Waregem April 26th 2008 (Belgium)

A little while ago, I got an email from Gino Ciers. He had seen I did not have his newest certificates yet. If we would come to Waregem, I could get them. No problem for us to go there, so that was a deal.
On Saturday April 26th we drove there in the sunshine. This would be the 10th Anniversary of Waregem.
As we arrived, the trailer with the Horse came riding along. Just a guess, but that must be Gino Ciers. And I was right, just drive after my onto the parkingspace, he said. Parkingcard behind the windshield, and no problems finding a parkingspace now.

We got our badges, drinking- and mealtickets. Very well taken care of by Gino.

Of course we met a lot of old friends again. I saw Lenny Cant and his team and with Christiaan Claerhoudt O traded some pins again. I also got this special one on the left. A special pin for the 10th Balloonhappening in Waregem.

It was getting time for the balloons. They were supposed to get in the air around 18.00 o'clock, so they had to get started already. First the briefing for the pilots in the prestige of the Hippodroom. During that, the modellballoons were already keeping thr visitors happy and warm them up for the rest of the big show.

There are also specials in modellballoons, as you can see on the picture on the right. A cube with a head and hands on it. Very nice, and also homemade. The pilots were also interviewed while they were setting up there balloons. Paul would also get his Snowman ready, but then the wind must be a lot less than it is at the moment.

One at a time the balloonteams take the field. They know where to park their cars, because of the numbers on the field. Every team has his own number.

We met Alex-Jan Barends and his crew. He took the Greetzz-car with him, so we thought that was the balloon. But he had the great Cock with him! Still the most beautiful balloon I think. All sides of this balloon are very nice.
So we spend some time with him, and then we started taking pictures of all the other balloons. How many? I am not sure, but I heard there were about 60! So you will understand, not that easy to get all of them in a picture. Here are some of them.

Some of them show how much wind there still was at this time of day. They started turning and the pilots had to keep on burning to keep them upright.

At the last one, you can see how much work it is to keep the balloon on the ground at this wind. But they did it again!

A bit of sunshine through the balloons, and you get a very nice picture I might say!

Together with my dad at the wateredge, to see which one of us gets the best picture. The first one is my moms, the second mine.
I like them both.

The Old Balloon Collectors were here also. This old one is from America and is owned by Kenny Blanquaert now. Also the modellballoons kept on surprising the visitors. Paul asked me to help him inflate his homemade modellballoon. And that was no problem of course.
Cold inflation with a very small ventilator, everything made on the right scale!

Slowly Paul heats up the cold air. Another boy, attaches a parachute at the basket with a doll. He is supposed to be dropped in the air.

While Paul is warming the balloon, that other boy is holding the wire which is attatched to the balloon, so it will never go further away than the wire is long.
We watch as the balloon gets higher and higher, and than ...
The wire slips out of the boys hands, so it gets away!!!
Together wit Paul I run after it, to get to it. But in nowtime the balloon is far away, and about 500 metres to fast.
Alex-Jan had heard us calling out, so he ran to the basket and just before it would crash to the ground, he caught the basket.
All sweaty Paul came walking back with it. Holding it at the wire. But no parachute, it was dropped and fell in to the water. Hope it can swim! The balloon came back in one peace and was packed in to his sack.

Time for the nightglow now. The balloons were ready, at about 21.15 it started.
At first a chime sounded, and there the music started. On the musics rithme the balloons were lit. Always a very pretty sight. The Horse and the Cock where standing there also. Have a look at the pictures me and my parents took of this Belgium nightglow!

Other pictures are in an Album, here is the link: Waregem 2008.

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Ballonnen boven Oeken (May 31st 2008)

Our own fiesta, nice to see everyone again. The plan was, 4 balloons flying, 4 old balloons on the ground and 4 modellballoons on the ground as well.
As we were busy getting the old ones and the modelballoons out of their balloon bags, the clouds were closing in on the fields of Oeken. Not again the rain, that would get us in to trouble again?

The Old Balloon Collectors had already started to fill one of their balloons with the cold air. But the wind was blowing way to hard. So they made it flat again, the balloon had started to roll around.
So we had to wait and see, first we had the baptism of the new modellballoon from Geert Plukkers.

