There is an order as to how the balloons are launched at the fiesta. Some (the dawn patrol) launch while it is still dark with the rest commencing their flights just as the sun is barely beginning to creep over the Sandia Mountains. Seeing that it takes around two hours for all of the balloons to launch, by the time the last one has left terra firma there are so many still floating beautifully in the sky even as a number of the earlier fliers are landing, packing up and returning to the launch area.
This fellow making his dawn “escape” during the special shapes mass ascension is Con Air from the Czech Republic.
(Want to know how these shots were captured? Come back tomorrow and you’ll see)
Advertisements
#1 by ChgoJohn on October 18, 2016 - 7:53 am
Do they have group to monitor and schedule the take-offs and landings? It seems that with so many participants, some sort of system would be needed.
Nonetheless, great shot, Teri
#2 by imagesbytdashfield on October 18, 2016 - 8:53 am
I went to a pilots briefing and learned how they do it from checking out the weather on down. The balloons are lined up in rows and they are radioed when they can take off. They have their system down to an art form.
#3 by Timothy Price on October 18, 2016 - 9:28 am
He got out early that morning.
#4 by imagesbytdashfield on October 18, 2016 - 10:08 am
Yeah but they caught him again when he landed 😉
#5 by allentimphotos2 on November 1, 2016 - 12:25 pm
Lots of balloons for a dawn patrol. Nicely captured. Takes a lot to get up that early.
#6 by imagesbytdashfield on November 1, 2016 - 12:35 pm
Thanks. I had to get up everyday of the event no later than 4 in the morning in order to get there, park, and get my spot on the media tower.
#7 by allentimphotos2 on November 1, 2016 - 1:10 pm
Although grueling it appears that you did have fun.
#8 by imagesbytdashfield on November 1, 2016 - 1:18 pm
The cold in the morning was the hardest the rest was enjoying what I was doing.
#9 by allentimphotos2 on November 1, 2016 - 3:59 pm
Yes burrrrrrrrr!