DROPLINE December 2015 - Balloon Society of Kentucky

Transcription

Executive Committee:
 President - Dallas Beall
 Vice President - Rich Lawhorn
 Secretary - Sue Greene
 Treasurer - Janet Smith
 Newsletter Editor - Wayne Gerding
Safety: Don Smith
Social: Event Chairman Needed
Public Relations: Brian Beazly
Historian: Jerry Copas
Land Owner Relations: Bill Smith
Awards: Terri Hoge
Membership meetings start at 7:00 PM
at the Aero Club at Bowman Field.
DROPLINE December 2015
Bimonthly Newsletter
Balloon Society of Kentucky, Inc.
PO BOX 7661
Louisville, KY
WWW.BSOK.ORG
Committed to Education, Safety and Fellowship!
Results of elections held at the November Meeting.
President—Matt McClinton
Vice President—Derrick Browning
Primary means of distribution for Monthly newsletter is via Email. USPS Mail for
members that have requested hard copy.
Email newsletter material to
penway@mis.net or snail mail to 871
Avenstoke Road, Waddy, KY 40076
DATES TO REMEMBER
January (2nd Thurs): Membership Mtg
February (by 2nd Thurs): Newsletter Sent
15th: Last day to re-register to be
included in the Roster
March 1: Roster published
(2nd Thurs): Membership Mtg
April (by 2nd Thurs): Newsletter Sent
May (2nd Thurs): Membership Mtg
June (by 2nd Thurs): Newsletter Sent
July (2nd Thurs): Membership Mtg
August (by 2nd Thurs): Newsletter Sent
September (2nd Thurs): Membership
Mtg
October (by 2nd Thurs): Newsletter Sent
November (2nd Thurs): Membership Mtg
Odd numbered years: Officers election
December(by 2nd Thurs): Newsletter
Dates to
remember
NEXT MEETING
January 14th
Secretary—Sue Greene
Treasurer—Janet Smith
Newsletter– Wayne Gerding
Big Thank you to Dallas Beall and Rich Lawhorn for their service as President and Vice President.
TEST YOUR PILOT KNOWLEDGE - Bill Smith
Here's the link to the practice test page. http://www.exams4pilots.org/ Make
sure you select the questions for balloon pilot. I would select the maximum number of questions (99) and take the test. After you do that, the program will grade
the test and give you all of the correct answers.. You should You can highlight
the entire test and cut and past that into MS Word and use that as a study guide.
Then select 99 new questions and cut and past that. You should have most of
the questions after a couple of times.
Trailer Safety TIP - I don't know why but in the past 2 weeks I
have seen three trailers break loose from their tow vehicle. One
was a fellow balloon pilot and the ball broke at the stem, fortunately he was going slow on a rough road. The ball showed a
crack with rust. Not something we check often, but maybe
something we should or just replace every X years. Make sure
the safety chains are crossed and secure. Comment by - Eric
Nickerson Liberty flights LLC
2016 BSOK Membership
Dues are now payable.
Complete form at end of newsletter
and turn it in at
next meeting
OR send to Janet Smith.
Complete form
as indicated and
submit with appropriate
amount.
Landowner appreciation drawings
will be held at the January
meeting. Please send in your landowner cards to the post office box
or turn them in at the meeting. In
addition to the drawings, members may nominate their favorite
landowner for a gift card by submitting the name and address of
one property owner who has supported ballooning activities on
their property. Send nominations
to Bill Smith by January 10.
DROPLINE
A Bimonthly publication of the Balloon Society of Kentucky, Inc.
Page 2
President’s Corner
Dear BSOK members,
Wow, two years sure did go quickly. It's been a good experience for me during my
term as president . I have realized the value and importance of our club and welcomed many newcomers aboard. As we go into 2016 with Matt McClinton at the
helm, I will trust him to take us forward with programs and adventures that will help
the club to cultivate many more new pilots and crew .
Please participate and volunteer for any area that you as a member feel you could
be an asset to BSOK.
It does take a village as they say.
I will look forward to our holiday dinner and seeing many of you there this weekend.
I want to personally thank the executive board for their contribution as well.
Keep up the good work and may 2016 be filled with more fond memories and soft
landings.
Sincerely,
Dallas Beall - President 2013-2015
Jerry Cowles
After all his
years of flying
Jerry made the
trip to Albuquerque, NM with
Derrick Browning this year.
Here Jerry is
supporting his
hat at the BIG
TEXAN.
