Gallery

AIBF 2002

Sunday, October 6, 2002

This morning I just concentrated on running around Balloon Fiesta Park and taking pictures from the ground. As easy as that sounds, and as easy as it might look from the way these pictures came out - it's tough dodging throngs of lemmings/spectators!

The ride balloons inflate as first wave begins to set up

First wave is off!

Looking up into the desert sky

"Alien Inflation"

The floodgates are officially OPEN!

Nice-looking Cameron O-series

Ready for liftoff - just have to wait for a Zebra to give you the thumbs-up

It says "SMILE" on both of those sides, but apparently he wasn't aware that people on THIS side of him are taking pictures!

"Stormy Weather" to the right

This is the German Eagle, not to be confused with the much less-goofy American Eagle

Pilots from all over the world have gathered to fly in the Balloon Fiesta

Translation: "The world has been waiting for me"

Join the Smile High Club!

Looking up into the Smile High 175

Re/Max's "Soaring Home"

Sawtooth

Off in the distance, a tie-dyed balloon screams "YO!!! Take my picture!"

The best-looking flying house I've seen so far

One of the Wells Fargo standard shapes

There happen to be three of 'em

Simple patchwork idea... Works nicely

Seagulls. On a balloon!

These four pictures

all have

heat plumes

distorting stuff

Martin Booda's "Gravity's Rainbow"

Taking a peek inside. It's a stunning HEAD balloon, very lightweight.

The top 1/4 is heavy silicone nylon, the middle section is lightweight silicone, the bottom two panels are regular nylon, and the throat is nomex.

In the center is a balloon I mostly built, "Twist & Shout" owned by Sally Sudderth of New Mexico

Looking up inside at the parachute valve and rigging. Hey, I did that!

It's a Custom Nine Designs 100k

This old balloon is an Avian Skyhawk... Probably 80k

Doug Gantt from Florida brought his flying pig

Nice standard Rally pattern from Aerostar

Brand new Balloon Works

"Ingot VSZ"... From Checkkk.. err somethingvakia

Aurora 69k

Daniel Cave in Bacardi floats by "Sushi"

Chesty's brim & forehead

"Amazon Birds," an Aeromagic special shape from Brazil

Bosom Buddies?

OK... Something "Blue" this way comes

Second wave inflating

Wipe that grin off your face, boy! Or at least tell us your friends' name

Aha... OK, it's the Blue Dragon, another Aeromagic shape.

Watch out for the FANGS... They're pointy and soft!

Hope you don't encounter any evil woodpeckers on your flight!

Reminds me of those finger pals we had when I was a tad younger

"Sushi" looks like she's having fun in the background, although the pirate looks a little beat up!

Fear the almighty and deadly STAGECOW!

Mass Glow ---> Sunday PM

I showed up at dusk and found Keith playing with his model balloon in the R/C corner, then made the rounds among the rows of balloons standing for the glow. I tried to take "good" pictures, but soon found out... The Nikon Coolpix 5700 lens is fair-to-mediocre under low-light conditions. I got by OK without a tripod, but a sizeable number of otherwise good shots were blurred by subtle hand movement. Oh well.

Here's a remote control scale model of Sally's balloon a number of rows up on this page. Keith Sproul built it from the scraps I gave him. It's 3300 cubic feet - pretty big!

"Gloria Caeli," a Jonathan Wolfe / SkyDyes aerial creation

The Mass Glow is another of those things you have to experience at least once!

The burner from the Avian balloon you saw earlier on this page

BLUR

"Chimply Amazing"

I crept off to the west side of the field for a few moments... And this is what I saw

"Gloria Caeli" deflating. What a beautiful balloon!

The fireworks were great! Of course this is the only good picture that came out of them.