My mom was walking around with the microphone as she was called by Geert. He was ready to do the baptism, and he needed help. My mom was supposed to help him, and that was a big honour to her.

The bottle loses his cork. A small sipp onto the balloon, and with all the other modellballoonpilots on the ground to take a picture. The balloon has the code PH-PMB, which stands for Promotie Model Ballonvaren, Promotion Modell Balloonflying!

After this Cor Bennaars and Matthias de Kerf also started with their modellballoons. The wind went down again, so everything went great.

Thanks to all the photographers for letting me use their pictures.

It was getting time for the balloons that would fly that evening. But as they had not arrived yet, we did set some old balloons upright, including my own old PH-BEV.
Erwin Pellegrom was here also, he was the pilot that set mine upright. Have a look at the pictures below.
Also the OO-BJB from Belgium, was set upright by Danny Pauwels.

After this, the flying balloons arrived. The pilots went straight to our van, where we had the radarimages on a laptop. Unfortunately things were not looking good to fly. So they decided to wait half an hour. In the meantime the people could get entertainment of the old balloons and the modellballoons as well.
Meanwhile our mayor, Niels Joosten, came on the field with the president of our soccerclub vv Oeken, Nazzareno Mediati. They would get the lotteryticket out of the bucket which meant one of our visitors would go in a hot air balloon this evening. Tamara van Breemen was the lucky one.
After that they pulled out a number from our sponsors of vv Oeken. It was The Mellotones, a band and sponsor of the team D1. They decided to let Malu Vissers go for the balloonride.
That half hour had passed, and still it was not looking well. The wind would take the balloons towards Doetinchem. And that was the place from where a rather bad looking storm was coming from Germany. This meant, that the balloons would get sucked right in to that cloud. And as one pilot said I would rather land safely another said, better to have stayed on the ground regretting it, than getting in to the air and regretting it!

That is why they decided not to go. All the passengers were called on to the field, to get their briefing. Sorry to say they would not go that evening. Of course they made a new appointment, and almost all passengers were ok with that.
A friendly farmer in the neighbourhood would let us use one of his fields to start from. On the field of our soccerclub they would get new grass again for next season, so we had to move to another place.

The visitors were told also that the flights were cancelled that evening.
But most of them stayed to watch the old balloons, the Pig would get out of his bag today again, and also a small special shape was inflated.
Have a look at all the great pictures below.

The pig was very beautiful of course, have a look below!

Geert Plukker had his small panda bear, very funny to see the difference in height of these two balloons.

As a present he got this beautifull roofingtile with that panda on it. He was very happy to get it, as everyone could see.

On to the next date, June 15th, but for now the link with my pictures: Ballonnen above Oeken 2008.
Thanks for coming and helping us out.

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New date Ballonnen boven Oeken (June 15th 2008)

The next date was June 15th.It keeped raining the whole day long, and the passengers were all calling. Are we going tonight, or is it to early to say that? Well, it wasn't to early, we were looking at Meteox and it showed us that the last rain would come over at 20.00hrs and later it would be perfect.
When the passengers came in the Vroolijke Frans, and not much later the balloonteams also, we could go to the field were we would start from. On a field from the Willems family from Oeken, along de Weg langs het Vrouwengoed, alle 3 of the teams could find their own spot to start. The balloons would go across Brummen, so that was great for all the passengers from Brummen. My uncle Karel, the man with the orange cap on, is mentally handicaped, and very busy helping the pilot Hans van Hoesel. The pilot was wondering who all that people were, standing around his basket and balloon. As he heard they were from Karels group home, he was very pleased to hear that. Nice to have them all watching as Karel gets his first flight in a hot air balloon. Even his friend wanted to help, and Hans is telling him what to do and what not to do.

Then it is time to start with the balloon, first lay it out on the ground, and then inflate it with cold air with the ventilator.

They other teams were getting ready also. At around 20.30u they all went up in to the sky, up up and away!!! Have a look at all the pictures below.

Uncle Karel is very ready, also my Aunt Ankie and her daughter Linda is flying. Along with my other Uncle Jaap. And they are of, have fun!!!!

There were a lot of great pictures taken, but Karel was just having fun and enjoying the flight. No time to take pictures!! Just watching the view. It does not matter, he was having fun and it was his first flight. Maybe another time later he will take pictures.

