their CTA although I barely needed it as I only clipped the NE edge. Mikey kept me advised by text of the Airway and CTA altitude restrictions, as he could see my position on Real Time GPS Tracker. We thought we would be nice and warm on this flight so dumped the jackets and fleeces during the refuel, mistake, so that encouraged me to stay

down low where it was warmer. Chichester was as busy as Heathrow so we kept clear of them and nobody else wanted to talk to me so when the sea got pretty close I dropped into a cut stubble field to be welcomed by the crew and a 72 year old farmer.

My main worry for this weekend jaunt was the refuel but this was achieved effortlessly compliments of Alan Hall – South Downs Ballooning, at a very competitive price for the 629 litres I uplifted. Thank you Alan, you were a star.

Command & Control in Edinburgh advised that somewhere near Milton Keynes looked good to launch on Sunday morning so a text was sent to Angela, a balloon anorak who lived in MK and I advised her that she was about to be Taceval. (Tactical Evaluation – an exercise from my RAF days when we played at war games, they probably don’t do it these days as they do it for real!) Angela had a 3 hour warning that we would arrive about midnite and would appreciate the lounge floor for a few hours. She was wonderful and was up at 4-30 to fill the coffee flask and pack some bacon butties. Thank you Angela.

The original plan had us launching near Cranfield and the HySplit confirmed this at 4am but the UK Balloon Forecast winds did not concur this so I made a command decision to launch further north – Kettering, a very good decision as it turned out. I then realised why Don had set the scoring period to start at 0700, another challenge, as finding a launch site in the dark was another first for me and not at all easy. I looked for a road loop off the main A43 near Broughton village and found a dead end near some houses. The music from War of the Worlds made a good backdrop for the scene at 0615, the invaders busying themselves around a wicker basket in the gloom of dawn. Locals thought we had crashed from space during the night and dogs barked.

By 0655 we were ready to depart and so it was the alien spaceship lifted off at 0700 and a few seconds in search of the sun.

Not a lot happened on Sunday morning, it was too easy, the launch site location was perfect with best speed about 3-4000ft directly towards Winterton on Sea, the furthest point and therefore my PDG (Pilot Declared Goal). Chatteris was active and we were buzzed by the parachute dropping plane as it climbed up from the field. Lakenheath eventually got the message that I didn’t have a parrot and could not squawk. Mikey called Norwich and obtained a clearance though their CTA between 3-4000ft for later in the day albeit we would also call them when within range.

My original plan was to land early and refuel before the surface wind got thermic and the speed picked up. Great idea and one I should have followed but drifting along at 11am it just seemed too nice, speed was good, direction good, a late lunch of cockles and mussels was booked in Winterton on Sea at 3pm. At midday the wind turbines started turning so I went down and landed in a large stubble field surrounded by roads with the in flight refuelling gas crew on the adjacent road. How or why it took 70 mins for my esteemed crew to reach me in the field is still a partial mystery best explained by them rather than me prattle on, but it was the longest 70mins of my life, with a Hi/Lo moment. Dom B came Hi overhead waving at 1250 and I was in my Lo spot of the race, waiting for my crew. I did consider a running inflation/launch but the wind was a good 8-10 kts with gusts and it was just too crazy, I needed the van to tie off to. I was not wrong with the latter decision as the 10mins after the crew arrived we attempted to inflate, the first attempt failed so I re-secured the Velcro tabs for a

second attempt and after what can only be described as “hairy” the balloon was sort of upright, Lorna and the Toughbook were thrown on board and we were away …. Peace returned to escapade.

The GPS showed my ETA at the PDG at 1601 which did not allow for a descent and finding a good landing site. Try as I may I could not coax that arrival time forward. To make it more exciting Dom B popped up on my left just a kilometre ahead but I had the best position …. If only I could reach the coast before 4pm and stay to the south of Dom (a great circle from Queens Square favoured Winterton on Sea rather than a point further north or south). Unbeknown to me, Mikey had spotted a favourable fast band of wind at 2000ft from my tracker but in the meleee of computations that was never relayed to me so I spent the next 2 hours searching for the extra kph just under the top of the convection layer around 4000ft.

