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Welcome to the 2007 US National Hot Air Balloon Championship Dailey's

Welcome to Waco!

This year the nationals are being held in Waco Texas. Over the last few weeks the whole state of Texas has been hit with Rain Rain and more Rain. We will have to be real careful about launch and landing sites the whole week. See Calendar for Dates.

As with last year we are spending many hours going over the map and looking at targets. Checking the grid coordinates and cutting the map into sections and then laminating and re-asembleing them. The above pictured map is about a 23 square mile area with the city of Waco just about in the middle. The map measures about 40 inches by 42 inches. We have over 200 pre selected targets on this map with 4 common launch areas.

Crew.

This year I am blessed to have two of my best crew from here in Florida going with me!

Kim McCourt and Mike Fabianic.

Both Kim and Mike have crewed for me for years. Both are incredibly hard workers and each wants to see us do well this year. As an added bonus Mike was an Observer at the "06" Nationals. As an observer he knows many of the ins and outs of the rules as well as what the Observers are looking for and will help keep us from getting any penalty points for silly errors. I will guess we will have inflation times of less than 4 minutes.

Saturday July 14.

Well Here I sit. Going over all the stuff in my head. Clothes are packed and the maps are done. I will be flying passenger flights here in Orlando this morning then it is load the truck and head for Texas. Mike and Kim will be meeting me here at the house around 11am. We are going to try to be on the road by noon. Since the balloon I will be flying is already out in Waco Texas we do not have to worry about loading balloon equipment.

I was going to fly the same balloon I flew last year but I will be flying a smaller balloon this year. The Curves people (who are sponsoring the nationals) have offered to let me fly one of theirs. This is an Aerostar balloon and it is a 62,000 Cu/ft balloon. Just about the perfect size for competition. I could not have asked for a better system to fly.

We will drive about 8 hours today and stop somewhere just past the Mobile area for the night. We will hit the road early Sunday to finish the trip.

Sunday July 15.

Well it was a long trip to Waco. About 19 hours on the road. We stopped last night near Biloxi and got a room then finished the trip today. Mom and Dad were already here and brother Jay and wife Shannon were also here at the hotel waiting for us. Jay and Shannon went home to Austin and the rest of us started the party.

Many of the balloon pilots and crews are here. A few will trickle in tomorrow. We had to run and pick up hte balloon that I have borrowed and then it was off to dinner.

Here we are just hanging around waiting for the call to go and pick up the balloon. Then off to Dinner at Red Lobster and then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. May be the last good nights sleep we get.

Monday July 16.

Well we had our first run today. Two part task with a Hesitation Waltz (Multiple Judge Declared Goals) and our First run at a 3D target in the sky.

The Judges selected 3 intersections you could choose to drop a marker on. You could choose while you were flying. We all launched from a common launch point.

Even my mother helped me get airborne today. Bless her heart. Father and I took off and headed out for two of the targets. The winds were real slow. 5 to 7 miles per hour was about the best we could find. On the way to our first target we had to choose another target to use for our 3D target. Imagine a wedding cake placed 1000 feet in the air with each layer of the wedding cake being 500 feet thick and each layer getting smaller as you climb up. Three layers where you get single points in the bottom layer and double points in the next layer and triple points for the top and smallest layer. All scored with GPS Loggers on the side of your balloon. Combine that with targets you have to drop baggies on down on the ground. Real busy and real fun!!! Since I was flying one of the Curves balloons (Curves is the sponsor of the nationals this year) I had a couple of VIP's to take along with me. So I was real busy flying a balloon I had never been in and running a three dimensional flight task and all in a real tiny balloon.

The balloon flew great. It only has about 100 flight hours on it so it is quite new. By the time I got my bearings on the flight area and where my first target was I had to climb way up to 2500 feet to get the turn. Heading directly at the target I piched my marker out at about 2000 feet. It fell out into a lake! We had to write our next intended target on the tail of that marker so we had to get the marker back so the scorekeeper could know where my next target would be. KIM went swimming! Out in this nasty lake and got the marker like a retriever after a duck. When he got out of the lake the landowner said. "I aint so sure Ida dun dat being all them snakes in ther"

I flew into the 3D target and think I did fairly well by crossing thru the scoring area twice and collecting points on both passes. How that stacks up with the other pilots we will see when the results are posted tomorrow.

Our landowner at the landing site was great and even came out and had some champagne with us. Here is ther picture and the picture of my two lovely passengers today.

See you after tomorrows flight!

Competition starts in the am. GAME ON.

Tuesday July 17.

Three part task. This morning we had a three part task. One common target with a Pilot Declared target 3k in front of and one Pilot declared 3k after.