Brummen from above, just big enough to find our own home.
And a very nice picture of the other balloons from the basket of the PH-NBB from Hans van Hoesel.

After the flight, which ended in Hengelo, all teams and passengers came back to de Vroolijke Frans at Broek. There I was with my parents waiting for news from the passengers.
For those who wanted, there was something to drink and a bit to eat.

Karel got his first flight certificate here, he was very happy but also a bit tired.

More pictures on this link: Ballonnen above Oeken 15 juni 2008

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Countus Ballonspektakel Zwolle (June 20th and 21rst 2008)

We got an email from Hans van Hoesel, asking us if we could be the crew at Zwolle during the Balloonfiesta on Friday. No problem, I was home early from school that day and my dad was home early from driving his truck. We had diner with all the other balloonteams in the Provinciehuis of Zwolle. We were crewing with Hilda Paulusma, she was flying the Wegener balloon. A small balloon, and very light. On the picture on the right she is sitting on the basket with here 5 passengers in front of here.
Behind us the basket of the T-Rex. But he would start as we were gone, so I would not see it that evening. That was a pitty.

Hilda was waiting for room to start inflating her balloon. I was standing at the ventilator, very important work. Pointing it is half the job.

As you can see, everything works perfect, and Hilda can check the balloon of the cables are all well and not twisted in to the balloon. My dad had put the chute in with her, and was standing at the crownline to get started. Holding down the balloon untill it is hot enough to get upright.

The launchmaster was coming towards her, Hilda waited till it was her turn to fly. You can't see for yourself if someone is flying above your balloon, so a launchmaster is very important. This is a big field and lots of balloons, so they had 3 of them walking around the field.

And then she is off ... very slowly so the passengers can take lots of pictures. But ... our car was closed in by the other balloonteams, so we had to wait till we could leave the field to go after here.

We had already heard she was going towards Dalfsen, and then she would fly over an area she knows very well. Her boyfriend lived there, so if we were to lose her, she would be very good in pointing out the direction to drive in.

But before we could go, we helped out at other balloons, and taking pictures of course.

A small aeroplane was driving around the field, a Joint Strike Fighter. He could not fly, but as most of the balloons were gone, he drove around on the field making its turns. The kids enyoid it a lot.

We could finally get of the field and tried to find Hilda. We saw the whole group hanging in the air towards Ommen. My mom likes to drive the smaller roads in stead of the highway, and that is easier to follow the balloon. Unfortunately we lost her in Ommen. No radiocontact with Hilda, but Sebe Kruijer was also flying his balloon there, and responded my mothers calls. He told us, she was on the ground at the north of Ommen. Easy like this, if you also know the other pilots! She also called me to say she had landed in Arrien and could also tell us at which crossroad! Very easy to find like this.

While we were picking up the balloon, the Hardenberg balloon came along. Very nice on this picture, not just by me, but also by the passengers of the Wegener balloon. After this we started the baptism of the passengers, Hilda allowed me to use the bottle to put out the flame on the hair.

As we drove back to Zwolle, we saw the fireworks had already started. We were just in time for the nightglow. Nice balloons were chosen to participate in the nightglow. All 5 of them were very easy to recognize.

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On Saturday 21rst June we went to Zwolle again. this time we wanted to get T-Rex in at least one picture, and my friend Sander came along. It was his first time on a big fiesta like this, but he was ready to enjoy himself.
We were right on time that evening. The teams were already on the field, and the wheather was great. They could start early, and be back soon to catch the second half of the Dutch soccer team at the European Championships.
Ernest Lee, pilot of the T-Rex balloon, needed some help at the basket. The day before he had only two helpers, and that was not enough. This way I could get a lot of pictures of this beautifull balloon. It is big!!!. So enjoy all the pictures below.

The first balloons are getting ready to start their flight.

Meanwhile we were getting the basket ready for the T-Rex, my mom helped Ernest Lee with his basket and to get the balloon ready. Sander stayed with me all the time, he did not know what to do yet on this first time, but he was a fast learner.
As we were getting more information about the T-Rex, the other balloons kept on starting to fly. Beautiful sight as always.

Mom was holding the mouth of the T-Rex, it took a while to get it filled with the cold air.

They did ask for a second ventilator, and as it came to help, they were ready in no time.

