Hot Air Balloon Flight Record - 02Jan2005
(almost) New Years Flight

New Years day, yesterday, was warm, windy, and wet. Not a good day ballooning.

The forecast for this morning kept changing from windy to calm, but the actual evening reports and winds aloft would seem to support a good morning so we put off the final decision till the morning.

In the morning the actual reports were reasonable (not zero), winds aloft remained good and checking out on the deck was good so we went. Temperature was about 22F so everything was frozen but it wasn't so cold it was a problem.

The pibal (last one in the tank) made a smooth flight south so we inflated and took off. It was a nice flight with clear conditions, a view of the Boston skyline, but no other balloons in sight.

Approaching Hudson, we tried to setup for the Assabet School, but lack of variation in the winds left us too far right (north). We were still too far right to get the track parking lot across the street, but just beyond that was an open road ending in a cul-de-sac. It was a bit surprising to find so much breeze when we set down. Initial touch down was on the up wind side of the road, but a small bounce took us to the far curb and we ended dragging up the curb and about 20 feet down wind of the road. Of course the down wind side sloped down from the road! When the breeze dropped some we were able to walk the balloon back to the road for deflation.

The coldest part of the flight was standing at the landing site in the breeze.