Special Shapes

On a mass ascension day like today, starting just before 6 a.m., close to a dozen Dawn Patrol balloons take off in a choreographed inflation and launch spectacle that Balloon Fiesta guests have enjoyed over the past 28 years. Ballooning and balloon spectating is an early-risers activity.

Celebrating its fifty-second year, the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta spends the week dazzling its more than 800,000 visitors with morning and evening activities like the Dawn Patrol, balloon glows, mass ascensions, balloon flying competitions, evening Special-Shapes Glowdeos, and even a drone and fireworks display.

Special shapes

Most people are familiar with the concept of a hot air balloon. A colorful round balloon that gets smaller toward the bottom, where it attaches to a wicker basket and propane burner. What many people don’t know is that hot air balloons can come in all shapes and sizes; think Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.

Special-shape balloons are manufactured by only a small handful of builders and have special payload restrictions. They also look really cool.

If you’re at all familiar or involved with special-shaped ballooning, there’s a good chance you know of Colin Graham. Graham is the owner and operator of Endeavor Ballooning, a special-shaped balloon outfit based in Bozeman, Montana, who travels the world displaying and flying his eye-catching hot air balloons. Graham is one of the most well-known special-shape balloonists in the industry, which is elucidated by the number of waves, honks, handshakes, and hugs he receives throughout the event.

Graham, who is also an airline transport pilot, became enamored with ballooning at 5 years old thanks to his parents’ involvement in the sport, working as ground crew. His father worked as a member of a balloon chase crew and spent many years organizing hot air balloon events in New Hampshire. “[My parents] had been involved in ballooning for years previous to my being born, and so it’s kind of a natural thing,” Graham said. “Neither of them are pilots but at about age 14 I realized that I was going to be the pilot in the family, so that’s kind of how that started. But my first balloon I actually saw at age 5, so it’s been a lifelong dream.”

And Graham has always had a soft spot for special-shaped balloons.

“My first special-shape balloon was an experimental Jack in the Box. We got it back in 2009, and that pretty much fixed me on wanting one again. I had about a two-year span where I didn’t have one for a while, and I felt pretty naked,” Graham said.

“I’ve recently figured out one word that transcends special-shape ballooning, which is whimsical,” Graham said. “You get out of these things, you look at them, and it’s just like, wow, just incredible, so incredible.”

And he’s not wrong, the sights and sounds of the Balloon Fiesta’s evening Special Shapes Glowdeo are nothing short of whimsical. During this event, thousands of captivated smiling people crowd the field to witness these giant shapes come to life and glow in the dark. Once the sun goes down, the landscape is quite literally ballooning with hundreds of unique shapes and colors; there is a balloon for everyone. Like Star Wars? There are a Yoda and Darth Vader head for your viewing pleasure. Like animals? Take your pick! Even a 135-foot Zozobra balloon from Santa Fe was there to help mark the end of summer and an end to the bad vibes of the previous year. It’s a view one must see to believe.

Like flying different fixed- or rotor-wing aircraft, special-shape ballooning comes with its own set of challenges and limitations. Flight characteristics depend heavily on the size, complexity, and weight of the balloon. Unlike hot air balloons designed specifically for rides, most special-shape balloons have very small useful loads. Depending on passenger weight, weather, and other factors, these balloons are typically not used for commercial rides. Intelligent Design, Graham’s brain-shape balloon, for example, can carry only up to two adults; Graham often flies this balloon with just one of his young sons at a time.

“It does not have efficient lift because of its size and complexity. A balloon of that size could normally lift a pilot and five or six people by comparison and also weigh about half as much,” Graham said.

Ground effect

Unlike fixed-wing aircraft events, crowd control at the Balloon Fiesta felt more like a gentle suggestion than a strict rule. To prevent collisions with spectators during takeoffs and accidental smotherings during deflation, the event’s “Zebras” keep the area around the balloon clear using a series of verbal callouts, whistles, and flourishes of authoritative hand and arm signals, all while clad in a striped referee uniform.

As balloon operators ready their balloons for inflation, crowds swarm in for a better look as eager hands clamor for balloonist’s coveted balloon trading cards or enamel pins; a sub-culture of the balloon fiesta event. Balloonists can keep the mob away by setting up a crowd barrier around their balloon, but where is the fun in that?

Serenity in the sky

Apart from being hundreds of feet above the ground, flying in a hot air balloon is nothing like flying in a fixed- or rotor-wing aircraft. Other than the roar and heat of the burner, if you closed your eyes before liftoff you probably wouldn’t even know when you’ve left the ground. The sensation is peaceful, nonaggressive, and a little bit magical.

Taking off in Intelligent Design at the balloon fiesta looked and felt a lot like the Wizard of Oz scene where the wizard takes off in his balloon over a sea of waving and screaming Emerald City residents, leaving Dorothy behind in the calamity.