Balloon Society of Kentucky, Inc., is a non-profit incorporated organization. Opinions presented in this newsletter through contribution, articles, letters
and editorials are solely the opinions of the authors and do not express the official views of BSOK the editor or, officers or chairpersons.
DROPLINE
Page 3
NTSB Mishap Reports
On October 9, about 0840 mountain standard time, a Aerostar RX8 balloon encountered a gust of wind after landing. Of
the three occupants, the pilot and one passenger were not injured and one passenger sustained serious injury. The flight
originated from the Albuquerque International Balloon Park about 0750. The pilot stated that after about 50 minutes of
flight, he landed the balloon and waited for his ground crew to arrive. One passenger exited the basket and the second passenger remained in the basket. When the ground crew arrived, the second passenger was beginning to exit the basket
when a gust of wind a gust of wind came up and pushed the envelope and basket over at a 45 degree angle. The pilot
asked the passenger to hold on and began pulling the red line for deflation. After a few seconds the wind shifted 90 degrees to the west taking the envelope and rotating the basket 90 degrees tossing the pilot and passenger to the ground.
The passenger fell on her right shoulder and struck her head on the burner frame. The passenger was transported to the
hospital by ambulance.
On September 27, 2015, about 0745 mountain daylight time, a Lindstrand 69A experienced a hard landing near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The pilot sustained serious injuries and the pilot-rated passenger was not injured. The balloon was not
damaged At 0652 mdt, the weather conditions at the Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ,) 6.2 nautical miles east
southeast of AEG, was wind 010 degrees at 6 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, few clouds at 20,000 feet msl, temperature 14
degrees F, dew point 7 degrees F, and altimeter 30.13 inches.
On August 15, 2015 eastern daylight time, a Head AX9 118 Hot Air Balloon was substantially damaged when it collided
with power lines after landing in a hayfield near New Holland, Pennsylvania. The commercial pilot sustained minor injuries,
and two passengers were seriously injured. The pilot reported that near the end of the flight during the descent phase, he
scanned the area to the north looking for a place to land and saw a hayfield that looked suitable. As the balloon approached the landing site, it descended at a rate of about 2 feet per second, grazing the last four rows of corn before landing in the hayfield. The basket touched the surface, recoiled and dragged for about fifteen feet before ground crews
brought it to a stop. As the ground crew attempted to secure the balloon, the pilot shut off the propane valves and a member of the crew informed the pilot that the balloon envelope was getting light and narrowing. As it narrowed, it became
elongated and drifted towards the power lines on the north side of the field. The balloon envelope contacted the power
lines and electricity went phase to ground, energizing the balloon, while the pilot and two passengers were still occupying
the basket. Initial examination of the balloon by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the balloon was
substantially damaged on the cables and skirt by the electrical arching.
PZ of the Month
PZ 51 is located at 2405
Sir Robert Way. Kathy
Schaftlein, the owner,
has several riding horses
on the property. The
UTM coordinates are 16
S 636407 4236657.
Please maintain sufficient altitude over the
horses, especially when
attempting to land on
Jimmy Litsey's adjacent
property
.
DROPLINE
Page 4
Stunts involving the St Louis Arch are sometimes successful but often disastrous.
TRIAL BALLOON
In 1973, founder of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race and U.S. Ballooning Hall of
Famer Nikki Caplan became the first and only pilot to legally fly a hot air balloon, with a
park official along for the ride, through the Gateway Arch. Caplan’s balloon struck one
leg of the arch but slid past unharmed.
DEADLY MISSTEP
Accomplished skydiver Kenneth Swyers of Overland had made more than 1,000 successful jumps before November 1980. That’s when he parachuted from a plane onto
the top of the Arch. He then attempted to base-jump down, using his reserve parachute, but it failed to open. He lost his footing and slid down the north leg to his death.
Swyers’ wife, Millie, also a parachutist, was filming her husband’s stunt and witnessed
the fatal plunge.
SPIDER-MAN THE SNITCH
Daredevil John C. Vincent of Louisiana, 25, scaled the Arch with suction cups attached
to his arms and legs, then parachuted down from the top in 1992. “It’s clearly a great
stunt,” U.S. Attorney Stephen Higgins said at the time. “It’s just something the park service doesn’t take lightly.” Once he was
charged with two misdemeanors, Vincent’s courage ran out. To save his own skin, he agreed to testify against the man he
had recruited to film the feat.
Rogue drones a growing nuisance across
the U.S. By Craig Whitlock August 10 Washington Post.
Rogue drone operators are rapidly becoming a national nuisance,
invading sensitive airspace and private property — with the regulators of the nation’s skies largely powerless to stop them.
