Balloonists Hope Clear Skies Prevail Over Waco For Wednesday

While most of the aviation world has its sights set on southeast Wisconsin for the next 10 days or so, ANN didn't want our readers to forget about another high-flying event this week. Forty-six of the nation's best hot air balloon pilots have gathered in Waco, TX to decide the 2007 US National Hot Air Balloon Championship.

Anyone trying to handicap the field would be hard pressed to pick a winner... as the field includes 10 past US National and/or World Champions, including defending World Champion John Petrehn of Leawood, KS. In all, pilots from Carolina to California and from Michigan to Mississippi will take to the skies of central Texas from Tuesday, July 17 to Sunday, July 22.

For those unfamiliar with the National Balloon rankings and championship, balloonists compete in sanctioned events around the country and accumulate points based on their performance. A pilot must complete a minimum of four tasks (or flights to a target) to be eligible for the ranking list and to receive an invitation to the US Nationals. This year the field was limited to 50 pilots but just 46 will compete for the title following some last minute cancellations.

David Levin of Boulder, CO will serve as Championship Director. Levin won the US National Hot Air Balloon championship in 1989, the World Championship in 1985, the World Gas Balloon Championship in 1992 and the Gordon Bennett also in 1992. Giving the event a slight international flair will be the presence of Mathias R de Bruin, of the Netherlands as Assistant Director. De Bruin is a popular and well respected Event Director in Europe and he is the Netherland's delegate to International Ballooning Commission, the CIA.

The one uncontrollable element will be Mother Nature. The same torrential rainfalls in June that forced cancellation of the Great Texas Balloon Race in Longview, TX last weekend has also left the ground in Waco well-saturated. The area received more than 10 inches of rain in the last week and a half of June.

Since the first of July, less than 2 inches of rain has fallen... and although some drying has occurred, the 7-day forecast calls for the typical 30-percent chance of mostly afternoon thunderstorms each day through the competition, with rain chances increasing slightly for the weekend. For the first time in recent history only morning flights are planned, so it is hoped any afternoon showers will be mostly an annoyance.

Clouds, however, are another matter. Glen Moyer, editor for the Balloon Federation of America, tells ANN the first competition flight was to have been made Tuesday morning... but, alas, Mother Nature threw the lighter-than-air aviators a curve ball with the arrival of a low level layer of scud clouds that dropped ceilings to only a few hundred feet and lowered visibilities. The flight was canceled just as many balloons were inflated and staging to launch.

Oh well... as they say, tomorrow is another day, and the competition will resume Wednesday morning.

FMI: www.bfa.net