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| Photo Credit: AP. |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Hundreds of hot air balloons lifted off Saturday morning, marking the start of an annual fiesta that has drawn pilots and spectators from across the globe to New Mexico’s high desert for 50 years now.
As one of
the most photographed events in the world, the Albuquerque International
Balloon Fiesta has become an economic driver for the state’s largest city and a
rare — and colorful — opportunity for enthusiasts to be within arm’s reach as
the giant balloons are unpacked and inflated.
Three of the
original pilots who participated in the first fiesta in 1972 and the family
members of others are among this year’s attendees. That year, 13 balloons
launched from an open lot near a shopping center on what was then the edge of
Albuquerque. It has since grown into a multimillion-dollar production.
Pilot Gene
Dennis, 78, remembers the snow storm that almost caused him to miss that first
fiesta. He had to rearrange his flight plans from Michigan so he could make it
to Albuquerque in time.
The weather
was perfect when he got to New Mexico, said Dennis, who flew under the alias
“Captain Phairweather.” He was quoted at the time as saying he had brought good
weather with him.
He was on
the hook again, as pilots hope predictions for the rest of opening weekend are
fair.
“Ballooning
is infectious,” Dennis said, describing being aloft like drifting in a dream,
quietly observing the countryside below.
This year
will mark Roman Müller’s first time flying in the fiesta. He’s piloting a
special-shaped balloon that was modeled after a chalet at the top of a famous
Swiss bobsled run. One of his goals will be flying over the Rio Grande and
getting low enough to dip the gondola into the river.
“This is my
plan,” he said, with a wide smile while acknowledging that it’s not always easy
to fly a balloon.
One thing
that helps, he said, is the phenomenon known as the Albuquerque box — when the
wind blows in opposite directions at different elevations, allowing skillful
pilots to bring a balloon back to near the point of takeoff.
Dennis said
it took a few years of holding the fiesta to realize the predictability of the
wind patterns allowed for balloons to remain close to the launch field, giving
spectators quite a show.
Tens of
thousands of people packed the field Saturday, wide-eyed with necks craned as
they tried to soak in the spectacle.
Denise
Wiederkehr McDonald was a passenger in her father’s balloon during the first
fiesta. She made the trip from Colorado to participate in a re-enactment of
that 1972 flight on Friday. Her father, Matt Wiederkehr, was one of the first
10 hot air balloon pilots in the U.S. and held numerous world records for
distance and duration and built a successful advertising business with his
fleet of balloons.
Wiederkehr
McDonald, who went on to set her own ballooning records before becoming a
commercial airline pilot, was wearing one of her father’s faded ballooning
jackets and held a cardboard cutout of him as the balloon she was riding in
lifted off.
She recalled
a childhood full of experiences centered on ballooning.
“I remember
the first time being down in the balloons with them all standing up and
inflating and not being able to see the sky because it was all colored fabric.
And then the other thing was the first balloon glow at night. Oh, my gosh,” she
said. “There were a lot of firsts that I took for granted back then but really
look back and appreciate so much now.”
The fiesta
has grown to include a cadre of European ballooning professionals. More than 20
countries are represented this year, including Switzerland, Australia, Brazil,
Croatia, Mexico, Taiwan and Ukraine.
It also
serves as the launching venue for the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race, one
of the world’s premier distance races for gas balloons.