Fly Me Friendly

Sadly, we’re not going to have the F1 Racer at the Grand Prix on day 3 :(

While we were inflated on Day 2, Jamie from the on-site air traffic control tower came over with one of the guys from the helipad. Seems that they hadn’t been told we’d be at the race this year, let alone inflated in a field right under the approach path to the pad. Turns out that their AGP contact hadn’t been told either (no comment needed here re: planning, organisation & communication within the AGP :( )

ATC and the helipad team were OK with us there provided we didn’t get the basket more than 10′ to 20′ off the ground. They would have preferred knowing about us a long time before so they could plan the approaches differently, but on the whole, they could survive our presence.

Sadly, the AGP didn’t want to take any chances and have pulled the pin on the shape for day 3. They’re going to try to find another place for us to inflate on race day (day 4) but it’s possible we’ll be cancelled all together :(

Once again we’re trackside at the Grand Prix with the F1 Racer balloon. When we arrived, there wasn’t much wind but there were showers of rain coming through so we put the van and trailer next to each other, rigged a tarp and set up the BBQ to cook up some breakfast.

Shortly before the start of the first F1 qualifying session, we spoke with the met bureau and they confirmed that we had a few hours without rain and with relatively light winds, so we dismantled the “camp ground” and started setting up the balloon.

The winds were a little high but less than they’d been on the day of the race last year, so with two heavy 4WD’s upwind and the van downwind, we managed to keep it tethered. Rob was taking it up and down so the bottom of the basket was around 20′ to 30′ off the ground and giving the crew rides so we could see more of the track – I got some photos on my ride but the fence was still in the way :(

We were getting lots of attention from the public with people taking photos of the balloon or shots with themselves in front of the balloon, etc. A couple of people came over to say that they were renting a corner apartment in one of the buildings over the road and we were blocking their view of the last few corners – ooops :)

After a couple of hours, the winds got too high so we pulled it down, leaving it out in case winds eased and a couple of us went to refill the tanks. On our way back, we could see the rain coming so we packed it up quickly, getting it mostly away before the rains came. We then took the trailer and van over to the fence and set up the BBQ for lunch.

Standing on the roof of the trailer we had a good view of the track but again, that damned safety fence was in the way :(

After a short time it became clear that the wind wasn’t going away and the odd rain shower was still coming through so we called it quits for the day, some of the guys heading home right away. I took advantage of some clearing weather to take a ride in one of Professional Helicopter Service’s JetRangers. I called shotgun and was up front with Andy (the pilot) and shot some video (I’ll link it once I sort it out – it’s in MOV format and at 90 degrees ‘cos I was holding the camera on its side – DOH! :)

After all that, I left and took the last of the crew back to the shed before heading home for the day.

I’m working at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix with the F1 Racer hot air balloon. We’re trying to tether it so people can see it floating above the track but on the first day the winds were too high, so we just sat around and enjoyed the show.

We’re located right at the end of Turn 13, at the south-east corner of the track. If we get a chance to stand the balloon up, it’s going to look awesome! Of course, the cops in the pavilion behind us might get naffed as we’ll destroy their view of the race… :)

While we were waiting for a chance to set up the balloon, we went over to the photographer’s section of the wall behind Turn 13 and got some shots of various cars as they went around. The Aussie Racing Cars are crazy things.

Major shame the V8 racing cars aren’t here this year – the V8 Utes just don’t have the same kick :(

After a few hours, security came over and kicked us out, saying we had to stay behind a fence around our oval as only track marshalls and official photographers could be there. Bummer – so much for getting photos of cars without fence parts in the way :(

I’ve started loading photos on my site. Once again I’m finding myself more interested in the helicopters and aircraft (we’re based right next to the helipad :) but I guess that’s to be expected.

Will be interesting to see how things go on day 2 – low cloud and showers of rain is the forecast…

Almost a year since my last post – how slack can I get?

Been flat out with IT Project Management and Ballooning work (plus a few other things) and family. Scored some travel too – we went to Hawaii for a few weeks in December for a wedding. Much fun and it’s definitely resurrected my travel bug.

