Hot Air Balloon Flight Record - 16Jun2012
Gerry

Well, one and a half weeks ago the forecast for this weekend was no wind and no clouds. In between the forecast when real bad bu reality sets in with lighter winds and clear skies for Saturday. Similar to my first flight of the season, low altitude produced slow speeds SSE, climbing increased the speed and turned SSW.

Bob and Rudi were already unpacking when I showed up 8 minutes before sunrise. They took off ahead of me and we kept it low to hop over to the grass strip and play for a while. We eventually went over the west end of Flagg Hill Pond but didn't drop in to play. Climbed and turned S to head toward Butternut Farm Country Club, across Honey Pot Orchard and the mazes, and dropped low over the Assabet River, across from Collings Foundation. Down low we turned N, back across the river and over the tree line to drop low over a newly planted field. Decided they had planted some sort of melons under rows of plastic.

Climbing a little we returned to SSE, crossed the Collings Foundation (set up for an event today) and eventually turned SSW. Tried to setup for Jaworek Elementary School but we couldn't find the SSE down low. Marlboro seems to be a bit fast, it's a couple hundred feet higher than surrounding areas.

I didn't even attempt any approaches around downtown Marlboro this time. Instead I climbed to head toward the old Telica building. We couldn't get a good SW or WSW to move further W to get into Telica, but I did setup on Ken's Foods next to the spot where the lunch time hot dog truck parked. Over their building, descending, we turned E and landed on the grass short of the road (and power lines!). Walked the balloon S to the large paved area outside the water treatment gate.