Quick Check

[Carrie Lekich]

I had a great time at the festival, except for Sunday night. But I learned some stuff Sunday night anyway. Not things about flying or anything, but definitely some important things.

anyway, I have to try to think about what happened which night. I know that we flew Friday night, but I don't really remember the flight. I guess it was a good one. I drove chase. Thats all I really remember about that flight actually.

Saturday morning they didn't fly far, I drove chase again. Luckily I did not have to back up either time. Actually no, i backed up a little Saturday morning, because there wasn't quite enough room to just turn around, but I barely had to back up. (I hate backing up the trailer). They landed in the same field as the American Flag, and from what I understand there should be a pretty good picture of our balloon. Haven't seen it yet, Terry has to send it to my dad first. I wasn't there at first... we were stuck in traffic from people who think its a good idea to stop in the middle of the road and take pictures. Good thing the police put up those no parking signs eh?

Saturday night we did not fly, but we stood the balloon up because it was soaked. It was really windy and I played on the crown line for most of it. I like being on the crown, I may only be one hundred and ******* pounds, but I can hold my own out there. i did go in for about 5 minutes or so at the end and had some burner time. I was giddy. I kept trying to convince people that the balloon was still wet and that we should keep it up... but they weren't buying it. I was a little nervous, because it was windy, and i didn't really want to put holes in dad's balloon, I think he'd be mad at me.

Sunday morning I flew. And I actually did a lot of the flying. We worked on level flight, and ascents and descents and I even did the landing. Well, sort of, Ben did the venting. The most important thing I learned though, is that the next time I go up with two pilots, I'm bringing duct tape for one of them. because seriously.... they'd either both tell me something different, or one would be waiting for the otehr to say something, or one would say burn, then the other would, so I'd burn twice and they'd yell at eachother for the overburn. well, not yell really, but you get my point. never again! At least not without some confirmation of who is doing the teaching.

Sunday night Dad and Ben had a good flight. I didn't take part in it. I thought that the organizers of the festival should have split the prize money instead of making it a competition flight, and i thought that the conditions were unsuitable for flying. Biggest thing I learned Sunday night is that its important to stick by your own decision, and your own feelings whether you are the pilot or crew. Everyones safety revolves around everyones comfort. If one person is uncomfortable they make it more dangerous for everyone involved. Not that the pilot shouldn't fly because a crew member is uncomfortable, just that the crew member shouldn't crew. Makes it more difficult I'm sure if theres not really enough crew. But Sunday there was. Also learned that my comfort zone for flying when theres thunder storms... Ben says 30 miles, Scott says 50, I say if theres anything other than green on the radar at all... I'm probably not gonna fly... a little rain okay, but thunder.... lightening... that crap should be at least 4 hours away from me in any given direction. Kind of more than necessary... but, wind doesn't scare me, water doesn't scare me... but the unpredictabillity of thunderstorms scares the bejeezus out of me.

also learned Sunday that its really really hard when you disagree with your dad. Disagreeing with Scott or Tony or Ben, no problem... but when me and my daddy aren't on the same page... man thats rough!!

overall the festival was a good time. I am filing some complaints about things though.... like running out of food, how they do passengers, and making a competition flight Sunday when less than half of the people there were willing to fly. When a briefing is 'thunderstorm, thunderstorm, hurry up, make it a quick flight, and get down"... shouldnt' be a competition in my opinion. I think I'm gonna be mad about that for a while though, maybe next year will be better.

It was good to see some people though. Saw Keith, talked more about building my remote control balloon. She's going to be named Learner's Permit. I figure its a good name. Also got to know a few new pilots, John, who lives nearby to here, and his crew, real nice guys. talked to Kenny... who told my dad i was a good kisser... but hey, what do you expect?

ahh, its late, for me anyway, I better be getting myself to sleep. I just wanted to post about the weekend and the new stuff going into my log book. i'm going to try to keep a record of my training. If I remember....

[Jim Regan]

Mark - great job as always. You presented the weather just as a Lockheed Martin briefer would have. As for speaking softly, you always do. Thats just who you are. You weren't hiding anything and if people couldn't hear you earlier its their own fault for not speaking up themselves.

If you go to NJ, you're aware how the event is run by Promo One Inc. If you don't like the way they run the event, then dont go. Its as simple as that. As far as weather, regardless of what is presented to you at ANY event, you are still responsible for getting your own individual briefing. The go/no-go decision rests with the pilot. NOT the balloonmeister, NOT the sponsors, NOT the promoter. Of course they're gonna throw money at you, thats their job as a promoter. Bottom line is too many pilots tend to let $$ get in the way of logical thinking. All this finger pointing is ridiculous. Basic flight instruction 101 is pretty clear - PILOTS DECISION.

And for the record, I didn't fly Sun PM. In my opinion, no amount of money was worth taking the chance that night.

