ISSUE 844 - December 26, 2023 • Over 7,000 Total Ads Listed • 1,000+ NEW Ads Per Week
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| Colorful Gathering on the Mountain - Part 2 |
| Dana Brejakova, Contributing Writer & Photographer |
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When Slats took off and disappeared behind the horizon, I got my camera ready because I knew what he was up to. He went to do test rounds for the afternoon participation event that included airplanes, Air Boss, scheduling and safety briefing, precision flying, and a yellow balloon a.k.a. balloon busting participation event. The rules were simple - bust one yellow balloon per pass. The more the busts the more the points for the aviator and greater the ovation and woohooing from the spectators.
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| Bulldog (Gerald) was sent to release the first test balloon for Slats. My camera was following Gerald's steps and caught him getting a red spinner nose from one of the beautiful RVs. Unexpected and funny capture there. |
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Here we had another balloon first officer who wanted to release test balloons for Slats.
Balloon released! |
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| Slats was completing his third round attacking the balloon. Almost got it, but no bust. It is not easy to get those cheeky balloons. After a few more rounds, the test run was a success and Slats was ready to hold a safety briefing for all participating aviators. |
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Everyone had a print of a very detailed NOTAM at hand which I read as well and I was impressed. Again, a great deal of organizing this Fly-In goes into safety and complex preparations. The compulsory safety briefing began and I was peeking in not to miss any important detail.
Everybody was ready, all systems were looking good, the event was a GO. The Air Boss took his position and was getting ready to secure ground-to-air communications. Soon, the balloon busting filled our Saturday afternoon with colors, engine roars, beautiful flying action, and lots of fun for everyone.
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And here we had the official balloon release first officer who was
doing a fabulous job during the whole afternoon. |
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| Educated debate about fluid dynamics was taking place in the group of stoked spectators who were chillin' by the colorful RV tails. |
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As the participating pilots were taxiing to the runway, I had a wonderful chance to snap their run-ups. I was so happy to have this shot. Blue skies and blue lake with
the yellow bird with blue accents - perfection! |
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| Beautiful contrast of the forest and the classy paintjob of this lovely bird. Next time I needed to slow that shutter speed to get the whole prop disc. Focus, Dana! |
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| Here I was again pursuing the NASA paint scheme among the participating airplanes that somehow made me crave ice-cream again. This time, I even went to the camp ground to sniff around the food supply if there was any ice cream, and I usually do not eat ice-cream. That amazing paint job must have had subconscious powers over me. |
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This year, Jimmy the Squirrel was participating too, and I was excited to photo shoot him in action. Yay! The hard work of scrubbing our RV-8 paid off handsomely.
Look how gorgeous she was shining! |
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| Promising approach from the winner of the whole event (Oops! Spoiler alert!) and we had a nice clean pop! That cheeky yellow balloon could not stand a chance when facing this bird! |
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It was truly something watching all those great looking RVs going after the balloon. Just like a predator stalking its prey where a failure is not an option. Patience and precision resulted in another bust. "Pop!" Those pops were loud, let me tell you. Even the pilots could hear them.
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Sometimes the balloon only slid and bounced off the propeller staying un-touched.
Next round for the turquoise number 3, please! |
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| And here was Jimmy the Squirrel attacking the balloon from a very photogenic angle. Look at that clean belly! No pop, but Jimmy cut the ribbon clean, 2 points! |
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| Check out the balloon going straight against the prop spinner. Beautiful approach there! |
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| Aaaaaand the balloon stayed! See? It was not as easy to pop them because those balloons, obviously, had a mind of their own. |
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| Who wants some ice-cream? |
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| Another moment when the balloon only bounced off and was sliding along the canopy. However, the tail busted it. You should hear the audience cheering. |
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| Great job, scrubbing those bellies, folks! |
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After a full day of flying, the participating birds were coming back for landing.
Ambiance I always like to capture. |
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| Jimmy the Squirrel was the last participant on the final and was about to land. |
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| Beautiful RV-8. "Don't you ever sell her, Jimmy!" |
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| A special judge glanced over the scoreboard to double check the accuracy of the results and according to his expression, he was in a quiet agreement. |
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| How time flies when you are having fun, huh? The afternoon turned into an early evening and everyone was slowly moseying to dinner. |
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| The Sun started setting and all birds were tucked in for the night. |
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Everyone was lining up for another delicious dinner (again, shout out to all volunteers from EAA Chapter 165 who were taking royal care of us) and the whole line was chirping and chit-chatting about the fantastic afternoon filled with amazing flying.
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| What a wonderful day that was! |
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To sum up, we had a blast and cannot wait to come here again next year. I think it is safe to say that the Petit Jean Mountain RV Fly-In has become our yearly pilgrimage that we cannot and do not want to miss. Until next year!
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| By Dana Brejakova, Contributing Writer & Photographer |
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