| Date | Type of Activity | Summary | |||
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May 17, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Albert Park - crewed for Nick - a good flight but with the traffic and some speedy winds aloft, they had all landed by the time we got there. |
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May 16, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Moorabbin - crewed for Rob - bit windy on inflation and the winds shifted not long after the fans started - joy. Otherwise a good flight but I managed to jam my finger between a 50L LPG tank and the trailer structure while putting the inflation tank away. DOH! Saw Josh (my flying instructor) on the way out of Moorabbin - he was with a student at good ol' AIF (a Cessna 150 we've been flying a lot lately :) |
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May 13, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Marlon - Just after take-off, the balloons were travelling at over 40kph (reasonably fast) and Rob said that if I was on the field at Moorabbin and touching his basket before he landed, he'd buy me a mother's day present (today being mother's day). I figured there was no chance of it happening but it was Sunday and we had a good run down on the road plus the winds slowed down as they were approaching Moorabbin. The result was that, with a bit of luck and some running, I was able to get to Rob's basket before he touched down. Word is the present will be a few beers next time we're all hanging out after a flight. Hell, I'm up for that :) |
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May 12, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
We had to cancel this flight due to fog rolling in - when I checked on the roof around 4am, it was clear around St Kilda and over the city but Melbourne & Moorabbin airports were reporting fog and low cloud. By the time we got to the shed, fog had started to form over the city and, by the time we reached the hotel to pick up our passengers, it was a pea-souper. With the met bureau saying it would cover most of the city and was not going to go away in a hurry, we had to cancel. After cancelling, all the Balloon Sunrise and Global Ballooning teams met at a cafe on Bridge Rd in Richmond for coffees, munchies and a chat. Lots of space to park 6 vans & trailers at that time of the morning :) |
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May 11, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Yarra Bend - crewed for Rob - light winds and a bit of scratching around to get to Yarra Bend - all good and a fun flight |
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May 10, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Edinburgh Gardens - crewed for Marlon - initially targeting Royal Park but the winds shifted to the right and there was a westerly on the surface, so they decided to go to Edinburgh Gardens - bit of a tricky landing with handling lines and dodging trees but all OK (although we had to trolley off :( ) |
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May 9, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Williamstown to Bulleen - crewed for Nick - slightly windy inflation but not as strong as we've had there before |
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May 7, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick |
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May 6, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Elgar Reserve - crewed for Nick |
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May 1, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Moorabbin - crewed for Marlon |
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April 30, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Caulfield Park - crewed for Nick |
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April 27, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Newport Lakes - crewed for Rob |
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April 26, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Northcote shopping center - crewed for Nick |
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April 25, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Fawkner Park - crewed for Nick. |
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April 24, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Royal Park - crewed for Rob |
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April 23, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Canceled on the field due to weather - clouds were lowering and the winds were picking up, taking us straight towards the airports - not a good look, so we pulled the pin. |
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April 21, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick |
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April 20, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Karkarook Park - crewed for Nick |
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April 9, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Goshes - crewed for Nick |
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April 8, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Goshes Paddock - crewed for Nick |
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April 7, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Royal Park - crewed for Nick |
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April 6, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Essendon - crewed for Nick |
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April 5, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Williamstown to Barling Reserve - crewed for Nick |
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April 2, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend to Albert Park - crewed for Nick |
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March 29, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Monash University - crewed for Nick |
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March 27, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Westerfolds to Moorabbin - crewed for Chris |
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March 18, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Monash University to Goshes Paddock - crewed for Chris |
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March 16, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Day 2 of the Grand Prix - see details at my blog's Grand Prix Day 1 entry. |
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March 15, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - at the Grand Prix - see more details at my blog's Grand Prix Day 2 entry. |
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March 14, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Tethered at Goshes Paddock |
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March 13, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Fawkner Park to Royal Park |
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March 10, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Tethered at Goshes Paddock |
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March 9, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Fawkner Park to Essendon |
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March 3, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Chris |
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February 27, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Moving Shed |
Today we completed the relocation from our shed in Cremorne (aka Richmond) to Abbotsford. Some work had already been done, but this was the big "move it all" session. Very tiring but we did it - handy having those big balloon trailers for moving desks and stuff :) |
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February 27, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Tethered at Goshes Paddock |
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February 26, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - tethered at Goshes Paddock |
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February 25, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fakwner Park to Essendon - crewed for Nick |
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February 23, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Tethered at Goshes Paddock |
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February 17, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - supposed to fly in the valley but weather went bad - cancelled on the way to Yarra Glen |
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February 14, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - crewed for Rob - flew from Mayer Park to Moorabbin - Rob wound up deflating just off the edge of the RW31L tarmac but still within the gable markers. No one was using the strips until the wind started to shift later. We were just doing the final pack up when the ground control guy came over to ask how long we'd be 'cos they wanted to open the r/w - oops :) |
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February 13, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - cancelled on the field. |
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February 2, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Karkarook Park - crewed for Chris |
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January 30, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Albert Park - crewed for Rob |
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January 26, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Flew from Como Park to Royal Park |
