Flying Like an Eagle, Landing Like a Stone

A news story caught my eye today as I was scanning The Weather Channel for the next chance of rain.  The headline was "WILD LANDING IN HOT AIR BALLOON".   You can check out that video at the following link:

http://www.digtriad.com/news/national/article/235987/175/5-In-Hot-Air-Balloon-Safe-After-Hard-Landing

Preparing for Lift-off

Cole County Landscape Covered in Early Morning Fog

That video brought back memories of a similar experience I had when I was lucky to scratch an item off my bucket list without a scratch.  My wife and son had secretly arranged for me to take a ride in a hot air balloon and had invited our whole neighborhood over to observe the lift-off.    Mother Nature had other plans.  Shortly after the hot air balloon crew arrived the sky grew dark and long, low rumbles of thunder were audible in the distance.  A check of the radar revealed our house was in no-man's land between a line of storms to the north and another line of storms to the south.  After checking several weather websites and calling the Columbia Regional Airport, the hot air balloon pilot decided it was not worth the risk.  "It is a lot better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here" he explained.  The flight was rescheduled for 6 AM the next morning.  Strangely, most of the neighbors were "busy" and couldn't make to our dawn lift-off. So it was that at 6:20 am the next morning, my son, his father-in-law Eugene, and I ascended gracefully into the sky in a yellow hot air balloon piloted by Captain Lane.

Looking for a Spot to Land Provided a Unique View
of a Cole County Water Tower

Below us, my son's wife Maria, his sister-in-law Beth, his mother-in-law Barb, and our neighbor Tom served as "chase cars."  The click of our camera's and the occasional roar of the propane flame providing the hot air to keep us aloft were the only sounds as we glided above the rolling landscape southwest of Jefferson City.  Off to the east the Capitol dome protruded above a sunlit layer of fog off the river.

At an altitude of 500 feet a northwest wind nudged us in the general direction of Brazito.  As the Captain began to look for a place to land, however, the wind changed and a sudden gust of wind from the southwest suddenly goosed our balloon back toward the southern edge of Jefferson City. 

Captain to Passengers:  We Are Coming In a Little Fast -
BRACE YOURSELVES!

Passing over the water tower Captain Lane maneuvered the balloon toward a vacant field adjacent to the Cole County fairgrounds.  As we neared the ground, what had seemed like a snail's pace aloft suddenly felt more like sprinter speed as we neared the ground.

"BRACE YOURSELF!  WE ARE COMING IN A LITTLE FAST!" warned Captain Lane.  What used to be the Great Central Lumber Company, protected by a barrier of utility poles, loomed dead ahead.

Any Landing You Can Walk Away From is a Good One

Then, as our basket was given a rude greeting by the top soil, we who had been perfectly happy viewing things vertically suddenly found ourselves viewing the landscape from a horizontal perspective.  My son served as an involuntary airbag for me as our wicker basket was dragged along the ground behind a balloon not yet ready to yield to the Law of Gravity.

Note the Look of Amazement on My Son's Face as he
Surveys Our Landing Zone

Not Even 8 AM and We've Already Survived a Crash Landing!

Later, my son's sister-in-law, Beth, would describe the landing like this:  "I saw you coming in pretty fast.  When you hit the ground I heard the basket make a loud "thunk" followed by an even louder "OOOMPH!" from inside the basket.  Then it took off again and landed again, which resulted in another "thunk" and another "OOOMPH!"  Then the balloon was dragging the basket along the ground on it's side while Jake from the ground crew ran behind trying to catch you."

As we skidded to a stop, basket on it's side, the four of us quickly scrambled out just as a wide-eyed jogger who had been running nearby approached us.  "Wow, was that a normal landing?" he asked.

"I've had worse!" replied Captain Lane.

My only regret is that no one recorded our landing on a video camera for posterity.  You can get a pretty good idea how it went if you just watch the video of this week's hard landing in Scottsdale. 

As I walked in the door at home bearing tales of a crash landing that grew worse with each telling, the Steve Miller Band was singing "Fly Like An Eagle" on the radio.  Fly like an eagle?"  Check!"  As for the landing . . . I am now a convert to the pilot's credo that "any landing you can walk away from is a good one!"



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