So I had enough time to take some more pictures of this very big balloon. it looks great, some small tears here and there, but over all it looks perfect. Great for the kids to watch and their parents of course were looking at it also.

The big balloon is lying !on his side, waiting till it is filled with cold are and gets warmed by the burners.

It looks as if it is going to tear up Jupps modellballoon, but he gets of the ground without causing any problems.

We went home, the next day we might go to Gemert, that is if the wheather is holding.
More pictures on: Ballonspektakel Zwolle 2008

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Klepperballooning Hardenberg (June 27th 2008)

On Friday the 27th of June we went to Hardenberg. My grandma became 82 years old, of course I went to her first. When we arrived in Hardenberg, the balloons were already on the field. There was a lot of wind, but they would fly, it could only take a while. It was just 19.30 hrs when the pilots were ready with the briefing, but it would take a while before they would start.

The passengers were walking to their balloon, with the chasing crew.

Herman Kleinsmit is working on the Bassie and Adriaan balloon. And would go up as first.
Meanwhile the other balloonteams were working hard too.

The Oriënt Express and the Car of Pneuhagen where lying on the other side of the field.

We went helping again with the T-Rex from Ernest Lee.

Jesse Waterlander was there also, and was also allowed to help with the T-Rex. He held the tail, so he would not get in the flames while burning.

Ernest Lee told the children that the T-Rex was very hungry and that he liked eating children. The parents needed to take a picture before their kids would be gone forever. Thats why all the children went to the mouth of the T-Rex.

I think Jesse enjoyed it as well.

On to the next Fiestal!!
It was very funny when we told Ernest that we wouldn't bet here the next day.
We told him we would go to Hot Air Ballooning Roermond. Very surprprised he said, Me to!!
He told us that he knew Jelke Haven from A3 Ballon, Ernest made some flights for him, and he invited him to come.

Funny we would meet again!!

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Hot Air Ballooning Roermond (June 28th 2008)

On the 28th of June we went to Roermond. I was askedcome with my old PH-BEV, because it is an old balloon from A3 Ballon. My mother had to crew, so we first brought her to A3 Ballon in Harfsen, then to Twello to pick up Bram van der Sluis. After that we went to Scherpenzeel, where we picked up the old pink pig. Then we weren´t ready yet. We needed to pick up Nienke Bos in Roermond at the train station, and then finally to thestarting field in Roermond next to the Weerd.
The others from the Old Balloon Collectors were waiting on us. John van Gastel was also there with his modelballoon and radio controlled airplane.
Ernest Lee was a bit worried because of all the sand. His T-Rex is a bit sticky, and the sand would kling on to it for the rest of the year.
My mother needed to crew for Adrie himself, the pevious owner of A3 Ballon. It was very nice to see him and his wife Hanneke again. They did not even recognize me at first!
There was a lot of wind. We wouldn´t inflate the old balloons. That´s why my father and I went helping with Adrie.
Adrie was pilot on the PH-ZVN and got 9 passangers in his basket.
While Adrie and the other pilots were waiting with the cold infation of their balloons, Peter Kelder was busy with the PH-ATN.

He went of as the first one, and would fly the longest! Afer he left, Jan Haven started inflating the PH-NGN. We were also helping him, till Adrie needed us. When we were hanging on the crownline something happened with the PH-NGN. There was a fence next to the balloon. There were lots of little sharp points on the top of it. Unfortunately the balloon was damaged. A very big tear, and no flight for the people in his balloon.

The wind kept blowing very hard.

"Roermond, that's all you need!"

While my mother was chasing Adrie, to Brüggen (Germany), we went back to the field to help the other teams and started with the old pig. Not all went flying. Jelke said, that if you could not fly over an hour, there wouldn´t be a flight. Other balloons were set up to show them to the people.

We did some kind of Night Glow with the Pig. Because of the strong wind my PH-BEV stayed in his bag.
We were very busy so we couldn´t make pictures. We got these pictures from John Stevens. Thank you John!!

More pictures on this link:
http://www.ballonvaren.com/fotos/1772/Fotos-ballonfeest-Hotair-Ballooning-Roermond-naar-Duitsland.html

And the next Fiesta is Eindhoven again with the old Pig!!