[Layne Wolters]

I did not fly sat. PM or Sun. PM. I was told Sat PM personaly that I HAD to fly, but it was my decision to make. As for Prize money I took first Sun AM so I got Money but chose not to fly Sun PM for double what I made in the AM flight. Mark did a fine job with weather, If you listened to him and not what others on the mic were saying. Not once did I not know what was out there. I tend to listed to the weather guy first ecspecialy if they are a pilot too. If you listened to the other guys you would discover that Solburg airport is a weather and geographical wonder, its always 90 miles from any bad weather.

[Adam Magee]

Mark, I think you did a great job as the weather person...everyone that was there knew exactly what they were getting into. You said many times "check the monitors up here." even when larry said ok lets hurry up and fly, its still the pilots choice. Pilots count on Larry as balloonmeister to be the liaison between howard and the pilots...Howard siad go like he always does being the business person and not a balloon person. It is up to Larry to make the balloon decision...turns out he didnt stand up to howard but rather put the decision to fly on the pilots knowing some would fly because of the money involved. Its a tough spot to be in...it is really a lose-lose situation for Larry. GEBA, your idea is great...doubt its going to work with Howard. Its how NJ is, its how its going to be with Howard running it. I dont want to make Howard out to be a bad guy because he really isn't...he is just making his decisions off of business and I respect that. That festival does a lot for ballooning, bottom line: its up to the pilots to make their own choices.

[Great Eastern Balloon Association (GEBA)]

This event is held in NJ, one of the states that the Great Eastern Balloon Association (GEBA) covers and has a large number of members. One of the committees that GEBA has is the Festival Relations committee. This committee works with balloon festivals in our club area, including Quick Check NJ Festival of Balloons, to bring concerns and problems to the table and hopefully find a resolution that is beneficial to both the pilots/crew and the festival. The Festival Relations committee has been working closely with NJ Fest for several years and has been trying to work with them to resolve may concerns that have arisen with the pilots in our club. Some things have improved, some things still need improvement.

We welcome ANY pilot or crew person who has any comments, complaints, problems or compliments about NJ Fest or any other festival in our club area to contact our Festival Relations committee. Without the input of the pilots and crew about what is good and what needs improvement our committee can not be successful in helping to improve the festivals in our club area. I encourage you to take the time to contact the committee through the link below and let us know your thoughts so that we can work with NJ Fest to hopefully make some improvements for next year.

Thank you for your support of our efforts!

The GEBA Board

go to www.gebaballoon.org and click "Festival Relations" from the list on the left hand side of the page. You can then click to email either Ken Loesser or Ben Hanbicki. Or, if you'd prefer, you can click "Contact Us" at the bottom left and then click on "Our Board of Directors and Committee Chairs" to reach any board member.

We look forward to the input of the pilots and crew!

[Mark Schilling]

I agree that it was not a good decision to fly Sunday night. As for Mr. Hernandez' comments above, I guess it was the weather gentleman's 17" monitor (available AND encouraged for all pilots to see) vs. a 4" iPhone screen. Why didn't he speak up at the briefing when the gentleman asked "any questions?". Once again, the independent weather reader's opinion is being merged with the balloonmeisters decision to allow flying in marginal conditions. That's why he won't be back next year. It's a lose-lose scenario. I actually heard that he was criticized for "speaking softly" so pilots could not hear the adverse conditions. Come on, now. Do you really believe that?

[Adam Magee]

How many of the pilots there flew just because of the prize money?... Those that flew were interested in getting pax money...if Howard really cared he would have said no rides. We all know he won't do that. How many would have flown then? I sure hope Beth and those insurance ppl didnt stay an extra night!!

There is no need to say "I won't fly there"...its the PIC choice to fly or not but I wouldnt hold a grudge on Howard just because of the decisions he makes...I make my own. Howards just doing business...and it worked didnt it? He made sooo much more money this past weekend than expected. He knows pilots will take the bait. FOOD, HOTEL, PARTIES, PRIZE MONEY, RIDE MONEY gets pilots all the time. He blows smoke up your ass saying "what a great show, what a great show, it was great, best one of all." how many times did we hear that? You cant get mad at him...he is just a promo guy..a really,really, really good promo guy. He doesnt know ballooning, he knows business.

[Dawn Chase]

Oh, I get that... that's why I don't fly there. My point is that if he removed the prize money on an ehh flight Friday, why not make the same call Sunday? It is the pilot's decision... but Howard can also do his part and remove something that may (for better or worse) be a temptation to fly. Why not just say field's open, make your decision and prize money for tonight is equally split among all pilots here for the Sunday PM briefing? either way, there will be people who choose to fly and people who choose not to fly... as there always is.

[Eric Mueller]

Exactly Mike, Howard has alway taken prize money from unflyable days and added it to the pot. He wants to entice pilots to give the public the show they came for.

[Mike Hernandez]

Howie Fest will continue to do what they do. It is up to the pilots when it all comes down to it to make the decisions necessary to fly safe.

[Dawn Chase]

well... the other bad call was putting the prize money from other flights on Sunday night with that forecast. the smart thing would've been to remove that particular temptation from the table...