Last few weeks have been busy with winding down my PM contract at Destra and running the F1 Racer balloon. The Grand Prix season opens here in Melbourne in a couple of days, so we’ve been very busy trying to fly or tether the F1 Racer every day leading up to the “Big Day.”

After the Grand Prix, I’ll be spending a week working at the Avalon Airshow – hopefully between now and then I’ll get around to finishing off all the photos from the 2005 Airshow – talk about SLACK!!! :)

Keep watching this space :)

Amazing – it’s been a whole week since we last flew the balloons. Every day this week has been foggy, ranging from haze (about 4k to 5k visibility & 80% to 100% cloud cover around 300′ to 500′) through to the complete pea-soup variety (100 to 200 meter vis and 100% cloud cover at 100′).

We tried on Monday as it looked like the fog wasn’t going to roll in – hah – part way through inflation it rolled in and we had to cancel, packing up everything and heading home. Since then, it’s been like living in a hazy white pingpong ball. Even in the afternoon it’s still been hazy with only about 6k to 8k visibility.

At least now it looks like we’re done with the fog – no fog predicted for tomorrow. Nope – no fog – the high winds and rain are driving it away…

*sigh*

7 days without flying – wonder if I’ll remember what to do when we launch next… :)

Still here, still ticking along. The work as crew chief with Balloon Sunrise is going well and I’m working my way towards a commercial balloon pilot license. I’m no longer with the AWU but am still doing some tech support for Crumpler.

I had applied to become an Air Traffic Controller and made it right through to the end. After a number of all-day exam sessions, I wound up getting rejected due to not having the right personality match for the position. Basically, they figured I’d not be comfortable being shoved into their mould and would get bored and want to leave. It was a bit of a shame but well worth doing. I’ve logged the experience and am in the process of revamping my Fly Me Friendly section so it’ll show up there eventually.

Nykolai is with his mom in Buenos Aires (Argentina) visiting family for a month. Kinda wierd not having him around.

The car is running well after a recent tune up – still got lots to go on it – new exhaust, new suspension, probably new brakes then fix up the body work. Slowly getting there with it as funds permit.

There were a couple of spare spaces on Rob’s flight in the Yarra Valley this morning so, seeing as we weren’t flying in Melbourne (nasty weather), I took Nykolai with me for a flight

It was great except that Nykolai spent the last 20 minutes trying to hold back an urgent need to go to the toilet. Bit hard when you’re in a basket at 4,000 feet. When we landed, we tossed him out of the basket, at which point he let me know that he really needed to do slightly more than just a quick pee….

Ooops…

I took him over to some bushes and he had a pee, but decided that here was not the place to do a quick squat. Fortunately he managed to hold on until we made it back to the winery for breakfast where he broke a few speed records as he sprinted from the truck to the toilets :)

All good in the end – he’s saying he enjoyed the flight and is happy to go up again. Guess next time he’ll be careful to really try to go to the toilet before we fly…

Spent some time on Saturday with Darren from TroubleChute Rigging learning how to make repairs to parachute/balloon material. Basically, it involves using an industrial strength sewing machine, strong materials, lots of measuring/marking/cutting and some funky ways of folding bits of material around other bits. The end result is a strong patch that covers the area where rips/burns/etc were made in the fabric.

To say that my first one was a dog’s breakfast is being kinda nasty to dog food. The second one, though, was pretty good and, although not up to Darren’s high standards, would have passed inspection if done as a real balloon repair. It’s a good start but there’s still so much more to learn.

This is all part of my studies towards my Maintenance Authority for balloons, an official certification from CASA that will allow me to make, and sign-off on, repairs to balloons. More on that in another posting.

One of the benefits of working with Balloon Sunrise is that occasionally you get a chance to go up and fly over Melbourne in a balloon. If there’s a spare place on board, we try to get a crew member that’s not working to have a go. In addition to being a bonus for the crew, it’s also good for them to see what it’s like up there.

My turn came around again today – what a hoot! We flew from a set of ovals in Kensington to Moorabbin airport (YMMB). A great flight and lots of fun.

I managed to get a few photos and will load them on the site soon(ish).