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January 23, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Flew from Fawkner Park to Royal Park |
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January 19, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - tethered at Royal Park but got caught in the rain. The weather bureau said that after the drizzle cleared, it would be a great day to fly. So, we arrived at Royal Park and got ready to set up. Rob decided not to fly but figured we'd tether there. We had the shape's envelope out ready to start inflating it when the drizzle kicked in. We kept going and got it inflated then the rain started to come down harder. We kept it infalted through a major rain fall, then during a break (it was gray, cold and occasionally drizzling) we pulled down one end at a time, drained what water we could from inside the various sections of the balloon (it had seeped through into wheels, spoilers, etc) and let it stand back up again. We were running out of fuel and it looked like things had settled down into a light drizzle so we pulled it down and started packing up. Right about this time, the rain came back and really started pouring down again. We spent about an hour trying to pack the shape away into the bag getting soaked with rain and water off the envelope. About the time we had the shape in the bag, the rain pulled back to gray skies and occasional drizzle. Now, soaked and thoroughly annoyed, we reached the point where we had to get the envelope bag onto the trailer. Usually, five of us were able to lift the large, awkward, 365kg bag (with envelope) into the trailer. Today, it was full of water and, we figure, weighed about a tonne or more. It took us half an hour to load the bag into the trailer. We even had to try to set up a "block n tackle" rig with some ropes and carabiners, using the 4WD to pull on the rope and help support some weight. Finally we had the bag in the trailer, got the basket on, packed away the burners and headed back to the shed. The trailer was leaking water for about 3 days and it took three flights to dry out the envelope (usually a balloon dries out in about an hour of flying). |
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January 15, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Cancelled on the field. |
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January 14, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Marlon in the valley - my first time crewing out here - lots of fun |
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January 9, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Essendon - crewed for Marlon |
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January 4, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Westerfolds Park to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick |
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January 3, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Westerfolds Park to Moorabbin - crewed for Rob |
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January 2, 2007 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Nichols Reserve - crewed for Rob |
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December 30, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Yarra Bend to Yarra Bend |
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December 29, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Fawkner Park to Royal Park |
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December 4, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Essendon - crewed for Nick |
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November 26, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Memorial Park - crewed for Nick |
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November 25, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Studley Park - crewed for Chris |
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November 24, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - cancelled on the field |
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November 18, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to West Bentleigh School - crewed for Marlon |
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November 11, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Royal Park - crewed for Marlon |
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October 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Rob - thumper landing as he got caught in massive sink on very short final |
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October 14, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Ashwood Reserve - crewed for Rob - Westerly aloft, Northerly on the deck - wound up heading out towards Warrigal Rd and the Monash freeway |
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October 7, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Fawkner Park - crewed for Rob |
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October 6, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Bulleen - crewed for Rob |
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September 30, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Moore Park - crewed for Rob - southerly winds discovered after take-off, heading more towards Coburg and into the 'Bermuda Triangle' - wound up landing near Edwardes Lake in Reservoir |
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September 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Fawkner Park - crewed for Nick |
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September 11, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Fawkner Park - crewed for Nick |
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September 2, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Elsternwick Park - crewed for Nick - great flight |
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August 27, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Rob |
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August 26, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Poplar Oval (sports field just north of Royal Park) - had a surprise birthday party group who couldn't get back to the Hyatt until 9am so we had to "invent" ways of delaying our return (flat tyre, lots of detours, etc) |
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August 23, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Sparks Reserve - crewed for Rob |
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August 19, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Elsternwick Park - crewed for Rob - very rare flight - over docklands to city then down over MCG and track low & slow over gardens, shrine, albert park and St Kilda marina, then popup and ride the north westerlies down to land in the park |
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August 12, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Yarra Bend - crewed for Nick |
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August 11, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Bulleen - crewed for Rob |
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August 6, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Yarra Bend - crewed for Rob |
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August 5, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Royal Park - crewed for Rob |
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July 28, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Rob |
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July 27, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Albert Park - crewed for Nick |
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July 24, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Clifton Hill - crewed for Nick - winds went vague at the end so we missed Yarra Bend and wound up over the river in a soccer field near Quarries Park |
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July 23, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin airport - crewed for Rob |
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July 21, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Royal Park - crewed for Rob |
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July 20, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - CASA inspection - Rob, Nick, Darren, Chris M and I took the racer down to Goshes paddock and set it up so it could be inspected by CASA - this is all part of the conversion from UK registration to Australian registration - 4 hours in total and it was only standing up for about 20 minutes or so... |
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July 13, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Merrilands College (Reservoir - near Thomastown) - crewed for Nick - westerly winds died during inflation, swinging around almost 180 degrees - made for a bit of fun there - wound up heading up into Coburg way - some attempts to land at a large lake/park area near Pentridge but not for everyone - Kiff landed at a school ground and wound up blocking Nick's approach - he went on to Merrilands College and landed there for an easy pack up. |
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July 8, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Brandon Park - crewed for Nick - wet ground at Kensington - Justin crewing for Rob and they managed to launch from the usual spot but Nick and I went for the carpark (as did Chris & Brendan). Global launched from the next field over, closer to the power lines. Fast run out towards the south-east - at first thought maybe Moorabbin but not enough right, so we went to Brandon Park and ran off a few pieballs - Nick arrived and managed to land despite coming in pretty quick without a lot of space left - Rob had to go over some trees and was too high - wound up heading on towards VFL Park area (where the new housing development is). |