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Eindhoven Ballooning (July 12th 2008)

We got an email from Cor Bennaers, asking us to use our bottemend for the old balloon, the Pig. Of course, this is a way to get on the field of Eindhoven of course. And so we went there, and got our crewcards to go on to the field.
We had something to eat and then the briefing started. We looked for a place where to help out. Like Ernest Lee with his T-Rex, I had told him in an email that we would be there to help.
Ernest would just set his T-Rex upright, for the kids and to entertain the rest of the crowd. He would not fly, the wind was to strong.
At the Calimero they needed all the help they could get. As it was time to start warming it up, the wind came scrolling over the trees. The balloon and its basket started to twist and turn. Everyone out of the way! This could get tricky, getting caught in between the basket and another one is not what we had in mind as we went to this fiesta!

Then the wind drops and Koen can get his balloon upright as it should be. He takes of at a very slow speed, perfect for the passengers. They wave at their friends who stay behind.

Underneath some pictures of the other teams that got their balloons ready to leave Eindhoven.

The new Keurslager-balloon is lying next to us. No certificate yet, so I went on helping others.
Dad was driving the bus with the trailer on to the field, with the pink Pig in it. Most of the balloons were gone already, so we had plenty of room for it. Mom stayed with Ernest to help him keep the tail away from the burners. The wind is always blowing them in to the burners, and it would be a shame to burn it up of course.n maar rustig verder en zien of we nog iemand kunnen helpen. Pap reed intussen het varken het veld al op.

I was helping Jupp Hein helpen, with his modelballoons, have a look at the picture of Ina and Richard van der Craats (www.balloonheaven.com). A bit easier to keep this one on the ground than my own basket!

As I was ready helping Jupp, I went to the pig as fast as I could.
Christoff told me to get into the basket, and about 5 minutes later he stepped out! Now what!!
I had to use the burner myself to keep the balloon upright. Christoff was standing beside me of course, not that smart to leave me alone. The balloon is old, so I had to burn a lot to keep it upright.

Mom was still at the T-Rex. So she could make this nice picture of our pig, shortly before it was moved to the other side to stand next to Kennys old balloon with the plane through it.

Kaylee Slag and Jan Vermeulen were holding the mouth of T-Rex, so Ernest could get it warm. My mom was taking some quick pictures of Baby Bel standing next to it. She stood about an hour on the tail of T-Rex, so she was getting a bit tired. Someone else took over, and then Ernest thought it was enought. He opened the velcro and the balloon went down.
I was already starting to take our basket down. The balloon is on the ground, so time to get the rest out of the basket.

More pictures on:
Eindhoven Ballooning

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Friese Ballonfeesten Joure (July 24th 2008)

Every year I get tickets to get on to the field in joure. No problem this year either. Me and my parents had to check in at the information stand, and there was an envelope with my name on it. Perfect.
The wheather was great, but the wind ...!! Very hard, and I heard that could be a problem. But then some teams went on the field, so we had a look around there. taking some pictures and wait for the next briefing.

While Andrew Kaye is lifting of in his normal balloon, some of the specials are getting ready for take off. Peter Barlo is warming up his wonderful can.

Here some other pictures of the balloons that went up in to the air that evening.

A very nice balloon was lying here the Wish Cake, with its candles and bows. Great balloon from Louisville America, flown in by its pilot Frank Prell. A great small man, kept on telling stories about ballooning and more. Have fun watching the pictures of this great balloon.

Tall Hendrik (crew at A3 Ballon) keeps the mouth open, that thing is very heavy he told me later on.
Then it comes up, very slowly, great to take that many pictures of it.

Then he is off, the sun was shining through the balloon. Very nice looking balloon, this Wish Cake. He went for the landing, but as he looked at his watch he thought he had not flown that long enought, so he went on. Must have been a great sight, a cake flying over the lakes in Friesland!

Some pictures of the 'normal' balloons.

Than it is about time for the next special, with a special guest on board. The balloon is the D-OMIK with Pilot Werner Wäschenbach, the special passenger is the farmer of the day. The day before, about 5 balloons had landed at their property, so she was crowned Farmer of the day.

Even more specials came. One of them was the Kathedrale from Keswill, Marlies Nageli.
And not just the balloon is very nice, did you have a look at the text on the basket?