In recent days, drones have smuggled drugs into an Ohio prison,
smashed against a Cincinnati skyscraper, impeded efforts to fight
wildfires in California and nearly collided with three airliners over
New York City.
Earlier this summer, a runaway two-pound drone struck a woman
at a gay pride parade in Seattle, knocking her unconscious. In Albuquerque, a drone buzzed into a crowd at an outdoor festival, injuring a bystander. In Tampa, a drone reportedly stalked a woman
outside a downtown bar before crashing into her car.
The incidents are the byproduct of the latest consumer craze:
cheap, easy-to-fly, remotely piloted aircraft. Even basic models can
soar thousands of feet high and come equipped with powerful video cameras — capabilities that would have been hard to foresee
just a few years ago
Reports began surfacing last year of runaway drones interfering
with air traffic and crashing into buildings. But the problem has
grown worse as drone sales have surged.
“I’m definitely getting much more concerned about it,” Michael P.
Huerta, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said in a
phone interview Monday. He said the FAA is particularly worried
about a surge in reports of drones flying dangerously close to airports. The latest incident came Sunday, when four airline crews
reported a brush with a drone on a flight path into Newark International Airport.
DROPLINE
Page 5
Huerta added that the recent interference by drones with California firefighters was “really a
wake-up call for a lot of people. This kind of thing has got to stop.”
Most new drone models are aimed at novice fliers who are often “blissfully unaware” of aviation
safety practices, said Michael Braasch, an electrical engineering professor and drone expert at
Ohio University. “Unfortunately, there’s also going to be a small percentage of users who are just
going to behave badly.”
The Consumer Electronics Association, an industry group, estimates that hobbyists will buy
700,000 of the remote-controlled aircraft in the United States this year, a 63 percent increase from
2014.
January
2 Doug Peterson
6 Jessie Browning
13 Joanne Beazly
14 Tim McClain
15 Brett Stoy
18 D. J. Stickler
20 Bill Bellis, Sr
February
4 Jerry Cowles
6 Spencer Copas
7 Don Conner
9 Ray Donner
12 Jerry Copas
19 Terri Donner
24 Dan Hoehler
March
6 Paul Knuth
7 Sam Beazly
10 John Daugherty
Don Smith
Janet L. Smith
11 Daniel Lazar
14 Frank Otte
19 Stephen Bennett
26 Kathy Copas
Gary Dunlap
27 Peyton Hoge IV
30 Bob Boswell
April
3 Ron Harris
3 Charlie Hurst
10 George Recktenwald
12 Bart Boroughs
21 Karen Bennett
22 Brian Beazly
29 Terry Metzger
Although the vast majority of drone enthusiasts fly solely for recreation, authorities worry about
the potential for a new airborne menace.
In a July 31 intelligence bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security said it had recorded more
than 500 incidents since 2012 in which rogue drones hovered over “sensitive sites and critical
installations,” such as military bases and nuclear plants. In one well-publicized case in January, a
drone crashed onto the White House grounds.
Another unnerving scenario emerged last month when a Connecticut man posted an Internet video of a drone he had armed with a handgun, firing shots by remote control as it hovered in the air.
Local police and the FAA determined that no laws had been broken.
In general, drone misadventures are happening in a regulatory vacuum. The FAA has banned most
commercial drone flights until it can finalize new safety rules — a step that will take at least another year.
But people who fly drones for fun aren’t regulated. Under a law passed in 2012 that was designed
in part to protect model-airplane enthusiasts, the FAA cannot impose new restrictions on recreational drone owners. As a result, they are not required to obtain licenses, register their aircraft or
undergo training.
[Close encounters on rise as small drones gain in popularity]
To protect regular air traffic, the FAA has issued guidelines requiring that consumer drones stay at
least five miles away from airports and below an altitude of 400 feet.
Those standards are widely flouted, however; in the past month alone, airline pilots have reported
close calls with drones near airports in New York, Charlotte, Minneapolis and Phoenix.
In neighborhoods nationwide, the buzz of drones is becoming a common sound, as well as a
source of conflict. Police blotters contain an increasing number of reports from residents complaining about uninvited drones hovering over their back yards.
For the most part, such flights are legal — a fact that is prompting a backlash from anti-drone vigilantes.
In Hillview, Ky., last month, a homeowner blasted a drone out of the sky with a shotgun, saying he
was trying to protect his daughters from being spied on. He was charged with criminal mischief;
police did not take action against the drone owner.