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June 28, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick - got windy on inflation but all OK - good run down to Moorabbin on the ground (school holidays) - arrived as they were landing |
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June 25, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Williamstown (Newport, actually) to Macleay Park (near Belmore & Bourke) - crewed for Nick - a great flight - a little muddy at the end but otherwise excellent. |
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June 24, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Terrara Park (in Vermont South) - crewed for Nick - everyone else landed at Sparks Reserve but Nick's approach was blocked by the others so he had to go on, eventually landing out near Springvale Rd and the Burwood Highway. |
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June 21, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Fawkner Park - crewed for Nick - actually managed to get there before the balloon - must be school holidays as rush hour was pretty tame. |
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June 20, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend to Westgate Park - crewed for Nick - started out very similar to the other Monday when Rob and I had to cancel during inflation as fog rolled in over the city - fortunately today, the fog held off - lots of fog over the eastern suburbs and mist around the city, but still a great day to fly - wound up landing in a small space in Westgate Park (winds shifted on final approach) - had to deflate into a tight spot but managed it OK - discovered someone had locked the gate I came in (the only vehicle entrance) so we had to call Parks Vic to come and let us out - whoops :) |
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June 18, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to the Docklands - crewed for Nick - low cloud rolled in not long after take off - winds very light and bringing them towards the west - balloons going up into the cloud to get the headings they needed - very special VFR... |
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June 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Yarra Bend - crewed for Rob - fun day with light winds - all good. |
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June 15, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Brentwood Reserve - crewed for Nick - we were the only pax balloon out - Chris was flying the football shape balloon - flew low over the city and then headed south east towards Moorabbin airport - Nick wound up flying out to the Brandon Park area while Chris continued low towards Moorabbin - winds went left though and all parties missed their intended landing spots, heading on to alternate fields. |
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June 13, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Sparks Reserve - crewed for Nick - easy flight although we had to work to remember what to do after 8 days without flying due to fog and wind/rain :) |
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June 5, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Rob - cancelled on the field when fog rolled in - thought we would avoid the fog but it came in during the cold inflate - had to pack everything up and put it away without the flight - not happy. |
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June 4, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Royal Park - crewed for Rob - great day to fly - text book. |
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May 31, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Fawkner Park - crewed for Rob - everyone dropped into Fawkner Park but Chris went on towards Elsternwick then the winds shifted on him and he wound up on Elwood beach. |
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May 30, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Como Park to Princes Park - crewed for Rob - started out looking like Williamstown was the go but the winds were better for a run to Essendon - seemed like they'd make it then they went variable so everyone dropped into Princes Park. |
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May 29, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Nick - cancelled on the field due to bad weather |
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May 28, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Alphington Reserve - crewed for Rob - Nick and Rob landed beside a soccer field just before the games were due to start - lots of kids running around but we were off the field (fortunately :) |
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May 26, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Rob and I took the racer out to Jim Bradley's Aircraft Weighing Services at Essendon. We had to have it weighed as part of its conversion from UK registration to Australian registration (VH-FGP). |
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May 26, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Nick - cancelled on the field due to fog |
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May 24, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Brandon Park to Royal Park - crewed for Nick |
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May 22, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Rob - cancelled on field due to poor weather |
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May 19, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Rob - cancelled on the field due to fog |
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May 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Mayfield Park - crewed for Nick |
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May 16, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Fritz Holzer Park - crewed for Rob - traffic was a disaster and meant that we all arrived well after they'd landed. |
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May 14, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Banyule Flats - crewed for Rob - had fun chasing them around Heidelburg hills as the wind kept shifting - eventually got to an oval but access wasn't good - Rob threw out a handling line and I was able to pull the balloon over to a small plot of grass and a carpark where we had space to deflate. |
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May 13, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Trinity College - crewed for Rob - originally aiming for Bulleen but Rob wound up missing and going over the road, ending up in the football ovals of Trinity College. His first ever landing there and his first meeting with the notorious grounds keeper (not fond of balloons, lets put it that way - according to stories told by alumni of Trinity College, he's been "interesting" to deal with since time began...) |
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May 12, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Alphington Park - crewed for Nick |
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May 11, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Royal Park - crewed for Rob |
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May 6, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Mayer Park to Albert Park - crewed for Nick |
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May 2, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Nick and I decided to take the "Tetley" balloon out to dry the envelope. Like the other balloons, it had been packed away wet after the last flight. Given we weren't likely to be flying it again until next season, we needed to ensure it was dried out (both the envelope and the bag) so it wouldn't rot while it was stored. I drove the balloon down to Goshes Paddock to meet with Nick. We agreed that it was way too wet and boggy to use so we drove around to the Docklands. Access was good and the ground was firm so we dragged the envelope out and hooked it onto the trailer. We then spent about 1/2 an hour blowing cold air into it to dry it out. Once it was all done, we managed to pack it back into the bag and then get it onto the trailer. Would have been easier with three guys instead of two but we managed it without destroying ourselves :) |
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April 29, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Altona Secondary School - crewed for John on his last flight. Discovered that the brakes on our van were stuffed - it had just been serviced and one of the brake cylinders had blown a seal. Ooops. Used Rob's 4WD to tow the balloon and grabbed a taxi van to bring the passengers along. He agreed to stay with us all morning and had a lot of fun joining in the chase. After launch we all headed over the bridge to Williamstown and let up a few pieballs. The lower winds were from the south so the pilots elected to continue on further into Newport and Altona. John wound up heading further south than the others, trying to get into a field near the refinery. Unfortunately, his angle wasn't quite right and he wound up floating around over the refinery itself. Beyond that there were paddocks but he could see they were all locked and would have made retrieval difficult. He flew on and wound up floating in very light, variable winds over Cherry Lake, eventually landing on the other side in an oval at Altona Secondary. Access was difficult but we managed it and were eventually heading back to the Grand Hyatt and breakfast. Hell of a last flight for John - he's heading home to Canada tomorrow. |