Das Auf- und Abspringen während der Fahrt ist verboten
Für Unfälle, welche aus nichtbefolgen dieser Vorschrift entstehen, leht die Verwaltung ausdrücklich jede Haftpflicht ab.

Really a very magnificant balloon! Underneath is the map of the church itself. Very hard to pack it in again, each side has to be pushed down seperately, so very hard work and it takes a while.

The Baby Bel was also set upright, but they did not fly anymore.

It was getting to late for it. It looked just like a small nightglow.

More pictures on the link:

Joure Friese Ballonfeesten.

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Parkfeest in Mill (August 16th 2008)

I had asked Paschal Noor, organiser of this fiesta, if it was ok for me to come and have a look here again. No problem, the wheather was getting better, so it must be right to go ballooning. As we came in Mill, John van Gastel was just getting started with his model aeroplane!
He sure knows what to do with that ting! It was hanging vertically in the air!!! The kids around us thought it was crashing down, but we new that was not the case. Have a look at his homepage, to see what he can do more www.pilot-pensacola.nl!

By the time he was ready with his demonstration, the balloonteams went on to the field. No one was there as John was flying his machine, they were not allowed!

The pilots had to find a spot to get started, so thing got a little crowded.

As Ron van Kesteren takes of with his balloon, these three are holding on to the crownline of this wonderful balloon. The cows of Pergama.

Another old Balloonatic of mine. Sybrand Fortuin, with the PH-VOC.
As he goes up, he waves at the people below.

Then I see a very colourfull balloon on the back of the field. The PH-LAP, never seen it before. So I went to take some nice pictures.
And again, some one I know in the basket, Angele is very proud of here new balloon.

It is about time to ask here to be my Balloonatic, nice balloon for the nightglow. A pitty it there will be none this time.

This man has worked the hardest I think this evening. John Brons of Marberts Balloonteam. He was standing at three of there balloons, holding the crownline!
Well done John.

I am making myself usefull by clowing the chute and then the two lovers can leave for their flight.

A great band was already playing in the tent. Clear Out!

More pictures: Mill August 16th 2008

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Buurse (August 17th 2008)

My dad had to work this Sunday, so I went to have a look with my mom. No contact with the organisation, so we went anyway. As we came near Buurse at about 18.00 o'clock, there was already a balloon in the sky! We went to the field as quickly as we could, and heard Emiel Achterberg on the radio. He was the one in the air. We had to see if there were some balloons left to take pictures from.

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All were ready to leave, so we went on. There was rain coming in, that is why they started so quickly.

You can see the wind blowing in to the balloons.

The last balloon was this one, of Rita van Veen.

Rita is heating up her ter Huurne balloon, the passengers can get on board and there she goes.

Up to next time than, this was way to fast. On our way back home, we heard the first balloon getting ready for landing.
And as we came closer to home, the rain was falling down.

More pictures on: Buurse August 17th 2008

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Barneveld Ballonfiësta (August 20th 2008)

The month of August is filled with balloonfiestas here in Holland. On August 20th Barneveld Ballonfiësta started. With a lot of wind and rain. But we went anyway. Now I had a presscard so we could get on to the field. We saw Frank Prell there and Marc Howard. Frank said he had something for me, he would give it to me on the field.
Ernest Lee of the T-Rex came walking by, followed by Ben Bläss. Busy, busy, so not that much time to talk to us.

At about 19.00 the balloon cars came on to the field, which was really wet. Hoping they would not get stuck.

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This nice special was also driven onto the field. But would not go flying this evening. Better luck next time.
Peter van Harten is busy getting this balloon ready, its a brand new one, called PH-HEE. This will be the first flight tonight.
While the pilots were at the briefing, I started making my rounds. To see if I could get something for my collection.
In the meantime Frank had given me his flightcertificates. I had already placed them in our bus, so nothing could happen to it. Nice certificates from his own company, and of Barneveld ballonfiësta of course.

At the Honda balloon I got some stickers, from Aerostat I have collected about everything already.
The crew is watching the balloon go up to see which direction the wind is blowing.

The pilots are ready with their briefing, and Peter van Harten is starting with his new PH-HEE. The champagne is poored already. What bright colours, great. The 'real' press is crowding the balloon, so the real baptism of this balloon is not seen by myself.

The other balloonteams start inflating their balloons.

