Holloman Air Force Base 2006
Holloman Balloon Rally
The base commander enlisted the aid of his pilot from the White Sands Balloon Rally to assemble a group of balloons to fly more than 100 Team Holloman members. The flight was scheduled for the first weekend in December 2005 and due to weather the flight had to be scrubbed. They decided to try again in January and this time I was available.
We met at the base main gate and signed in and followed the commander to a historical site. On August 16, 1960 Capt. Joe Kittinger broke some world records. He took off in a hot air balloon, Excelsior III and made a 102,800 foot jump. He set records in highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall and fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere.
I counted 13 balloons and loads of crew. Balloons came from Deming, Las Cruces, El Paso, Roswell, Artesia, La Luz, and Albuquerque. Sorry if I missed anyone. Following a briefing of sensitive areas and other cautions we set up and launched. I don't know why I became the wind dummy but someone had to be. Initially we had some steerage from flying NNE to NW. I went up 2,000 feet to see what we had to work with and flew there a while until I decided to slow down and go NW. I broke my flight into two segments of 45 minutes. My ultimate destination was Tully Peak but I fell short by about a mile. Toward the end of the flight the wind was picking up and changed direction to NW and was leading me away from available roads and toward White Sands Missle Range which was one of the sensitive areas. Following are pictures from the flight which I took and the ceremony and static display of the Stealth. Just click on a picture below and it will expand for you.
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