BALLOONS!

by Jeff · November 2, 2023

So, have you been to the AIBF? That is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This one of the most highly attended festivals in the west and brings in a ton of money to the area businesses. There is also the International Balloon Museum that is open year around.

Albuquerque is proud to host this festival and it is now in it’s 51st year. The valley has a unique wind pattern that makes piloting a balloon almost routine. The pilots are able to work the “box” of winds to fly patterns and also perform skills based maneuvers to hit small targets with dropped items (bean bag toss and ring toss). This was also the launching point for the Gordon Bennett balloon long distance race. The winning team this year was from France and got to the eastern border of Georgia. Our heartfelt good wishes go out to the team from Poland, who wound up literally crashing and burning in Texas. All occupants aboard the balloon were injured but no deaths occurred.

Enjoy the following gallery of AIBF photos. Some are at O, Lord, it’s early for the glow and Dawn Patrol and some were middle morning after it warmed up.

The ballooning was interesting this year in the box, as the last Saturday saw very strong winds and direction changes occur, leaving many pilots truly flying by the seat of their pants. A number of balloons were damaged and some wild landings took place. We and friends and family at our RV spot in the south lot box spent a crazy morning helping catch balloons and securing them for the crews to arrive.