One of them comes really close, this nice balloon of Van de Beek gets so close, that I am caught underneath it. My mom is trying to save the balloon from a golfcar, it has some sharp edges. The balloon was pushed to the side by the wind. Take out the air, and try again.

You can see there was quit a lot of wind, so the crew had to work rather hard to keep the balloons under control.

The Elstar Balloon is curling itself around the basket of another, not good. This way the balloon can be distroyed. But this many so close tgether, no wonder things get rough with this wind.

And again we are covered by another balloon, protecting it against the bottemend and fan of another balloon!

Here we get a bit more air, to make some pictures of the other balloons lying around us.

Nice balloon, that gastank from Portugal, the pilot is telling what to do and what not to do in the basket.
They can't get out without him saying so, but they can dance if they like to.

One by one the balloons are leaving the launch field.

Than it is time for this chase vehicle! A nice small balloon on top of it.

This is the little Trappen Balloon. It has room for two people.
Very nice to see how it is prepared for take of.

This was the first night of Barneveld Ballonfiësta. I will definately come back again this week.

More pictures on: Barneveld Ballonfiësta 2008.

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Barneveld Ballonfiësta (August 22nd 2008)

On the Friday the 22nd we went again. Rain was pooring, but we went anyway. Not all festivities would take place, so no entree was charged.
We waited for the briefing, the field was not looking that good. We did already hear that tractors were mobilezed to get the trailers on to the field. The cars of busses would get stuck and not get of again to follow the balloons.

You can see what I meant with the field. The jumpers would not even have to touch the babybath to get wet!

Some of the teams even placed a big piece of plastic on the ground before putting there balloons on it. To keep it clean and dry!

Plenty of water on the field, so no need to go to the canal to get pictures of the balloons reflection in the water!

The Baby Bel team even had a team member holding the quick releases of two balloons, taken over by the tractor later. The first balloons are going up, but not without hitting some other ones as you can see.

The balloons are very close together, everyone wants to go first and have the dry piece of the flied.

And again a special takes hold of the plastic.

Nice eyes that bleu Smurf!

By the time the balloons were gone, we had to get something to eat.
We heard from Ina and Richard van de Craats that Antonio Biasioli was also walking around here. As he saw me he started to smile. I wanted to tell him who I was, but he said: Yes I know, you are very famoes! Great to hear an Italian talking english. He was here to take a lot of pictures from this 25th Anniversary of Barneveld Balloonfiësta.

In the meantime some baskets were placed on the field. No balloons for this nightglow. The field was much to wet for it.

Andrew Kaye sets his balloon upright, a beautiful black one, with Bertie Basset on it.

On the beat of the music the burners were turned on and off. Ben Bläss was swinging behind the controls, and kept calling 1, 2 of 3 or all.

Together with Dick Kleinlugtenbeld in the basket, celebrating this succesfull evening with a very special nightglow.
More pictures on: Barneveld Day 3

And now the last day!

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Barneveld Ballonfiësta (August 23rd 2008)

On this last day, they had organised some sort of battle between the balloon crewing teams. Nice to see them struggling to get all the things done!

like pushing your trailer trough the mud by hand on to the field. Hard enough, but even more when your competition is trying to stop you! By pushing against it.

Peter and Eddie are trying to tell everything throught the microphone, Koen Audenaart from Belgium is translating everything for the ones from his country and the Germans. Another play was to get your balloon ready as fast as you can, and of course putting everything right on the balloons basket.

Pulling a boot, and trying not to get that dirty as Koen got!

At the evening, time was there for the balloon. In the meantime I had asked Andrew Kaye some questions for my Balloonatic and he asked me if I would join him in his Bertie Basset! And I said YES!!!
Dad had stayed at home, so he was called to come to Barneveld of course. He would not have missed this for the world!

Peter van Harten was supposed to jump from a balloon with Bob! He was a bit scared but went anyway. All went well, and nothing was broken!

Me being a passenger, I had to check in. But no problems getting this ticket to get on to the field. Someone tried to get me of the field, but no way I was leaving!

I waited for the car to arrive, he had to wait till other balloons had left to get some room for his balloon.

And of course I had to help to get the balloon ready. They do it a bit different as I was used to, but no problem. Andrew was keeping his eyes on everything to make sure it was all done as it should.

