2007 Australian Grand Prix – Day 1

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Falcon124

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… :)

Aussie Racing CarsWhile 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…

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Still here, no, really :)

Posted on March 13, 2007 by Falcon124

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 :)

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Winter Fogs

Posted on June 10, 2006 by Falcon124

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… :)

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General Update

Posted on May 2, 2006 by Falcon124

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.

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Flying over the valley

Posted on September 26, 2005 by Falcon124

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…

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Learning to sew…

Posted on September 24, 2005 by Falcon124

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.

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Wouldn’t you like to fly…

Posted on September 16, 2005 by Falcon124

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).

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RedBull Air Race

Posted on May 1, 2005 by Falcon124

A friend found the Red Bull Air Race on Channel 10 this morning – I received an urgent message from him saying I should get on and watch it ASAP. Holy shit – talk about a fantastic thing to watch (and to dream of doing).

Take a high performance aerobatic aircraft with a “best in the world” pilot in it. Now send them through a series of pylons at high speed in a tight space so they’re pulling lots of g’s and racing the clock to get around the course. Do all this at ground level.

Have a few pilots and aircraft competing against each other based on time.

Now do this a few times over a year at locations around the world.

Incredible!

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Survived Avalon

Posted on March 22, 2005 by Falcon124

Avalon airshow finished on Sunday and I finished up on Monday – all went well and I got to experience things you just can’t buy. Things like clambering through warbirds, walking out to the wingtip of a C17, taking Nykolai through the warbirds and around the combat jets (on the tarmac where the public couldn’t go – had to get an escort and everything), etc.

I’ve got about 300 photos to wade through and sort out so it might take a while to load them all, but keep an eye on the site and they’ll be there.

For now, it’s back to the office and catching up on the work that piled up while I was “away” (if coming in some nights for various things, doing remote work from home and fielding phone calls counts as being “away” :)

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Having Fun at Avalon

Posted on March 18, 2005 by Falcon124

I’m still down at Avalon Airshow and having a blast working with the aircraft. A few of us have started judging the performances of the various aircraft during their routines, holding up the scores for the pilots to see as they come back in. It’s getting great results from them and we’re having a hoot too :)

Still trying to juggle things at the office as well so between all that and family, there’s no time to spare for writing it all up and loading photos. I’ve got 189 pix to name, review and load. Plus, I’ve been logging the days highlights and just need to load them as well.

So, don’t expect to see everything until next week. Sorry – just the way it goes…

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