First Ascent

If you've never seen a woman in her forties do the "happy dance" with the same purity of emotion as a four year old, then you've never really lived.

I, and a small group of friends, got to see that today.

The Typhoon is spinning off in differing directions for the next week. The parents will split time at Boy Scout Summer camp, while R attends all week. M will attend her ballet intensives, and spend some time at the beach with grandparents. I'll hold down the fort for the first half of the week.

So, when the call came to do a little balloon crew work on Friday morning, we made our schedules fit and showed up. Turns out there was a surprise in store for C, R and M.

This time, we had trouble getting out the door. Nobody except Dad seemed 'able' to get out of bed at the 4am time required. Good thing we pre-planned and everyone had effectively slept in their crew clothes. We got out late, but not as late as it could have been. Two cars down to Woodburn so I could go directly to work afterwards, and we got there only a few minutes late.

As we pulled in to the launch site, we got our first surprise. There, sitting at the launch site, were TWO trailers - Pacific High's trailer (whom we were expecting) and the Floatin' On Air rig of the Rafns. A closer look while we drove by and parked, showed that both the elder and younger Rafns were there. As were a small crew - including Terri from my work - just starting to roll out the Pacific High balloon.

W parked, joined in, and got the update. Pacific High was flying a commerical flight for a family from New Orleans; Floatin' on Air was running a tandem check-test on their new balloon, Morning Melody. So we helped Pacific High get airborne, then we turned our attentions to Morning Melody. I must say it was excellent practice to setup and launch two balloons back-to-back... good repetition for procedures.

As we got Morning Melody ready to launch, J (the younger Rafn and the obvious pilot for this morning's flight) announced that he was ready. Then, he said the fateful words:

"c, R, M... you ready to get in the basket?" The reaction was a moment of stunned surprise for those named.

"You... you mean I get to FLY with you???!?!?!" C blurted.

That's when the happy dance took place.

Then she forgot to breathe.

AND she started to well up with tears of joy.

T Rafn stepped up to her and gently said, "Breathe. Remember to breathe. And no tears. Stop that right now." C made a big effort to calm down a bit, and asked in a desperate voice for her camera, which was in the car. The camera was retrieved and all were loaded into the basket with Jesse.

Launch was gentle and smooth... a couple burns to to heat the envelope, and the balloon lifted with the fluid majesty and graceful bulk of a frolickiing grey whale.

My job? Drive a chase vehicle. I didn't have to be lead chase, but I had the Pacific High rig at my disposal. T led the way. It was a picture-perfect flight. Winds were steady but slow. The balloons drifted along at about 4 mph all the way. Winds at different altitiudes give steerage to both the right and the left of the ideal landing spot, a small private airstrip just north of Keizer. As a result, both balloons landed in the same 10 yard by 10 yard corner of the airstrip.

Ground crew had a leisurely drive to the airfield, and spent about half an hour sitting in lawn chairs, watching the balloons proceed at a pace barely faster than a stroll. On the route, we called up on the radios for a status check. T asked how the Typhoon passengers were doing.

"I don't think I've EVER seen a happier person" replied J, the pilot, "Be sure to tell N that he's going to need to free up a LOT of money to keep his family in balloon equipment." The laughter in the chase vehicles was enormous,to say the least.

So there we were, on the air field, watching the balloons coming in, like planes on final approach at PDX. Except SllloooooWWWWWWeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr. As the balloons came in, they held a line just west of the air field, then negotiated a left turn as they came to ground through the west-to-east winds on the surface. Gentle bumps and they were down.

Ground crew completely packed up the Pacific High balloon while Morning Melody made its final approach. We had the gear in the trailer just as Morning Melody touched down. Jesse was smiling. The Typhoon? Beaming. Radiant. Resplendent, Glowing. How do I possibly describe? My lovely wife was transported. My often-unfocused son had a laser-locked look in his eye. M? situationally aware as she always is, she had the contentment of a super-cool experience.

In the chase vehicle, heading back, the Typhoon traveled with the Rafns. We debriefed a little. When asked if they still wanted to pilot for themselves, both C and R responded with an emphatic yes. The kind of yes you punctuate by hammering the table with your shoe. THAT kind of yes.

So, working at the edges of my own knowledge, I asked R about J's flying techniques, R could point out in detail how J both followed the techniques in the manual, and how he deviated. R also pointed out that J tended to 'contour fly', which called for a closer touch and varied technique. That's when J offered up that R would begin with lots of straight-and-level flying and proper handbook technique. J was already instructing. And R was COMPLETELY listening, with his ears, brain and whole heart.

I have some of Terri's photos posted to the family facebook page; others to follow when I get my hands on C's photos.