By ABIGAIL SNOW
Moapa Valley Progress
The sixth annual Mesquite Hot Air Balloon Festival was largely grounded last weekend, with rain and wind conditions that kept the balloons from taking to the skies.
“All of us here love to fly, and have spent a long time travelling from other states and even Canada,” said Ryan Hill, coordinator of balloon pilots at the festival. “Those of us that live in the Southwest know we needed this moisture in this hot and dry climate; we are just a little disappointed it had to happen this weekend.”
According to Hill, there were 35 pilots invited to the event. Only 32 were able to make it to Mesquite. These pilots spent a lot of time preparing and travelling to attend the festival. Many came from the western states including; Colorado, California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and even Canada.
“We all were prepared and ready to put balloons in the air, but had to wait and hope for safe weather conditions that never did come,” said Hill.
“It can’t be breezy when you want to fly a hot air balloon,” explained Hill. “The pilot has to keep in mind that the wind determines where and how fast they go. As you can see there is an element of danger there, and part of the art of balloon flying is knowing the right conditions to fly in.”
According to Hill, they always call flight service just like a regular airplane pilot for weather reports. The operators look at the weather conditions very closely as there can be instances where the weather seems fine, but can turn ugly fast.
Most of the pilots had attended the past balloon festivals in Mesquite and are familiar with the area. They have had successful flights in the past here. But all understood full well that they were not going to be able to fly this weekend.
“When you are flying, your balloon can reach about 220 or 230 degrees inside,” explained Hill. “ That is above the boiling temperature of water. When it rains on top of the balloon it will steam off of the balloon and delaminate the coating on the fabric. This incurs aircraft damage that can get very expensive to fix. Also, when it is raining you get very unstable conditions up in the air that are risky.”
Glen See is a pilot from Elephant Bute, New Mexico who came to the festival. He said you generally should get about 600 to 700 hours of flight time from the balloon fabric. The more the balloon is exposed to bad conditions will shorten the life of the balloon and decrease the flight hours you would normally get. That becomes expensive and not worth it for pilots to fly in bad conditions. he said.
Over the festival weekend, the pilots parked their trailers and balloons at the CasaBlanca parking lot while keeping close tabs on the weather. Although they were not able to fly, they enjoyed themselves while socializing and cooking barbeque, as well exploring various activities inside the CasaBlanca.
The festival wasn’t a complete bust though. Though the pilots were not able to launch any balloons, the weather did clear for a short time for them to hold a night glow event on Saturday night in the CasaBlanca parking lot. A large crowd attended the night glow and really enjoyed it. Children and adults alike were able to get up close to the baloons, fire the burners and talk to the operators.
Hill said the group is very appreciative to Mesquite Gaming for its hospitality and for hosting such a great event. They all had an enjoyable time around the people in Mesquite and at the CasaBlanca Resort.
