Flying Without Wings

I received a text one Friday afternoon that made me very excited.  No, it wasn't the Nigerian Prince needing my help, nor was it winning the UK lottery - but wen't something like this:

"I'm flying at Bacchus Marsh on Sunday morning...You around and wanting to come for a fly?"

It was none other than Grant McHerron - balloonatic and podcasting mogul.  I've been a listener and a follower of his work (along with Steve Visscher) on the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast for some years now.  I'd been a ground crew for Grant twice before, and really enjoyed it. I thought about it for at least a microsecond and replied:

"Count me in!"

The next task was to find another passenger to share the experience with.  Mel wasn't keen on the uber-early start, so I thought I'd ask my new aviation keen friend Albert.  Mel had met Albert while completing a leadership course together - she saw our similar interests and insisted I get in touch with him to go for a fly.  Not long after, I took Albert up in the high wing Tecnam Bravo to have a quick look at the new runway down in Lethbridge - a fun afternoon!  I think Albert must have been equally keen about the balloon flight because his reply was just as quick.   The details were sorted, and the only thing to do was to make sure I went to bed early before the "crazy o'clock" wake up.

Conditions on the Sunday morning were perfect.  It was a clear, moonless night with very little wind at all.  Albert arrived at my place: "It's faaar too early for food!", he said shaking his head. I needed something, so I opted for an Up and Go breakfast drink.  I said goodbye to a sleepy Mel and we made our way down the Western Highway to an equally sleepy Bacchus Marsh.  We were even too early for McDonald's breakfast!

After a few minutes of waiting, the vehicles arrived at the assigned meeting place - a shopping precinct parking lot.  I peered into the dark and saw a few familiar faces, including Grant, but also Lu and her son James, who are an experienced ground crew team and I crewed with the last couple of times.

After meeting the teams for the two other balloons, Grant wasted no time in releasing a helium balloon with a red LED hanging off it.  It rose up into the still black sky with all pilots watching it intensely, looking for movement left or right as it moved through the various wind layers.  Using this information, the flight plan was formulated.  We were to drive over to the neighbouring town of Myrniong (a few kilometres NW), launch from a recreation reserve and we'd fly SE over the Werribee Gorge State Park to land on the open grass areas at Bacchus Marsh airfield.  With everyone in agreement with the plan, we jumped in the back of Grant's troop carrier and we headed up the highway.

One by one, the vehicles entered the reserve and found a spot to set up their balloons.  There would be three aircraft this flight.

Readying the basket for flight.

 It wasn't long before the silence of the now slightly sunlit morning was shattered by the roar of three cold-inflation fans.  I was surprised at how much colder it was here in Myrniong - only to be made worse by a powerful fan blowing cold air at high speed!  In ballooning, all members of the team are put to use - even the passengers.  After laying the limp and lifeless balloon (known as an 'envelope'), it was mine and Albert's job to hold the opening up and out so the cold air could be blown in.

Albert, shivering a little bit at his 'action station'. 

Grant, inspecting the various inner workings of the envelope prior to hot air inflation.

Grant, giving the envelope some heat - much to Albert's relief!  The fan visible in the foreground.

Standing Up

Almost ready to depart.

Grant gave us a thorough passenger brief (landing positions, emergency procedures, etc) and ensured the communications with the ground crew were working.  Moments later we got the "OK, get in..." instruction.  The basket was roomier than I thought - although Grant organised to lift one gas bottle out once the initial setup and fill was complete.  This gave us even more room!  With a quick wave to Lu and James, Grant put a large amount of heat in the envelope and tugged on our ground tether rope. We were free and rising - silently, straight up.  It was quite amazing - we'd taken off, were thirty or forty feet in the air, and we could still talk with the teams on the ground.  I made sure I gave them a wave.  At this point, I became aware of the audience that had turned out to see what all the commotion was.  Young children in their dressing gowns and slippers stood with their bleary-eyed parents as they watched these brightly coloured spheres took to the sky in turn.  A wave was quickly returned by almost all ground-based humans.  I was happy to be a part of the spectacle!

Rule number 1 in aviation: always wave to kids when moving about in aircraft.

Once we got above the treeline, the balloon stopped rising straight and the breeze began taking us to the South East - just as planned.  Grant kept a keen eye out for livestock and particularly horses, who can be easily spooked by the sound of the burners.

Grant keeping a keen eye out for livestock. Albert enjoys the panoramic view.

The views were just as amazing as I had imagined. The early morning sun lighting up the little patches of fog sitting in the low-lying areas; the trees casting long, diffused shadows.  I was awestruck by how quiet it was.  We were flying at anywhere from 200 to 1000 feet above the ground, and natural sounds around us could still be heard between burner blasts - trucks driving below us, flocks of sheep bleating.

Looking back towards Myrniong. Mount Blackwood visible in the background.

