Four Corners Unit Airstream Balloon Rally
Albuquerque, NM Oct. 5-9, 2007

 

22 Airstreams from CA, AZ, NM, CO, OR, FL, VA and NH assembled at a staging point before driving to the balloon field so we could all be parked together.
 
 
Finally we arrived and were parked just behind the balloon museum at the south end of the field.
10,600' Sandia Crest is visible in the background.
One of the first tasks was to set up the margarita and the popcorn machines.
Meeting everone and planning the next day's activities
Approaching the launch field the next morning at first sunlight
As the sun rose, so did the balloons
Art Lites pours the heat into his balloon, the Double Flash

Lift off
Double Flash flies away

Check the size of the crowd!

Here we are enjoying the day.

Some of the special shapes that made an appearance are shown below.
The Darth Vader balloon is brand new this year.
The evening fireworks show

 

The next morning was cold and we put on extra clothing.

Here are pictures from the flying competition where the pilots try to drop a bean bag on a target (see falling bag on left). The enthusiastic pilot shown here has just made a successful drop.

This is the Brazilian Bee flying on after a successful drop on one of the targets shown by the black arrows.

A lesser known portion of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (other than the 750 hot air balloons) is the America's Challenge gas balloon race. Last year the winner flew from here all the way to Florida over the period of several days.

Here is a picture of the inflation, and yes some pilots, especially the Europeans still use hydrogen like this yellow balloon from Austria.

After the infamous Hindenburg Zeppelin accident in 1937 most lighter than air craft in the U.S. use the more expensive helium instead of the highly flammable hydrogen.

Note the numerous sand bags attached for ballast. This sand will be dropped as required during the flight to maintain altitude.

Here is the first balloon, (last year's winner) on the launch platform.

You can trace the race in real time here

 

 

Finally it was time to say goodby to all the Airstreamers and head for home.
This Airstream was pulling an unusual trailer/boat.
Y'all come join us next year!