When it was our turn for takeoff, a Balloon Fiesta Zebra cleared the area in the front of us and blew his whistle to indicate we were cleared for liftoff. Just like Emerald City, the Balloon Fiesta field was filled to the brim with spectators waving and cheering as Graham and I lifted off. The crowd below looked like ants as we and hundreds of other colorful classic and special-shape balloons lifted off within seconds of each other, creating an aerial-scape that was almost overwhelming to the eyes.

As a fixed-wing pilot who didn’t understand the appeal of flying through the air with nothing but a hot canvas bag supporting me and a wicker basket between myself and the ground, I’m happy to say I was completely wrong.

Once established at an altitude with winds gently pushing us in our desired direction, thank you Dawn Patrol, the burner is used sparingly, leaving just the sounds of sweet nothingness, and the com radio. You may be surprised to learn that just like fixed- and rotor-wing pilots, most balloonists, including Graham, use a radio to communicate with ATC and other balloonists. Communications include everything from traffic alerts to wind checks, landing zone inquiries, and coms with the balloon chase crew. Graham is also one of only a handful of balloonists who operate with a transponder.

As we flew carefree over the streets and buildings of New Mexico, the balloon chase crew trundled through city traffic to meet us at the landing zone. Most pilots use an iPad that helps them navigate to the best landing zone. If the area below is marked red, that’s a no-go. Otherwise nothing is off limits for a balloon LZ, from residential backyards, parking lots, parks, and open fields, it’s open season. But sometimes landing a balloon requires more than one landing to find the best spot.

Our ride lasted more than an hour and 50 minutes as we floated 17 miles over Albuquerque, Graham’s second longest flight in his 19 years of flying here. Our first landing had us in a stranger’s backyard. The landing was steep and firm, but not scary. Unfortunately, this home was not in an area with easy access for Endeavor Ballooning’s large truck and trailer and didn’t have the best space to deflate the balloon, so we took off in search of a better spot. From there we flew over a huge open space that appeared to me to be the perfect place to put this brain on the ground, but we were met with a large red blob on the iPad indicating a landing would be off-limits here. As it turns out, this was an open-space animal preserve and as we flew over it at about 100 feet agl, we were not-so-happily greeted by a park ranger on the ground making an X with their arms to tell us to move along.

Just beyond the preserve Graham set the brain down, more gently this time, in a large open field. At the same time, several members of the ground crew climbed through the fence and ran toward us to help secure the balloon. Once on the ground, it took about six people to keep the balloon and basket from escaping. Unfortunately, the truck and trailer were unable to access this field and carrying a balloon and basket of this size a few hundred yards to the waiting trailer was a no-go. Thankfully, a pygmy goat farmer invited Graham to land, deflate, and pack the balloon away in his field across the street. So once again the giant brain lifted off to its final LZ of the day.

It takes a village

Supporting a massive special-shape balloon is a group effort.

“Our crew is led here by a guy named Chris Karga, and he has a lot of friends, and he constantly gets all of his friends involved, and then they get their friends involved, and it just metastasized over the years. So, we can sometimes have up to 30 people out here,” Graham said.

“We have the very large trailer. One of the largest trailers probably on the launch field. And all the balloons are contained in there,” Graham said. “The baskets are all broken down and the balloons are all in big, large carts that aid in their ability to move around. So early in the morning, the crew comes in, they drop the basket out, and they drop the carts out. We assemble the basket and the burner and the fuel system, and then we pull the balloon out, hook it to the basket. We inflate it with a cold air fan, usually a couple of cold air fans. We get it full enough with cold air. I introduce heat with the burners and the balloon stands upright. At which point we’re still tied to the truck until we actually are committed, and we want to go somewhere. And then we get hot enough, take a passenger or two, lift off and go flying.”

“When we come in to land, of course, we’re looking for a good enough, a large enough spot to safely put down today,” Graham said. “We were in an alfalfa field in the south valley of Albuquerque here. We clear that there’s no power lines there. The sequence of landing, of course, is getting the balloon positioned properly to the wind, having the crew all in place, particularly on these really complex shapes. You want to have the crew in place to get the vents out because if you don’t get the vents out, you could be there for two or three hours trying to pack the thing up and nobody wants to do that. So, the balloon has a large crown line on top that allows it to be pulled over sideways and the crew can get on that and help the deflation process. It takes about an hour to pack up the brain.”

Intelligent Design takes a minimum of 10 people to deflate the balloon. After the balloon comes to rest on the ground, the crew removes their shoes and children and adults alike begin to crawl, jump, press, and even roll all over the balloon to remove the air. Once the air is removed, the balloon is folded and secured with straps, then rolled and placed in a giant bag for transport.

Back at the fiesta field, Graham’s wife, Brittany, prepares a tailgate feast for the hardworking crew to dig into upon their return; a perfect way to wrap up a beautiful day of flying.

[email protected]