A curious flock of sheep follows the unusual flying contraptions. 

Flying over the Western Highway; looking SSE.

The group in the multi-coloured aircraft decided to do their own thing and headed off in the higher level winds.  They planned to land somewhere on the flat plains, do a passenger swap and keep on going.  In the yellow balloon was Steve and Ronald.  Steve was completing a Biennial Flight Review that Ronald (an experienced commercial balloon pilot) was overseeing.  As the other balloon sailed off into the distance, we tended to stay together.  We flew next to and above/below each other.

It was amazing to see how much control over our flightpath Grant actually had.  By popping up and down between the different wind layers we had quite a variety of 'steerage'.  Most of the time, there is absolutely no wind on your face when flying along - until the envelope passes through an inversion layer, and you feel the air movement for a brief moment while the basket catches up.

Ronald wanted some air-to-air pictures of the '77 with their new sponsor's logo on it.  We obliged.  Looking over towards the Werribee Gorge State Park.  

Grant in his element - enjoying some banter on the radio.  We could even hear the commercial crews operating in the Yarra Valley!

In flight catering was also provided by Grant - delicious lolly snakes!  "Brain food", Grant would call them as he reached into his bag.  We did some low flying in the valley, then it was time to start seriously thinking about the landing site.  It looked like we had plenty of options in terms of the winds, so Grant lifted us up above the level of the surrounding plains and into the slightly more speedy winds.  Up until this stage, we had been trundling along at 2 to 5 knots - now we were up at a blistering 8 knots!

Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome.  Our intended landing site.  The You Yangs clearly visible in the distance.

Grant put away the snakes, stowed the radio and got fully into 'flying mode' ready for the approach. The intent was to land in the large open grassed area between the hangars and the runway intersection. He pulled some of the release vents and we started descending in a perfect line to the target.  As we got closer to the ground, the wind close to the surface shifted slightly and we started tracking to the South and over the runway.  This wasn't such a big deal; there was plenty of grass on the other side of the tarmac.  

Steve guiding his aircraft to his aim point. He got low to the ground and allowed the wind to take them over the fence. 

Grant guided us over the runway and perfectly on to the grass on the other side.  Unfortunately, in an effort to 'round out' and make a smooth landing he kept too much heat in the envelope and we touched the ground and went back up again.  Known as a touch and go in the powered aircraft parlance.  Grant had also done this the last time we were all here and I was ground crewing - so I made sure to give him a ribbing about it later while we were having breakfast.  For the moment, the focus was on getting the aircraft on the ground in an area readily accessible by the ground crew troopie.

Touching down.

When we went back up, the wind continued to push us to the South even more and it wasn't long before we were over an adjacent sheep paddock.  Ronald's advice over the radio was to land safely and worry about the recovery later.  The issue would be finding a way to get the 4WD into this paddock, which didn't seem to have any gates nearby.  Then, Grant had an idea - but he needed our help.  He pulled out a handling line and instructed us to guide the balloon back over the fence and on to the airfield grounds.  Lu and James were talking with the Gliding Club about gaining access to the internal roads.

Albert and I jumped out of the basket - making sure we held on to it so Grant didn't rocket back up in the sky with the sudden load reduction!  We took the long, rolled up handling line and unravelled it towards the fence.  Grant then put a little heat in - just enough to hover a few meters above the ground.  Albert and I took the end of the line and gently encouraged the aircraft back over the aerodrome perimeter fence.  

Safely on the ground - Grant and Albert preparing the envelope for packing, while I rolled up the handling line.

By this stage, Steve had jogged over to help and we could hear the troopie rumbling its way down the aerodrome access track.  As a team, we packed up the balloon and put it all on the trailer.  Next, was to head over to the other side of the aerodrome to pick up Ronald and the yellow balloon.  It didn't take long, as he'd managed to get everything sorted out by himself - we simply put that envelope on top of the other one and pushed the baskets behind one another on the trailer.  Everything was strapped down and we could go and retrieve the other vehicles back from the launch site.

Next order of business - breakfast!  A ballooning tradition. We went to a quaint little cafe in Bacchus Marsh and enjoyed a nice bacon and eggs breakfast with coffee.  It's also tradition for the pilot to shout breakfast for his/her ground crew.  

All in all, it was an amazing experience.  So different to flying powered fixed wing aircraft - yet there were similarities in the safety procedures.  We also fly in the same airspace, so almost all the same rules apply.  The difference was being much more in touch with your surroundings.  No perspex windshield, no headset, no roaring engine.  Time to look at things below.  Time to hear them and even smell them.  I was extremely worried that I'd drop my phone over the edge of the basket - thankfully not this time!  Thanks to Grant for kindly taking us up, and thanks to Lu and James for expertly delivering us to the departure point collecting us at the other end.  Would I do it again?

Absolutely.  

Any altitude is good altitude as far as I'm concerned.