Hot Air Balloon Flight Record - 04Jan2014
Erik

2014 Frozen Buns, and it was FROZEN. Temp at home was -11 F. Temp at launch was -8 F!

Only 3 balloons showed up, one had a cold issue, and I had to borrow a fan because we couldn't get mine to even cough. Forecast was for winds to come up during the morning so we didn't want to delay. Jim was off first and in the distance NNE when we go off the ground. Off the ground at 78 F.

As we climbed, we picked up speed, over 20mph at our peak. As we crossed the ridge and started to descend, the speed dropped off. Over Rt 71 we were much lower and actually spent some time making a circle. As the crew was driving up 71, we climbed to move out of the neighborhood with above ground utilities.

Further NE we could see New Britain High School and the stadium next door. The SW, lower parking lots were full of cars, and something was going on at the gymnasium. We went past the building as we dropped and turned more N to eventually drop into the empty upper lot. CLAS President Tony drove in and helped us pack up.