We looked at the weather report and went out into the area upwind of the common target and found a house with a yard that would work. Started to knock on the door to get permission to use the yard and could not get anyone to answer. After about 5 minutes a small child came to the door and said we needed to use the front door. This of course was where the barking dog was. After knocking on the door for another 5 minutes a woman came to the door and said no not today. You should have called me yesterday to let me know. So,,, Down the road we went to find another spot. After getting permission in a real nice grass lawn we were in the process of inflating our balloons when Father realized that the first target we were going to use was now inside the minimum distance and we would have to choose another. After looking at our maps and selecting another target we were off to the races. I got my balloon inflated and standing up. We were loading all the gear for the flight and I was just a couple of minutes from being ready to launch when a bunch of people started to yell NO NO NO NO... Is that no or is that GO!!!! The flight was cancelled. A layer of clouds had developed at about 400 foot off the ground and was closing in fast. At the common target about 6k down wind from us the fog had already developed all the way to the ground. They were announcing that the flight was cancelled. 2 balloons had already launched and I was just a moment away from launch myself. POO.. I was ready to go!

So we deflated and packed up and went out for breakfast!

Wednesday July 18.

Well, we had our first competition run today! Three part task with two baggie drops. One was a gravity drop and the other was a free toss. The third part of the task was an Elbow.

We all launched from a common launch point (CLP3) Each pilot had to pick his first PDG before the green launch flag went up! The Red Flag starts the period prior to launch then a yellow 5 minute warning flag goes up and finally the GREEN! When the yellow flag went up there must have been 50 helium balloons launched to make just one last wind check. The forecast said that we would have a tremendous right hand turn at or around 2,000 ft. We chose our first target along the line that the pi-balls took. Right off the bat we had way more right turn than we wanted so it was hit the deck to manage as much left as we could get. I got bumped twice by the purple red and pink balloon in this picture. Both times I was bumped to the right. One time I actually went from a heading of 355 degrees all the way to 027. Kind of disappointing when your working so hard to get to the left and someone keeps bumping you to the right.

I finally got up to the target and was slipping to far to the right so I made a dramatic climb up to about 800 feet to get a little bit of right before I dropped my marker. The first target was a gravity drop so I could not throw the marker. You just had to lay it over the side of the basket and let it go. Dropped it right into the intersection. landed 5.78 meters from the center of the target! Ground crew says that it was good enough for about 4th or 5th place. Our next target was about 6k distance an at a headding of about 21 degrees. Forecast said we would find about 030 to 045 up around 2000 feet. So I climbed up all the way to almost 3,000 feet and never saw that turn. In fact the best turn I saw was around the 1200 foot mark so I looked to see where my target was and decided to drop my marker near a railroad track so we could find it later. I was no where near my second target but I was able to find the marker so should at least get a score. Now I had to do the elbow. This year the elbow is measured using the GPS scoring logger. This is a GPS unit inside a plastic locked box and hung on the side of your balloon. Your track was determined by the first track point your logger registered after you had traveled 3K from your second PDG. After that you had to try to change your flight path as much as you could to register another leg of the Elbow. After 3K your done. When I was done I was also nearly out of fuel and over the airport. I called up the tower and asked if I could land at the end of the runway. The tower said no problem so that is where I ended up. Ground crew was on the scene in just a few moments and we were packed up and off the runway area in just a few minutes. My second pilot declaird goal was about 1.26 Km off and my elbow was about 17 degrees. How that stacks up with the other pilots we will have to wait and find out.

Here you go Tyler. These photos are linked to larger one's so you can view them. UJ

Where are we going?	Keep the flag off the ground Audra!!!
Ready to go. Waiting for an opening!	JEFF U GO FIRST!!
Last minute stuff.	Follow the pack!
Ground crew flying their Curves Balloon.	Jocking...
Shazam is off!	Leaving the launch Field.
Jim Thompson (Shazam)	Jeff Thompson (Something Borrowed)
Grinning from ear to ear and then some!
Get Ready Papa.	Kim has not stopped grinning!
Inflation.	Off we go.

Thursday July 19.

Wow what a morning! 4 markers 4 tasks and one FAST flight.

Task one was a pilot declared goal. 1km from your chosen launch site. Many of us launched along side a road. Then it was on to a scoring area. We had to drop two markers inside the scoring area as far apart as we could. Then it was on to another pilot declared goal for a 4th marker drop and then thru a 3D goal. The center of the 3D goal was the pilots choice.

All of the pilot declared goal had to be chosen before liftoff to your Observer. The maximum scoring area had been chosen in advance. You will see a dotted box on the map. That is the Maximum Distance scoring area. The three colored circles are the three dimensional goal. The goal on the 3D event was to fly thru the large circle between 1000 and 1500 feet. Then thru the next smaller circle at between 1500 and 2000 feet. Then thru the smallest circle between 2000 and 2500 feet. Then you would go back down the back side of the circles.