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April 28, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Goshes Paddock - crewed for Nick. Winds brought Nick into a small clearing in the corner - he threw a drop line out to Lance and I to help slow down before hitting a fence - was kinda tricky with the wet ground but we managed it. Pete landed on the main oval, also throwing out a drop line. Nick and I were able to wrap it around one of the goal posts, swinging him around and on course for a good landing. The other balloons all went on to Fawkner Park. |
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April 27, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend to Como Park - crewed for Rob - winds shifting and generally causing difficulties but finally everyone was able to target Como Park. Chris came in on the bottom paddock, winding up against a tree and ripping his envelope. Everyone else came in on the top paddock - a very tricky approach as they had to step down over two sets of powerlines at different heights, then drop quickly at the end to squeeze in. Hard to judge height and plan for inertia as they stepped down over the lines. |
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April 26, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Yarra Bend - crewed for Nick - northerly winds not as strong as expected and wound up dropping off further during the flight - took a while but they eventually got there. |
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April 25, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend to Albert Park - crewed for Nick |
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April 24, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Yarra Bend - crewed for Nick |
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April 22, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Spark's Reserve - crewed for John |
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April 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for John |
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April 16, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Bulleen - crewed for Rob |
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April 15, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Night Glow at Yarra Valley Racecourse - crewed for John. We were sponsoring the Melba Festival and, despite some wet and windy weather, John, Nick & I drove our three city balloons out to the office. There we met up with the balloons from the valley for a briefing then went out and set them up in the middle of the race track just as night fell, tethering them and lighting them up at various times (visual effect, etc). Nykolai and a bunch of other kids were with Nick and Chris who had our "Balloon Sunrise" balloon tethered near the stand, managing to go up and down a few times despite the wind. They had organised another car and did a three-point tie-down to two cars and a building, so they were reasonably OK. The kids had a blast. John and I tied our balloon ("Tetley") to the van then had Kitt (my partner) and Lisa (Rob's partner) on board to help as ballast. The winds picked up so I wound up in the basket with the others helping to weigh it down. Once the display was over, the pilots pulled the pins and brought them all down for pack away. John and I managed to get it all away with help from Kitt and Lisa, then joined the others and headed off the track. Of course, our city vans weren't up to the soft ground and both Simon & I managed to get bogged. Rob used his 4WD to pull us out and we managed to get clear. After that it was back to the restaurant in the stand for dinner, a couple of drinks and then home, refilling at the usual spot near the shed. Nykolai wound up driving back to the city with Nick in his van as he had all the other kids on board (it was dubbed "The Party Bus" :) A late night but fun and we managed to make it happen, despite the weather. |
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April 13, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Mayer Park to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick - winds weren't as strong as expected but most of the pack elected to head straight for Moorabbin - Nick & John decided to try Fawkner Park first but were going too fast for it and decided to go on to Moorabbin. Unfortunately we'd driving to Fawkner and had to fight through lots of traffic to eventually get there well after they'd all landed. |
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April 12, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Kensington to Sparks Reserve - crewed for Nick - Simon & I jumped onto the basket to help slow it down on landing but it thumped down hard - Simon let go on the first bump but I hung on, flopping around like a rag doll on the back - ooops - a pair of very sore knees after that one (they were bashed on the bottom of the basket) - doh! Was walking around getting my legs to work again when Pete came in right in the corner - not much space for him to slow down - I wound up running over with everyone else and grabbed a handling line he threw me - the others were hanging on the basket while I put all my weight on the line. It worked but he only just managed to stop before the trees and some powerlines behind the trees. |
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April 10, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend to Fawkner Park - crewed for John |
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April 6, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Got a call today from the ATC recruiting folks to go into more detail about being declared "unsuitable" for training. Here's what I learned: 1. My scores on the tests were good but not stellar 2. They were concerned that I'd not handle the studying after so long without official studies 3. Their biggest concern was that I'd get bored too easily at the job (I like change, I like to keep occupied, I'm always looking to improve on things, I don't obey all the rules, I only respect authority if it's earned, etc) - ATC is made of short periods of intense work surrounded by extensive times of complete boredom and involves lots of bureaucracy, procedures and specific ways of doing things. In a nutshell, they figured I'd wind up getting bored, feeling constrained and, possibly going slightly nuts if I became an Air Traffic Controller. They said sorry and that all this didn't mean I was under qualified, bad, dumb or anything - just not suited for the realities of the job. Oh well - it was worth a go... |
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April 5, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
I got a letter from AirServices Australia today stating that the selection panel has deemed me unsuitable for ATC training and that this renders me ineligible to reapply for any future ATC recruitment exercise. That's it - I'm out. MERDE! :( Called the recruitment supervisor and she's going to check my file and call me tomorrow to discuss it. Rather bummed, to say the least... |
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April 4, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Karkarook Park - crewed for Nick |
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April 3, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Nick - cancelled on the field due to low clouds and no wind. |
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April 2, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting at the Grand Prix - we spent most of the day with the cars once again arranged for best wind protection, alternating between watching the action in the stands or walking around to check out other parts of the track. I wondered over to the helipad and went to have a chat with the ATC crew, all of whom were the folks we usually talk to at Essendon. When the big race itself started, Rob decided that what the hell, we'd put it up. Despite the winds not really dropping much, we figured that this was the last chance and if it ripped or got burned, at least we had it up there (and there was plenty of time between now and next year to get it repaired :) With the wind bouncing us around, we weighed it down as best we could, held onto ropes and watched the vehicles it was tied to in case they started moving. We could see a couple of display monitors near us and were able to confirm that the balloon was being seen on the TV feed. Calls rolled in from friends saying they had seen us and I called a couple of people in the Grand Prix Corporation to let them know it was live (much to their delight). By the end of the race we still had some fuel left and the winds had relaxed a little, so we kept it inflated as people left the track. Eventually Rob pulled the pin and we deflated it, going through the usual "fun" of packing it away. That was it - all over - all done - take it back to the shed, park it up and leave. No more flights planned for the near future so it's back to normal and working the domestic flights. |
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April 1, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting at the Grand Prix - we knew the weather was going to bad today so we didn't even bother bringing the balloon down. We brought the cars down, set them up to give some protection from the wind and then settled in to enjoy the day. We had tickets to the Fangio Stand so we made the most of the day. |