Similarly, in May, a judge ordered a man from Modesto, Calif., to pay a neighbor $850 for peppering his drone with buckshot. In September, a man from Cape May, N.J., was charged with shooting
DROPLINE
Page 6
In other cases, however, authorities have been more sympathetic toward drone haters. In June, for example, prosecutors did not
take action against a crew of firefighters in Orange County, N.Y., who used their water hoses to knock down a drone that had been
filming them as they battled a house blaze.
In California last month, state legislators introduced a bill that would grant immunity to emergency responders who damage a
drone that gets in their way. The measure was prompted by several incidents in which amateur paparazzi drones swarmed
around wildfires, crowding the skies and forcing firefighters to ground their tanker aircraft to avoid a midair collision.
“Cars were torched on the freeways because drones made aerial firefighting efforts impossible,” state Sen. Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado), a sponsor of the measure, said in a statement. “This is maddening and I can’t believe that hobby drones are risking people’s
lives to get videos on YouTube.”
[FAA rules might allow thousands of business
drones]
Although the FAA lacks the authority to license
recreational drones, it does have the power to
impose civil fines on anyone who recklessly interferes with air traffic or endangers people on the
ground. Yet the agency has levied fines in only a
handful of cases, saying it does not have the staff
to investigate most complaints.
Huerta, the FAA chief, said Monday that the recent
spate of risky incidents prompted the agency to
revisit its approach and that it will adopt “more
stringent enforcement” measures in cooperation
with state and local officials.
For months, FAA officials had focused almost exclusively on trying to educate drone operators.
The agency has partnered with the drone industry and others on a public awareness campaign aimed at hobbyists called Know
Before You Fly. The FAA has also co-sponsored public service announcements to discourage drone use at special events and locations, such as the Super Bowl, the California wildfires and a no-fly zone that covers much of the Washington region.
FAA officials said they are encouraging major retailers to provide drone-safety information to holiday shoppers this year. The
agency also is testing a software application for Apple devices that would inform drone users whether it is safe or legal to fly at a
specified location.
Drone manufacturers have made it easy for consumers to fly the robotic aircraft right out of the box. But companies need to take
more responsibility for educating their customers by adding warning labels, devising software fixes to limit where drones can fly
and taking other steps, said James H. Williams, a former manager of the FAA’s drone integration office.
“In a lot of ways, it’s up to the manufacturers to warn people about flying too high, flying too close to airports, flying too close to
airplanes,” said Williams, now an aviation consultant for Dentons, a major law firm. “It’s important that they step up and do more
than they are.”
Brian Wynne, the president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry group, said that “there’s
always room” for drone companies to expand education efforts. But he said there is only so much the industry can do to prevent
reckless behavior.
“I frankly just don’t think there’s any excuse for anyone flying a [drone] anywhere near an airport or near a runway,” he said. “We
have got to enforce our laws.”
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After 40 years, the London Bridge hot air balloon is finally home again.
The hot air balloon that floated over the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City when it was dedicated Oct. 10, 1971, disappeared for many years and only recently resurfaced.
Lake Havasu resident Dean Baker, a hot air balloon pilot, received a phone call from a fellow pilot
from Palm Springs, Calif., who told him he thought he found the London Bridge balloon in his
airplane hangar.
“There are about 7,000 hot air balloon pilots in the U.S.,” Baker said. “And they are wellconnected. We all keep in touch and know what’s going on in the hot air balloon community.” So
when the pilot in Palm Springs came across the balloon, he called Baker.
“I was amazed at what good shape it was in after 40 years,” Baker said.
“We rummaged through the hangar looking for it, and there it was,” Baker said.
Any doubts he had about it being the real London Bridge balloon vanished when
he turned over the bag in which it was stored. “Printed on the bag was ‘London
Bridge,’” Baker said.
Baker purchased the balloon from the pilot for $500 and it is now in his garage at
home.
The original London Bridge balloon was commissioned by Robert McCulloch in
1971 at a cost of about $12,000,” Baker said, which in today’s dollars would be
about $72,000. The average cost to build a hot air balloon today is between
$45,000 and $65,000. The London Bridge balloon weighs about 250 pounds, with
a 90,000 cubic foot capacity.
McCulloch had the balloon designed after the hot air balloon that flew over the
London Bridge in London when it was dedicated in 1831. That was the same
bridge that McCulloch purchased in 1968 to be brought to Lake Havasu and reassembled over what was to become the Bridgewater Channel.
The Havasu London Bridge balloon was meant only to be tethered to the ground, and did not have FAA
approval to be flown. During the 1971 dedication, attended by 50,000 people, the parade began on the
Island and crossed the London Bridge, where the balloon was tethered to a cornerstone of the bridge.
