![]() If you see a pilot looking at their iPad or phone, chances are they are looking at a weather app. Balloonists pay a lot of attention to weather. Walk by a crowd of them at Carolina BalloonFest, and if they are not talking about it then it has been discussed in the last few minutes. We understand it is a great mystery to people and we want to try to help. So....I got a little help from a special guest to give you a little weather and ballooning lesson. Duncan Dunavent is a special member of our local ballooning community and most weekends you can find him helping crew hot air balloons. He has also attended the Great Eastern Balloon Camp for several summers, as well as a weather camp. Duncan is 14 and a student at the South Iredell IB School. If you see Duncan around the festival this weekend and have ballooning questions, I am sure he will be happy to help answer them. But in the meantime, here's some thoughts on the weather from Duncan! Weather For Ballooning Most people love to see hot air balloons at the festival and will come at any part of the day expecting to see them. However if you get there at 2:00, there will be no balloons taking off to fly. Did you ever wonder why? Balloons only fly in this part of the country during the early morning, right after sunrise, and just about 2 hours before sunset. During the rest of the day the sun causes the atmosphere to become unstable. The winds will also probably be too high and unstable and the balloons need calm winds. At Carolina BalloonFest, our Balloonmeister Sam Parks has the final say as to whether it is safe for balloons to fly. Even though the wind may be calm on the BalloonFest field, Sam and his team are watching how they look higher up and all around the area. It may be calm at 500 feet, but breezy at 3,000. The balloons also cannot fly with rain around the area. Though it may be sunny on the BalloonFest field, it might be raining close by. The FAA will not allow a balloon to take off with a thunderstorm or rain within 10 miles of the field. Most pilots prefer that a thunderstorm be at least 75-100 miles away and not moving towards them. Under FAA regulations (not just for BalloonFest, but across the entire USA) balloons must have a minimum of 3 miles visibility. This means if it is too foggy, they also cannot fly. While the Balloonmeister has the overall say as to whether balloons can fly at the festival, most pilots have their own personal limits. Even if the Balloonmeister opens the field and allows balloons to fly, it is always the pilot's final decision as to whether they will fly their balloon. The Balloonmeister and his team of experts spend a lot of their time at the festival tracking the weather. If the weather is looking iffy at the pilot's briefing (a meeting where they talk about flying conditions), then they put things on hold and continue to look at the weather before they make a final decision. Watch the flagpole. If the yellow flag is up, there is a delay as they watch conditions. If the green flag goes up, it means pilots are allowed to fly. If the pink flag goes up, the pilots gather for another meeting. If the flag is red, the balloons will not be able to fly. If the pilots cannot fly, they try to see if there is anything else they can do that day. If the winds on the ground are low and stable, they may be able to tether the balloons. If it is night, may be able to do a balloon glow. Pilots love to fly their balloons, so they are often the most disappointed when conditions don't allow for it to happen. You can be assured of this...if it is safe to fly, they will be ready to launch!
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2015 Fiesta Photos courtesy of Lisa Williams | It's a busy time in ballooning season right now. Some of our Carolina BalloonFest pilots are in the midst of Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta. For nine straight days, around 550 pilots are flying their skies, from about 50 different countries. It's quite the ballooning event. Things are a bit different in Albequerque. They only fly in the morning there. They can't fly in the evening as we do in North Carolina, but instead they have some pretty tremendous balloon glows. They are not immune from weather issues in Albuquerque either. Earlier this week the pilots said they went into their morning pilot's briefing thinking they would not be able to fly. Conditions changed quickly, as they sometimes do, and they were able to fly both mornings. For the pilots and spectators, day made! One thing Carolina BalloonFest has in common with Albuquerque... we share "our" balloonmeister with them. Statesville's Sam Parks has served as the balloonmeister in Albequerque for the past three years. The balloonmeister is essentially the "head balloonist".... the person who, with his team of experts, is making decisions such as to whether the pilots are safe to fly. There are a lot of administrative duties that go with the job, and lots of responsibility. This means lots of stress. He's responsible for all of the launches that you see taking off at Albuquerque, all those balloons. As you see pictures come from there, or videos, or spend some time watching their webcams, know that Sam is in the midst of it all.....working hard to make sure that it is a safe event for all. While some of our pilots enjoy Albuquerque, a few will be flying closer to home this weekend. Our friends in Anderson will be hosting Balloons Over Anderson. The pilots should be in perfect flying shape when they come to Statesville, One thing that we are proud of.....we have not only the highest quality balloonmeister, but we have high quality pilots at our event who love this sport. We'll tell you about some of them in the coming days. We're so excited that they choose to come to Statesville, many year after year. We're proud of our event, and our city, and excited to share the great ballooning heritage with folks from our area and those who come to visit. We're looking forward to seeing you.....we hope you are excited about what is to come! |
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Rain or Shine... Carolina BalloonFest is open October 15-17, 2021!
Hot Air Balloon Flights are scheduled twice daily; early morning & late afternoon. All ballooning activities including static display, tethered rides and balloon flights are weather-dependent. The decision to inflate hot air balloons is made just prior to the scheduled ballooning activity. Please note that due to the popularity of our festival, our admissions booths will close when we reach maximum capacity. This is a decision out of our control and made by local law enforcement. Tickets are non-refundable. National Balloon Rally Charities donates a portion of our festival proceeds to other local nonprofits and surrounding community agencies. |
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©2020 National Balloon Rally Charities, Inc. is an incorporated 501(c)(3) charitable organization and all contributions are tax deductible. A portion of proceeds raised through Carolina BalloonFest are distributed to local nonprofit organizations. PO Box 267 ~ Statesville NC 28687
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