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On the Breeze Blog

Where Are Our Pilots?

10/7/2015

1 Comment

 
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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!
1 Comment
Kathy Abel
10/8/2015 09:10:48 am

I am sad to miss the NC Festival this year. I moved to FL "happy dance" Are there any balloon festivals in St Augustine area?

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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
Festival Location is near Statesville Regional Airport at 260 Hangar Drive, Statesville, NC 28677. ​Parking will be available on site and at park and ride. NO ROADSIDE PARKING - vehicles will be towed where NO PARKING signs are posted. Walk in spectators will not be admitted. Ticket scanning will be in progress.

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