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March 31, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting at the Grand Prix - spent the day on site with the BMW and trailer, Rob's 4WD and one of the vans. We got things ready to start deploying with the envelope partially out and attached to the basket then sat around waiting for the weather to clear. We passed the time throwing a football around and hanging out. Eventually we packed everything away as it was obvious that the weather just wasn't going to improve. After locking it all up, we headed off to check out what was going on around the track, eventually calling it quits and heading home. |
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March 30, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - we were supposed to tether the car on top of the Crown Car Park but weather prevented us from doing it - way too windy to be safe. The space at the top of the building was tight but it could have been done with no wind. It would have been awesome as it was visible from so many places. Sadly, it wasn't to be and the whole thing had to be scrapped. Of course, even if the conditions were perfect, we would have had "fun" getting the shape up there as the max clearance in the carpark was about 20cm lower than the top of the trailer. Ooops :( |
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March 29, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Yarra Bend to Caulfield Park - doing a promotional flight with the football shaped balloon (Global were crewing it), a helicopter and a gaggle of reporters. The domestic guys flew from the usual spot but we set up in a field closer to the freeway. Nick was flying the reporters in the Balloon Sunrise balloon so he set up in the same field. The helicopter was delayed so the domestic guys were long gone by the time it arrived and we launched. By the time we left Yarra Bend, the traffic was a disaster. We wound up trying the Chandler Highway and coming down through Kew as everyone was heading for Caulfield Park. What a disaster. Traffic was a mess. All the balloons had landed and the domestics were mostly packed up by the time we arrived. As usual we weren't allowed to drive around the edges of the ovals (despite some work vehicles being out and driving right through the middle, etc) so it was trolley time. The other domestic balloons were just finishing when we arrived but Nick's passengers (all media people) had to leave for other assignments. We helped Nick and Chris pack away their balloon and leave, then we went back and packed away the shape. Lots of beers consumed once we'd put everything back at the shed... |
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March 27, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - we met at the shed to fly but the weather was too crappy for us. The domestic crews flew but we went home. |
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March 24, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - tethered at the docklands for a few hours - had to go down and dry out the envelope - took a ball and frisbee down and threw them about to keep occupied |
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March 22, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Went out to Tulla for the last step of the ATC selection process: the panel interview. I arrived on time but, being at the end of the day, they were running late. I was the last person for the day - in hindsite, perhaps not the best time to be interviewed by people who have been doing it all day... While I tried to stay on target, I did waffle a bit when providing answers - especially in job history, etc. Had some tricky questions thrown at me - some I really didn't have a good answer for. Wound up doing a little bit of role playing to show how I'd handle some tricky interpersonal situations. I did get commended for my knowledge of ATC systems and operations - funny that :) So now to wait for the official response. If they think I'm up to scratch, I get offered a position, otherwise bye bye. Will have to wait for late next week or early the week after to find out as they have to consider all applicants and then send out official notification via snail mail. Damn I hate waiting to find out about stuff like this! I believe I can do it and I want to do it. Will they think I can? Do they want someone like me? Have I failed the personality test? (the one test everyone says I'd need to study for :) |
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March 21, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Yarra Bend to Yarra Bend - took off in one field, flew over the freeway and tried to come down on the other side but going to fast - fortunately at the last minute the winds dropped and Rob was able to land in the last field before the river |
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March 19, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - tether at Albert Park during the Commonwealth Games marathon race - complex day - Rob flew a domestic flight first thing in the morning and I "chased" in his 4WD (in addition to Justin who was crewing for him in the van). Once Rob had landed, Rob and I left to join the rest of the shape team at Albert Park, leaving Justin to arrange the packing up with the passengers (fortunately other balloons had landed near by and their pilots & crew could also help out :) - Albert Park all blocked off due to the marathon but we got past the police by saying we were with the balloon - rather easy, actually - met with our Grand Prix liaison and went to the location they wanted us - sorted out where to tether and set up - good at first but winds picked up - Rob, Mikey and I sitting in/on basket and being lifted 20 to 30 feet in the air by false lift over the top of the balloon - front of the car being bashed into the ground by the wind - wound up with us in the basket and Lance, Matt & Mick hanging on the outside - still being lifted up and whole balloon being bent over and bashed into the ground - couldn't keep it there all day - waited until the first of the runners had gone past and the helicopters moved on then pulled the plug - "fun" pack up due to wind |
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March 18, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - Yarra Bend to Quarries Park in Northcote - Rob was trying to box fly back to Yarra Bend but winds didn't permit it - he came in hot and without us there to grab drop lines - managed to stop just short of a fence and power lines - the other balloons wound up coming in after him at the same park |
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March 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - tethered at night at Albert Park near the swimming - absolute nightmare to pack up in the dark |
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March 16, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Today I completed the online personality test as part of my ATC application process. Not very happy about it at all :( It's a series of "questions" where you are provided four statements about yourself, such as: I am comfortable with strangers You then had to indicate (via radio buttons) which of the above four statements was MOST like you and which was LEAST like you. There were about 104 of these questions. Half the time I couldn't really figure which was MOST/LEAST as they all seemed to be "me" - that sucked - plus I had to do the test online at Crumpler because our home Internet connection wasn't working. Throw in some problems with a printer on the server at Crumpler and, as you could imagine, I wasn't in the best of moods to be answering crazy questions about my personality. Wonder if it's possible to fail one of these things? :) |
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March 15, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - went to Yarra Bend with the other balloons - no room on the field so we moved to another one - went closer to the freeway to try to get winds that would let us go up, fly over and land at the other ovals on the other side of the freeway - other balloons flew a normal flight but winds never worked for us - wound up staying on the ground for a while with the balloon inflated then packed it away - very official, yes? :) |
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March 14, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
I've passed the previous day of exams and evaluations - now for an online personality test and the panel interview. What, me, nervous? Yes! :) I want to get the job and have progressed a long way towards it but I don't want to get my hopes up as I can still wash out of the selection process. |
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March 14, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - flew from Docklands to Yarra Bend - had to race to get there but just made it in time to help with landing - had to sprint across an oval to get to the handling line and ease him in |
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March 12, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for John |
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March 11, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - took off at Brandon Park - Rob stayed low and flew a different path to the others - shape wound up in the Riversdale area while the others went on to parks around Yarra Bend |