The Lord Mayor of London was present for the dedication, and he was given the honor of pulling the
cord to release the balloon, which floated upward, but remained tethered.
“At the same time,” Baker explained, “3,000 pigeons and 3,000 helium balloons were also released. And
that’s where all of our pigeons around the channel came from.”
Baker isn’t sure how the balloon vanished from Havasu. The balloon was built by George Stokes of California, and he thinks McCulloch may have given it to him, because in 1976 Stokes and a cameraman
were flying in the balloon over Miami to film a movie. The balloon crashed into a swamp, and the Coast
Guard rescued both men, who were uninjured.
Stokes was a premier builder of thermal airships (blimps) and designed and built the airship “Jungle
Spaceship” which was used in the first attempt to explore jungle canopies. Stokes is 78 years old now,
and Baker is attempting to contact him and offer to fly him to Havasu for the re-dedication of the London
Bridge balloon.
Baker has been repairing the balloon for several weeks now and plans
to have it ready for the London Bridge Days celebration in October. The basket wasn’t with the balloon;
it no doubt deteriorated over the years. Baker will use his own basket on the balloon, and will tether it for
viewing at Springberg-McAndrew Park on McCulloch Boulevard Oct. 28, wind permitting.
“I’ve been testing it,” said Baker, “and it’s almost ready.”
Asked what he plans to do with the balloon after its debut during London Bridge Days, Baker pondered
it for a moment and thought the perfect home for it would be the Lake Havasu Museum of History.
“I’d like to see it displayed in its bag, where visitors can see ‘London Bridge’ printed on it,” Baker said,
“with part of the balloon spilling out of the bag for people to see.
”He would also like to borrow it back from the Museum to put it on display every year during London
Bridge Days, for all the people of Lake Havasu to enjoy its beauty and recognize it as an important part
of Havasu’s history.
(Extract from RiverScene Magazine. Story by Judy Lacy Sep 1, 2015)
DROPLINE
Page 8
Three quick tips from both a balloonist and someone who works with Go Pros on a regular basis in broadcasting and in flight...
1. Shoot in the highest possible resolution you can. You can always
make footage worse, you cannot make it better. 1080i is the best choice
for now as there are very few TVs out there that are capable of 4K yet
and 4K sales aren't taking off as fast as they'd like. That said, shooting in
4K is better but you'll have a hard time watching the files as there's not a
lot of 4K hardware out there yet so you'd end up having to convert your
footage to 1080i. With that in mind, my original statement about not
making footage better still stands and shooting in 4K will let you enjoy
your videos long into the future. If you shoot in 4K you can edit your
footage and output your final edited product in 1080i. This gives you get
a LOT of ability to digitally zoom into things in the shot with minimal degradation in the picture quality since the 4K
picture is roughly 4x the size of a 1080 picture. Since the GoPro does not have a zoom lens this can be a bonus.
2. Best mounting system, bar none is the Manfrotto Magic Arm & Manfrotto Super Clamp. They're not cheap - $128
from B & H Photo in New York - but they're worth it. There are two versions - one with a lever quick lock and one
with a knob lock. I use the one with the lever but both work fine. The super clamp lets you clamp the thing to uprights or a burner frame. Both are rock solid in flight and quick and easy to re-aim or level. We use both all the time
in broadcast applications to hold POV cameras for live wide venue shots and to hold monitors and such. They're seriously bulletproof.
3. As for software for "processing" (editing?) the video, you don't actually "need" anything... you can run the video on
any computer raw as it comes off of the camera's card. The
GoPro generates a QuickTime .movie file that will play in Apple's QuickTime player (although I don't recommend it if
you're running a PC 'cause it's very slow to load and operate)
or Windows Media Player. Most other video players will play
a .mov file with no problems.
If you want to edit and have no experience with editing, Windows Movie Maker or Apple's version of it (I'm a PC guy) both
work fine. If you want more editing power then Adobe Premiere is excellent but you'll have to buy a monthly subscription
from Adobe to use it.
John Phillips
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
GoPro Studio is a free download and is the easiest way to import, edit, timestretch, filter, downsize, and/or
output GoPro video to any other format if you're just looking to do simple edits for sharing.
Soft Landings,
Jon Radowski
DROPLINE
Page 9
Pictorial Look at Leon 2015
We Will Be
Back in 2016
DROPLINE
Page 10

DROPLINE December 2015 - Balloon Society of Kentucky

Transcription

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