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After visiting the museum I then joined the members of the balloon club "Badisch Sibirien e.V." for the planned competition. All day they checked the weather forcast, and it was constantly being revised. The weather was perfect in Sinsheim, but farther north it wasn't so good. But, as the time for the competition came, it was decided that it was all go! And in the end, the 11 balloons had great flights! Being "Startleiter", or lift-off coordinator, I had to give the permissions for each one to lift off, making sure they didn't get into each other's way. When one is in the air, the pilot still on the ground can't see above because of the huge balloon over his head! So I watch the drift, see who is ready, then give the signal to lift. Next to the take-off field is a glider field and at the beginning we had to wait for 3 gliders to land before I could give the all clear. I had two radios, one with the frequency of the glider field, the other with the balloon frequency.
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me at "work"!
I didn't bother to wear my overalls, since I was going flying myself. My vest has a number of balloon pins on it. The German balloonists just LOVE collecting balloon pins and patches! Notice my balloon earrings? Obviously I was busy running around from one balloon to the next, but I did manage to take a few pictures in between...... |
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