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March 9, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Raced out to Tulla for the next day of exams - was running late and arrived at 8:15 - fortunately everyone was gathered in the cafeteria space to review some documents and such, so I hadn't missed anything. Some familiar faces from the previous all-day session were there and we wound up sitting together. First up was a video about Air Services and some presentations by people from Melbourne Tower, Melbourne Enroute and one of the students currently going through training. Very interesting, especially the bits about how the shifts work, work is apportioned and so on. A typical day consists of three blocks of two hours working with half hour breaks in between. Usually during the breaks staff catch up on some admin work, shoot pool in the cafeteria, etc. There's a gym in the building for staff as well (looking forward to that! :) The presentation about the training environment was interesting: the first part of the course is very heavy in theoretical issues then you start to spend time working in the "simulator" putting it all together. Eventually, you're spending most of your time in the sim. In a sim session, the class splits into two, one group being the pilots and the others the controllers. After a session, the roles reverse and away you go again. The sim, as you could imagine, lets you try things out and learn what works without causing real accidents (although you will cause a LOT of simulated ones :) Mention was made during the presentations about dealing with stress - a slightly humours reference to drinking (in moderation), the gym, talking with colleages, etc. They also include stress-recognition and coping courses during training. Will definitely be interesting to see how that side of things turns out. After the presentations, we were split into two groups, my group going off to the team work assessment and the other going off to do more psychometric exams. Upstairs we sat around a table and had to work as a group to solve a problem (we were a committee that had to make suggestions for solving a situation). After that, we had to each write a report on paper - no word processor - ouch! :) Following a break for lunch (supplied at the cafeteria) the group I was part of headed over to a different building to sit the exams. There was a maths one, a logic one and a spatial geometry one. Ouch. Finally, it was back to the initial meeting room for a final video and discussion. One fact I picked up was that if we passed today, we would have to do an online personality test and then a one hour panel based interview. Following that, Air Services would check references and get police checks, then make offers to those they wanted to hire around May. Those who were offered and accepted would then be starting training around October/November. As with the previous day session, while I felt that it was fun and a challenge, with some tests harder/nastier than others, I still had no idea whether I'd done well enough to get through. The waiting begins again... |
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March 8, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Stettle Wetlands (bit further north from Meyer Park) - crewed for Nick - winds dropped and went variable after take off - most landed in and around Northcote - Nick missed Meyer Park and wound up near the river - fortunately easy access so recovery was very easy |
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March 5, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Eades Park (tiny space on Kings Road - just further along from Flagstaff Gardens) - crewed for John - light and variable winds - Mark and I doing our best to get ahead of the balloons and stay near them - most of the others came down within 15 to 20 minutes of launching, landing around the botanical gardens - John & Nick both missed and had to go on - wound up over the docklands then came down for Flagstaff Gardens - John wound up missing but Nick got in - tried to bring John down via handling line in Eades Park - came down hard and with couldn't swing him away from landing on top of a set of "monkey bars" - broke some panels in the base of the basket (wound up being not a major repair job - had a new set of floor panels made and put in without much hassle) |
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March 4, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Royal Park - crewed for John - while waiting for him to come in to land on light winds, I sent a call over the UHF radio: "Roger Canadian 719, you are cleared to land, runway 16 left" - there's a pause then John comes back and says "Grant, was that you?" (he thought at first that it was the "real thing" being heard on his VHF aircraft radio :) |
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March 3, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Westerfolds Park to Moorabbin airport - crewed for Nick - northerly winds with not much steerage, so they flew straight south - the shape was supposed to fly but it was too windy and a high chance of a tricky flight and heavy landing, so it cancelled in the field. |
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March 1, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - First flight of the shape over Melbourne city (its first flight in Australia was in the valley a week or so ago) - Rob flew it with Peter onboard doing comms - launched in Goshes Paddock (Hammer Throw) along with the Balloon Sunrise balloon (flown by John) - easy flight, calm conditions, nice big target - looked great over the city - big media scrum at launch and a helicopter flying around taking pix - "fun" once again packing up |
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February 28, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
From Goshes Paddock to Goshes Paddock (no, really :) - crewed for Nick - light winds heading in lots of directions - Peter & Adrian went for Studley Park but Nick hung around over the city & Fitzroy then rode a light northerly back to the hammer throw field where we launched from |
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February 27, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Booked in to go to Air Services at Tulla for exams & group sessions on the 9th - very excited and nervous :) |
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February 27, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Alphington Reserve (near Chandler Hwy and Eastern Freeway) - crewed for Nick - winds dropped and went vague - missed Studley Park and went on to Alphington |
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February 23, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Got an email saying I'd passed the exams and the next step was to come in for another series of meetings, another exam or two and some group work. This will be on the 9th of March. |
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February 23, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Fawkner Park - crewed for Nick - beautiful day to fly |
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February 22, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Had the ATC onsite exams today. Went to a conference room in a hotel in Tulla (near the airport) and had four sets of exams: 1) A combination of maths capability plus short term memory and the ability to handle interruptions. While answering a number of time, distance & velocity questions on the computer (multiple choice answers - calculations got harder as you went through the questions) a tape was playing in the background. At various times, a voice would say "Attention Please" and you'd have to put down your pencils (if doing calcs on the scratch paper) and listen. The voice would read out some instructions to follow on a pre-drawn answer sheet (eg: put the number 2 in the circle number 4, etc). Once you'd done this, you could go back to the calcs. So, not only were they testing your calculation capabilities, they were also testing how well you could follow instructions read out to you (they got harder as the test went on) AND how well you could handle being interrupted during calculations (eg: just as you were about to figure one out, you had to stop, etc). Pretty tricky - kinda cool. I enjoyed this one and don't think I did too badly.
The computer screen would present to you a number of objects of different colors and shapes. Using various function keys, you had to match them with a set of shapes and/or colors below. So, if shown a blue circle, you would hit the key associated with circles (or, if sorting colors, the key associated with blue). Various rules would appear that would say "Sort circles as squares" or "Sort red diamonds as blue" so you'd have to hit different keys than you'd initially think, etc. When an object was shown, there was another object next to it - if the two objects matched, you hit the MATCH key, no matter what the rules were saying. Thus, MATCH overrode sort. Just to add to the fun, the same system was used to match/sort numbers. The keys were then associated with number ranges and you'd hit the key for the range the number fell in. Then the rules came in, eg: if sum of all digits is less than 10, sort as 0, etc. Ouch. Generally you had about a second to recognise the object/number, check the rule and sort/match accordingly. I don't think I did very well here - particularly with the numbers. It was hitting overload and I was "fat fingering" the wrong keys (eg: should hit F5 and thought F5 but the finger over F6 moved - doh!)