With John Brons we get everything fixed. Than Andrew climbes into the basket to test the burners himself.

The balloon is taken out of the trailer, while the car is driving forward.

Frank Prell is helping along side the english egg, that is the way we do this in ballooncountry!

The first specials are taking of, Bertie Basset is the last one.

And here we take off, it is my 19th flight! Great evening!!
We landed in Lunteren, not that far from Barneveld. But at a great farmer.
He even removed a small tree so the chase crew could get to the balloons. And we could also clean our boots, so the car would not smell that much like cow.....

With all the help that went after us, we had the balloon tucked in in no time.

As we came back on the field, the nightglow was getting ready to start.

Have a look at the pictures below.

Andrew came to talk to us later on. Even if the wheather was bad here at Barneveld, we had a perfectly great time here.
Thanks for that press card, and of course thanks to Andrew Kaye for taking me up in the Bertie Basset!

More pictures on:
Barneveld day 4

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Twente Ballooning Oldenzaal (August 29th 2008)

You have to have some connections, some one said to me. So we did have some, to get on the field here for the first time I have visited this fiesta. My dad was still on his way with his truck from Denmark, but before the nightglow started, my mom would pick him up to see it too.

Rien Jurg was walking around on the field himself. He is the big man from Cameron in Holland. We got tickets from him to get on the field. A big exception he said. And of course thanks a lot to him!

On the background you can already see a lot of the public watching. I don't know how many, but there was a lot of people all around the launchfield.

Before the big balloons took over the field, Jupp Hein was walking around with his modellballoon. To show the kids how big this one was, he sometimes dropped it over them. They started screaming, which made Jupp laugh a lot. A nice man, and always so friendly.

As the teams came on, we saw we were standing right at the spot were the specials would take of. Nice! So we had a bit of time to take pictures of the others before the specials would get ready.

The pilots of these balloons are my old Balloonatics, like Hans van Hoesel with the Overtoom, and Frans van Hooft with his PH-BIB. I had already spoken to them for a while, great to see them again. In fact Frans saw me first.

The beer from this neighbourhood was here of course. This nice grolschballoon is just getting straight up here. Where did that nice bottle go, is it still flying?

This balloon is owned by Rien Jurg Promotions, the organizer of this great event.

I am not allowed to drink beer yet, but I heard it tastes as well as the balloon looks.

Crew is very important to a pilot, and you can never have enough of them. Have a look at how many Michael Brammen had with him. And how many are standing there at the mouth of the Festo balloon!

The strawberry and the Up Side Down from Festo take a lot of work, they are big balloons. Like the Festo with that nice little 'skirt' at the bottom of the balloon.

It gets to hot in there to take passengers. That is why this balloon only takes the pilot up in to the air.

This Up Side Down balloon never flies by it self! The normal Festo is always around, to show him the way. In this special you can only see what is beneath you, not what is coming ahead! Just for the landing the 'skirt' is pulled up to see where it is going.

This is what it looks like from the inside. There was supposed to be some damage, but where???

And this is the outsie. The basket is now hanging, but as you can see on the other picture it stands straight up. That is why it is called Up Side Down balloon!
And a few moments later they are up in to the air.

The calimero was also here, he is just getting behind the strawberry. It looks as if the beak is attached to that balloon!

The frog is getting ready to. The inside of Bertie Basset is very strange. All different pieces, with strings to it, to keep the balloon standing straight of course.

Filip, the Belgian pilot of the Orange, told us he had gone swimming in Joure at the Ballonfeesten. Maybe that is why he went this low with his balloon here across the water. Not touching the water, but flying very low. A very beautiful reflection in the water.
And there most of them are hanging in the sky. A wonderful site, about 35 had left the field that evening.

The last specials were preparing for their flight this evening. Bertie Basset, The Bagpiper and T-Rex would leave one after the other.

Bertie is sort of wrestling the balloon next to him, when he is gone, the Bagpiper can stand upright also.

The sun is shining right trough its face, and also makes the teeth of T-Rex look even bigger! A great sight!

At the end of the evening there was a big nightglow. With lots of music and fireworks!

That was a great evening at the Het Hulsbeek in Oldenzaal. Maybe again next year, and hopefully on the field again!

More pictures are on: Twente Ballooning 2008

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