As I took off I was able to make a great run on my first target. This first target was a gravity drop. No Throwing. Just as I approached my target another balloon slipped under me and I had to drop my marker and bounce it off of his balloon to land it about 18 meters from the target. Then it was on to the maximum scoring area. I dropped just inside the start of the scoring area where my ground team were waiting. Nice job Kim an Mike. Then flew on to the other side of the scoring area and dropped my next marker right at the base of a telephone pole along the side of the road. I then climbed up to find some right turn and found that there was none. Once again the forecast said that we would find a nice 035 heading aloft and all we found was 005 to 015. I was able to get over close to the neighborhood where my next target was but dropped about a block away from it. Last was the 3D scoring area. I tried to climb to find turn and quit climbing after I had reached 4500 feet. No turn and I was over top of the scoring area so tried to descend to at least get a few track points but did not get down to the scoring altitude until after I have exited the area. I do not believe I scored a single track point in the scoring area. Landed with a big thump in a church with the crew right there to grab me. Good flight, poor score on two of the 4 tasks. I think I will end up staying where I am in the overall. Sitting in 22nd place right now.

Supplemental Pilot briefing at CPL4	Morning Glow. (Beer Induced)
Cheering Squad!	MMMMM??????
Hook em UP!	There are Three Curves Balloons. We have marked ours.
Standing up	Locked and loaded.
Check the maps and ready to launch	Off we go.
Grampa.	Grandma
Good LUCK!!
Grampa Getting it up.	Ready for launch
My ground TEAM!!!!	Debrief after the flight.
Anybody seen a marker around here???	How'd I do?
Shazam	I am going here!

Friday July 20.

Well the flight today has been cancelled. About 4 am a fog bank rolled in and just sunk to the surface. Less than a quarter mile visibility. We are currently sitting in 28th place. I have scored extremely well on the first few task's each day but very poorly on the last tasks each flight. For three days now the forecast has shown a big right turn aloft so we have chosen targets over to the right of the flight path and each day the upper winds had no right turn at all making it impossible for us to get to our last targets. Now the weather is going bad so I dont have the opportunity to advance. Jule and Kim and I went out exploring a little today. We saw a creek that looked interesting and we wanted to go back and have a look.

OK Now we are going to go CREEKIN. This creek we found was great! Ankle deep to Knee deep all the way with beautiful carved sides out of limestone and shale. We have put up flyiers all over the hotel to see if anyone else wants to go on a little adventure hiking down the creek.

Saturday July 21. CANCELLED AGAIN

Another foggy morning. I hope we can fly on Sunday! I sure would like to move up some before this is over.

Since we have another day of bad weather we are going to the creek.












Movie Link

Sunday July 22.

Our Last flight!

For scoring ease the Balloonmeister David Levin has called a three part task with a common target at CLP4 and two hesitation waltz's. One prior to the common target and one after the common target. The wind is forecast to be out of the south but aloft it is out of the northeast. We launched a small helium balloon and it went off to the east at 080'. We went out to the southwest to find a launch site. The piballs were going off to the east on the surface and then turning north aloft. We found a spot that would work and got permission to launch. We were going to fly to the first target that was located just to the northeast of where we were then climb and take advantage of the north layer aloft to go north to the common target then fly low to the second set of targets to the east of the common target. We found a spot to launch and got airborne. We had to climb to about 1800 feet to find enough left turn to get us to our first target. I started a decent into the target and found myself drifting off to the right. I climbed back up since the forecast said there would be a layer high up that would take me back so I could make another pass at the target. At 5,000 feet I found a layer that would let me do that. It was real slow and took me over a half hour to get it done but was able to line back up on the target and come in for another pass. I dropped 7.2 meters from the center of the intersection. That is less than the length of my van. We found out later that was only good enough for 22nd place. No I had to climb back up and catch that north layer to get me to the Common Goal located at CLP4. Once again it was a slow layer and took a long time to get to the target but I managed and dropped my baggy on the scoring field. This also was a low score since most of the other pilots had made drops right on the X. Now I was so late in the morning that the surface winds were becoming unstable and unpredictable. I headed for my last target but was unable to get over it so I dropped my marker as I passed north of the target. Looking ahead I saw that my father had landed in this nice green grass yard. He radioed up that they had permission and if I could get there we could drive to the balloons. I flew on up to him and made an approach only to find that the wind on the ground had come to a complete stop. I dropped a line to the crew and had them walk me the last few hundred feet to where my father was. Not the best finish in the world but what a workout of a flight and a good challenge.