The computer screen would show a dot moving from left to right at a constant speed. The dot would either run at a fast, medium or slow speed (roughly). At the other side of the screen was a wall. You had to hit the F1 key to stop the ball when it reached the wall. About 1/3 across the screen, the ball & wall disappeared and were replaced by a pair of patterns. You had to hit the "MATCH" key or the "DIFFERENT" key depending on whether the patterns were equal or not. Once you did the Match/Different, another pattern pair would be shown. You'd move through the patterns and, when you thought the dot had hit the wall, you hit F1 to stop it. The further the ball was from the wall (on either side) the worse your score. The object was to do as many pattern tests, get them all right and stop the ball each time at the wall. Yeah, right... I had an average of about 0.8 seconds with about 97% accuracy on the patterns. I really enjoyed this one although it was frustrating at times :)
This was the best part of the day. We had an Air Traffic Controller game where we had to tell aircraft on the screen to go to different speeds (Fast, Medium or Slow), Altitudes (1 - 4) and directions (8 cardinal points). Each aircraft would have a destination - either one of 2 airports or one of 4 "departure gates." To land at an airport, the aircraft had to be going in the correct direction (into the wind) and be at level 1 flying slowly. To leave via a gate, an aircraft had to be going fast and be at level 4 as they moved through the gate. Aircraft at the same level couldn't come within 5nm of each other. No aircraft was allowed to fly over an airport. No aircraft could come within 5nm of the screen boundaries. The object was to get all the aircraft to their destinations with a minimum delay (eg: slowing them down, over vectoring them, etc) and without crashes, getting too close, etc. To say this was awesome fun would be an understatement - I had a blast. On the final (and important) go, I had only a couple of minor problems and a total delay of 31.5 minutes (40 or less was considered good). Aircraft were going all over the place and it got pretty hectic but it all worked out :)
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February 21, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - official unveiling of the shape at Vodafone arena as part of the Melbourne Formula 1 launch - easier packup than before - Kiff and the Global guys flew a giant set of underpants over Melbourne for their own media circus - the underpants were painted with an Australian flag - couldn't tell they were underpants from a distance - looked more like a wierd flag - Nick flew the Balloon Sunrise balloon right over the top of the field the underpants were launching from (nice marketing move, Nick :) |
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February 20, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - set up the shape at Vodafone arena and kept it inflated while a series of dress rehersals were run - deflated it at the end and left it spreadout on the floor overnight |
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February 20, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Como Park to Essendon Airport - crewed for John - great flight although the winds shifted at the end and John didn't get enough left to get to the airport - landed in a field near the eastern end of the east/west runway - fortunately airside security let me out a gate near the field so I didn't have to drive all the way around again - others had to wait for traffic to clear off the runways before they could leave so we were home well before anyone else :) |
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February 19, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Yarra Bend - crewed for Nick - winds dropped and it took them a while to tack their way in |
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February 18, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Barling Reserve - crewed for John - another happy day in the corps. |
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February 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Shape Shifting - test run at Vodafone arena - looks great but a real pain to pack away. |
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February 15, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Como Park to a building site in Brunswick - crewed for Rob - very squeezy at Como park due to winds being pure southerly - our envelope wound up against the trees and got a small tear in it on take off - didn't even notice it until the end of the flight - annoying - winds going variable for the last half. |
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February 14, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to the oval at Melbourne High School in South Yarra - crewed for John - winds dropped off and went variable - wound up having to try to pull the balloon into the field - easy when winds were helping but became rather difficult when winds went opposite to where we wanted to go - eventually managed to get them down when a couple of passengers got out to help and a groundsman came over. |
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February 13, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for John - cancelled on the field - winds just not settling down as hoped |
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February 12, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Albert Park - crewed for John - standard flight except that the oval John landed on was deemed too "sensative" for us to even trolley off - he took off again, crossed the road and landed in a different oval with Nick & Rob - Rob experiences the joys of packing a 240 into a 210 bag :) |
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February 11, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
From the Docklands to a seed farm near Westerfolds Park in Templestowe - crewed for Nick - windiest launch ever - Rob's balloon dragged his van about 10 to 15 feet despite having passengers pre-loaded and the van in gear & with the handbrake on - Nick lifted the front of his van about 3 to 4 feet off the ground - Pete's quick release line snapped before he was ready to go so he had to quickly deflate and get ready again - once they were up there, though, they were only doing about 20km/h and came in to land in calm conditions |
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February 5, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Brandon Park to Seddon Reserve - crewed for Nick - winds shifted and prevented a run over the city - wound up going over Ivanhoe - Nick landed in the reserve but the others missed and went for other parks & fields |
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February 4, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkarook Park to Northcote Reserve - crewed for Nick - another fast landing - wrapped a handling line around a light post to help slow him down on approach - had to do a quick pack up as a bunch of kids were about to start a game of cricket |
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February 3, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkarook Park to Royal Park - crewed for Nick - fast, hard landing at Royal - winds shifted on final approach and he wound up coming into a smaller space than originally targeting - broke the divider board in the basket. |
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February 1, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Edinburgh Gardens - crewed for John - launched just on dawn - winds went "strange" during the flight as first they headed for Studley Park (Yarra Bend) then got dragged back towards Royal Park - Nick and John wound up heading for Edinburgh Gardens - on John's first attempt, we tried to drag him across a cricket oval to get a better angle on a later field with better access - he went up to go over some trees and got pushed too far right - wound up going up, coming back in a southerly (where'd *that* come from?) and landed in the field with good access. |
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January 31, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Passed the online IQ test - now for the one-day onsite test session - booked in for the 22nd of Feb |
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January 30, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Passed the online test and now I'm waiting for the invite to attend a one day on-site exam session |
