Over 90 aircraft sorties, not counting hot air balloons. STOL airplanes, helicopters, microlights, paragliders, S-211 jets… .
Brass bands and silent drill teams. Rocketeers. Six volunteers winched from the audience into rescue helicopters. Three lost parents found and returned to their worried children.
Thirteen aerobatic flights. Plus two Air Force training jets doing chandelle rolls low over the show.
Zero accidents. Zero incidents. Four UPS cargo flights delayed.
Balloon-bursting — 11 airplanes vs. 111 party balloons: 34 balloons died, four flight crews earned ace status with at least 5 kills each.
And of course, the hot air balloons. Twenty this year, bigger than dinosaurs, from countries all over the world.
The 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta.
As always, the hot air balloons exuded magic — children scampered around them, couples hugged, drivers stopped on the highway and got out of their cars to watch.
I’ve seen the hot air balloons many times, but they still lift the spirit and warm the heart.
Like the Grimm’s benevolent dragons, the balloons loomed three stories high, nodding gently against each other, breathing fire.
How could they not bring the child out in anyone?
Then, fat with lift, they tiptoed ponderously past each other into the sky.
Photo by Darrell
I’ve written before about the Fiesta’s events and aircraft in previous years, at PFSG’s Forum. This year I’ll focus on the people.
Many of us who work at the Fiesta reunite but once a year. We renew old friendships and form new ones. Bold new faces recharge jaded veterans.
Image submitted by Pinky
Airshows are supposed to be masterpieces of meticulous organization. Not this one.
Serendipity, plus self- initiative by unpaid volunteers, are what really keep this Fiesta on track. Every participant, from air traffic controller to aerobatic pilot, is a volunteer.
It’s a modest show, by global standards.
But it’s all-volunteer. We pay for our own avgas and lodging, buy each other meals, and donate talent and time to fill four Fiesta days.
Tens of thousands of tickets are sold, and scores of concessionaires sell goods at the Fiesta.
Photo by Jaime Unson
It all goes to a cause, somewhere, somehow.
Serendipity. Initiative.
Two Fiestas ago, as the Philippine Marines Drum and Bugle Corps performed for the crowd, Gen. Ed Calvo of the Air Force told me that “MARINE” stood for Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential (A US Marine with a PhD. told him that).
This year the Marines played Lupang Hinirang on Thursday morning.
They came out of nowhere, marched silently onto the field, and played the anthem just as an Army skydiver unfurled the flag 4,000 feet above their heads.
Then they serenaded us with pop hits and Filipino classics, before marching off again.
Who got them here? How did they know where to go, when to start? Initiative.
The Marines never came back, though. At dawn on Friday, we suddenly needed a recording of the anthem!
The Philippine Air Force had a CD at their base. A runner delivered it just as the skydiver exited over the drop zone. The anthem played as the flag came down. Perfect timing? Serendipity.
Photo by Dong Vytiaco
Next year, someone will remember to donate a backup CD. I guess. A checklist would be good. Or serendipity and initiative 🙂
Stressed Out Over Safety
At dawn on Saturday the wind howled at 16 knots, gusting to 26. The balloons struggled to inflate in the gale.
Hot air balloon pilots need winds to be 5 knots or less.
A hopeless cause. The wind sock mocked us, standing straight out horizontally. A storm in February??
Saturday had the biggest crowd, too. People packed the entire fiesta ramp, and the balloons could not fly.
The Gulf Air balloon of Don and Debbie Conner inflated briefly, later that day. Don, a balloon pilot for 34 years, has 3,700 flying hours (that’s a lot, ask any kind of pilot!).
But even he and his wife could not fight the strong winds on Saturday.
The crowd, which packed the Fiesta grounds that morning, was clearly disappointed. But we had to put safety foremost, and reluctantly but firmly cancelled balloon flights.
In the photo, you can see the tip of the windsock, stretched rigidly horizontal by high winds.
As the wind muscled against us, I held the flag jump airplane, an Army Cessna 172, on the ground, and didn’t dispatch it until 0615. Air traffic control then held them at altitude, at our request, until our skydiving safety officer cleared the jump.