The best speed was 20kph with a direction slightly north of my PDG towards a village on the coast called Eccles on Sea, perhaps we could have our cake and eat it today?

Norwich ATC sounded very nice and knew that we were serious about the competition so sent us on our way as we requested, wishing us both good luck. The VHF radio was now showing a low battery symbol.

At 3-15pm the crew reported tasty ice creams, there being no F in cakes at Eccles on Sea and that the surface wind was sporty. Around 3-30pm I started to get low battery messages, the Toughbook was about to shutdown but with no SA’s in the area this would not be a problem. Then the mobile told me it had done enough for a Sunday and shut down, no more messages from Mikey! A GPS beeped and shutdown, never mind the other one was still showing 20kph at 4000ft towards Eccles and ETA 1601 but it couldn’t tell me when to descend. I started calculating when to descend but in the end decided that 10 to 4 sounded good and at 15-50pm I stopped burning until I

reached 1000ft. The unknown quantity was whether I would clear the hamlet of Hampstead and the church on track …… I did, just, and levelled off at 10ft over the first field beyond the church at 1557, yippee stubble …. And I still had 3 mins in hand, I could make the next field easily BUT it looked a funny colour of green, not grass …. It was sugar beet …. “SUGAR” …. I had better settle for the lovely stubble so at 1558 and 55 secs the basket stopped in the corner as shown, my race was over but had all the effort been worth it? I did not think so, I knew Dom had not had a time problem and had landed close to the beach albeit a few kms north.

Meanwhile up in Edinburgh Mikey was watching the final episode unfold. He knew where Dom had landed from Facebook and he watched the Real Time Tracker from my crew as they stopped in the gateway where I had also come to rest. He plotted the result and knew the answer at 1602! Meanwhile back in race HQ they wanted to know the million $ question “Where was Parry?”. Lorna said she had sent a text but I didn’t realise she had only told them we had landed safely. My mobile was dead so I chatted to the farmer and he said we could have landed in his sugar beet, Drat! Lorna carried on doing what Observers do after a landing and we slowly packed up the balloon.

After 30 mins Lorna showed me the GPS landing position which was fine so she carried on with her duties, me blissfully unaware that the rest of the world were thinking we might have landed in the North Sea. A few minutes later Mikey called the crew mobile and gave us the news, my mood changed. He also knew from Facebook that HQ did not know our position so Lorna was hassled to send HQ a position.

Eventually we were on our way back to Gloucestershire and then realised we were without vittles, no beer, no champagne so after an hour or so pulled into a Beefeater style pub. Amazingly Dom and his crew had done the same thing so we congratulated and commiserated with each other in the car park before drinking a well earned pint to keep us alive for the 3 hour drive home.

For the anoraks – Balloon G-KEWT an Ultra Magic M90 with 292 hours before the race Hours flown : Sat 6+00 and 4+30 total distance 162kms Sun 5+00 and 4+35 distance 160 kms making the total distance 322 kms on my GPS Refuel on Sat night 629 litres Van diesel refuelled twice and 2 litres oil (must get that sorted)

THANK YOU It goes without saying, but I will say it, that we are all indebted to the Organisers from the Royal Aero Club down to the chap who roasted the hog on Friday, but especially Jo, her Observers and Piers for co-ordinating the manual tracking system which proved so entertaining, for a wonderful, action packed, if a bit slow at times, weekend of fun. I always think that a measure of how tired one is at the end of an event is a measure of the fun, I was knackered!

Sincere thanks to my crew, Mikey, Nigel and Richard, to Lorna for sticking by my side for 2 days, to Angela for the hospitality and to Alan for all the gas.

Richard Parry October 2013