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January 28, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Another day, another cancellation - looked like we could sneak it in but low cloud and little wind indicated otherwise. |
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January 26, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Completed the on-line exam - it seemed to be a form of IQ test. |
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January 25, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park (Yarra Bend) to Fawkner Park - crewed for John - light winds made for a fun flight - Rob landed with the Global team at the Hammer Throw (Goshes Paddock) while John, Nick and Chris came to Fawkner. |
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January 21, 2006 |
ATC - Prelude |
Applied to become an Air Traffic Controller - no idea if I'll get it or not - fingers crossed. |
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January 21, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Nick, John and I took VH-HEE down to Goshes Paddock to dry it out after its "dip" in the ocean when Nick landed it on the beach the other day - laid out the envelope, attached it to the trailer and blew air in it - very twisted & tangled up near the top - got it sorted eventually and dried it all out (after getting covered in sand, of course :) |
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January 19, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Albert Park - crewed for John - originally targeting the city then thinking of Williamstown before trying to get back to Albert Park (winds were shifting towards the end) - Kiff down hard & fast, taking out a tree then getting into a tight corner with a park bench before getting pulled out - Chris down in an oval and then helping (with Brendan) to stop John via a handling line - had to use the van to pull John out of a tight corner and over to where he could deflate - Nick wound up on the beach so John & I (and our passengers) drove over to help trolley him off - heck of a day. |
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January 18, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkarook Park to Marooba Park Reserve - near intersection of Hume Hwy and the Ring Rd - crewed for John - originally targeting Essendon but low cloud forced change - some balloons made Royal Park but John & Nick wound up going into the Bermuda Triangle and hunting around for spaces as the winds dropped and shifted - ground traffic disrupted too due to an accident on the Westgate Fwy backing - had to go "back roads" around the city |
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January 17, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Crewed for Rob - cancelled on the field - low cloud and no wind - two pieballs at Goshes Paddock just went straight up into the cloud - bummer |
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January 16, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend to Albert Park - crewed for John - vague winds at first, then sorting themselves out into two opposite directions at different heights - and I still say the compass was reading 240 at Albert Park, damnit! :) |
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January 15, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkarook Park to Royal Park - crewed for John - slightly windy inflation - originally targeting Essendon but winds died off once they got to the city so it was Royal Park and Prince's Park |
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January 14, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to Royal Park - crewed for Nick - launched from the oval on the other side of the road rather than the Hammerthrow paddock |
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January 12, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Goshes Paddock to MCG parklands - crewed for John - light & variable winds - took off heading for Yarra Bend - winds dropped and everyone decided to land at the MCG - John took some time to get there, having to go low over the Jollimont area - we wound up with a resident coming over to complain - otherwise, all OK |
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January 10, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Barling Reserve to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick - strange winds on the deck but strong northerlies above - mom and Nykolai got to fly and I finally got to try the breakfast at the Hyatt :) |
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January 8, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Como Park to Royal Park - crewed for John - low cloud early on but it had cleared by inflation - gorgeous day for a flight - proposal on Rob's balloon (she said yes) - Kiff and Adrian missed Royal and were trying for Fairburn - John mucked about after landing, heating again and riding reversed winds back across Royal Park to find a better place to deflate |
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January 7, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Brandon Park to Bulleen - crewed for Nick - windy inflate in a tight space (7 balloons flying) - Nick joined the tree-huggers on take off |
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January 6, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkarook park to Cross Keys Reserve - crewed for John - bit of a windy inflation - Nick delayed by 10 minutes from the others while he completed re-rigging his balloon (new lines supplied, etc) - most dropped into Royal Park (either the usual spot or nearer the zoo) while John went on towards Essendon and wound up at Cross Keys Reserve. |
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January 5, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkoorook Park to Essendon - crewed for John - many of us had problems with comm's today - raced a rabbit (OK, so it was a hare) down the taxiway |
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January 4, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Karkoorook park to Princes Park - crewed for Nick - took a while to make the decision but it seemed OK - couldn't keep height to stay on target for Essendon (ATC wouldn't let us) - Kiff and Nick landed at Princes Park (Nick thumped into a small space) - Adrian landed in Pascoe Vale but couldn't get access to recover his balloon - Rob in the air for 1.5 hours - Pete and Chris flew longer to near/just past the Ring Rd |
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January 2, 2006 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Fawkner Park to Princes' Park - crewed for John - "interesting" flight - winds dropped and went all over the place - balloons going all over the place and crews racing around to keep up - Chris put his down on a 6 story car park, Kiff wound up at Northcote golf course, Adrian at the Museum/Imax theatre and Rob on a school ground near Princes' Park. |
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December 30, 2005 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Yarra Bend (Studley Park) to Moorabbin - crewed for Nick - gusty winds on inflation that were blowing fast just above the tree tops - Rob and Nick had burnt envelopes and John had a close encounter with a tree on take off. |
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December 29, 2005 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Royal Park to Sparks Reserve - crewed for John - one of the banners was coming off Kiff's "LOVE" balloon - don't think it fell off, just stayed "half attached" for the whole flight |
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December 27, 2005 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Studley Park to Karkoorook Park - crewed for John - easy flight - all ground crews helping the 7 balloons as they came in - Pete @ Global hit a park bench on landing (tried to go over it but didn't clear it) and wound up ripping it out of the ground (concrete blocks and all) - no damage to the basket |
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December 26, 2005 |
Balloon Sunrise - Crewing |
Docklands to Sparks Reserve - crewed for John - Adrian's back in Australia for the season (flying with Global) - great flight but a tricky extract under some low trees - did some "creative pruning" with the burners as we drove out but nothing damaged. |