10.15.2007
Up, up and away
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Fire heats the air before lift off. Photo by Allison Phillips. |
The balloon cast a shadow on the forest below, and the cattle in one of the neighboring fields wandered closer to see what was going on.
Page, one of the owners of Big Oh! Balloons and one of the balloonists in the upcoming Carolina BalloonFest, took members of the R&L staff for a spin in his FireFly Balloon on Sunday.
“Y’all are getting the calmest flight we’ve had this year,” he said.
The bright blue sky and cloudless day should have been perfect for an afternoon balloon ride, but Page was having a hard time finding the wind.
“It’s all dependent on the wind,” he said.
Sometimes the wind cooperates, Page said, and other times, like Sunday, the basket seems suspended in one place and all the pilot can do is go up and down.
“It always amazes me,” he said, looking up in the balloon. “You look up and it’s just air.”
Page and his wife, Kristie Darling, have flown hot air balloons for 26 years. They became interested in 1979 after attending the National Balloon Rally in Love Valley.
“It was absolutely the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
The couple went to the balloon rally every year until 1981, when they paid a balloon pilot to take them up.
When they landed, Page said, they had decided to buy a balloon and start training.
On Sunday, Page finally reached the tree line and hit a stream of wind that carried the balloon over the trees.
“You want to get a leaf?” he asked the passengers.
The treetops scraped the bottom of the basket as Page weaved in and out of the maze they created.
At the edge of the woods, he fired up the flame, lifting the balloon over the last layer of trees. As the balloon drifted over a soybean field, the sound of someone practicing the trumpet and crickets fill the air.
Then, suddenly, the balloon stopped over a tree. After Page fired up the flame to get the balloon moving again.
It began to climb hundreds of feet in the air until even its shadow disappeared, but Page still couldn’t find any wind.
The balloon is checked annually by a certified mechanic or a balloon manufacturer to ensure safety. He and Darling also conduct spot checks each time they assemble it.
After reaching 1,800 feet, Page decided it was time to land. It was getting dark, he said, and the last thing he wanted was to stay up and get stuck hovering over the trees.
One time, he and Darling got stuck over the Biltmore Forest. They had to reach down and pull themselves along the tree tops to find a clearing.
The balloon softly touched down, bounced back up and landed again, and Page radioed over to Darling that it was time to pick him and the passengers up.
“It was such a boring chase,” she said after arriving. “I got to do my nails and call my sister. Usually, you go somewhere.”
“The challenge for the chase person is usually finding the right road to go on to keep up with the balloon,” he said. “Kristie is really good with keeping up with me.”