Mort F., our skydiving safety officer, is a former USAF Combat Controller, one of those special forces units that even the special forces know little about.
He has been in desperate, vicious firefights that rarely get written about, where courage is genuinely above and beyond the call of duty.
Photo by Dong Vytiaco
Mort is retired, has made his home in the southern Philippines, and has volunteered himself to the Fiesta for two years now. The advantage of having Mort as our safety officer is that he has seen it all. “There’s no war here, Tonet. We don’t need to put anyone on the line. We’ll wait until the winds calm down.”
The wind dropped briefly to 12 knots at 0730, so Mort quickly cleared us for the flag jump, an hour behind our target time. The delay was the least of our worries.
We now had big holes in our schedule. The crowd had already missed seeing the balloons fly. We had to keep the airshow going!
Photo by Jaime Unson
The ultralights didn’t even try to brave the wind. The paragliders launched, then quickly headed for the ground. At one point I thought they were being blown backwards!
The flag jump went off well, though.
That flag has the same footprint as 4 cars parked side by side. It was quite a burden, but the Army skydiving team has had 3 years of experience with this. Sgt. “Sprite E., our flag jumper, did well. You can see the brute force of the wind, on that flag.
Photo by Jaime Unson
It got worse. We thought the winds would die as the sun rose.
Wrong. A cold front was pushing across Luzon, bringing tight pressure gradients, chilled air and sustained winds.
The paragliders came down, totally intimidated.
Our flag jumper reported worse winds aloft. After two more skydiving lifts, we grounded skydiving for the day.
Philippine National Police skydivers, right, repack parachutes on Saturday morning. They didn’t use them again that day.
Mort stands pensively on the left.
So there we were, an hour behind schedule. The balloon pilots had given up, the skydivers were grounded, the paragliders had departed in defeat, and the windsock threatened to rip itself off its pole and blow away altogether.
We had thousands of people in the crowd. School buses with kids lined the Manuel Roxas highway to the show grounds. Two tents blew down. Buddy Lopa, our untiring “Voice of the Fiesta” show announcer, was reduced to apologizing for the wind.
We were stressed! The airshow, perfect safety record and all, was dying.
That’s when our aerobatic pilots, Bill Wright and Meynard Halili, walked up to the operations tent, asking what time they could start engines.
Resurrection!
Next: Aerobatics at the Fiesta, a hovering Helio, skydivers galore, and the Helium Dispersal Team.
Darrel, one of the best photographers I’ve ever met, has pure art at his site here.
Check out Dong’s site here for more excellent photos of the Fiesta!
Jaime, a professional photographer, has his masterpieces at his site here
A big thank you to you guys for the use of your photos.
More exciting images on the Fiesta in the next article.
Posted from Nashville, Feb 29, 2008.
.
My family and I was at last year’s Fiesta and all of us enjoyed it.
Judging from the many pictures I’ve seen of this year’s PIHABF, the weather looked pretty cloudy.
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Hi Paul,
Yes, most days had broken at the 4-5,000 foot layer and a higher overcast.
Saturday morning dawned with high winds, chilly temps and high stratus torn apart by high winds aloft. Both Mort and I commented on Saturday’s stratus. Parang bitak-bitak na stratus.
Clark Tower kept us updated on weather, and of course METARs were available on both 113.10 and by cellphone.
Saturday afternoon was broken at 4,000.
Sunday morning was scattered at 5,000, clearing to CAVOK in the afternoon. The front had passed by then.
I kept a daily log which included cloud and wind. Both were important for the skydivers and aerobatic pilots.
Standby for more pictures of the Fiesta.
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elow sir toneT
sir i’ve send bunch of pics on the ballon bursting event @ this add. tonet.rivera@bms.com. hope it will be a use for your next article..
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To Mort Freeman
Thank you for signing the prints by Keith Ferris of his painting, which I own, titled, “The Miracle at Kham Duc”
Glad you were rescued,
Jan _ Life Member CCA
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Hi Jan, thanks for dropping by Flying in Crosswinds, and for taking the time to leave a note.
I’ll pass your message on to Mort via SMS. There’s a little bit more material in the other post here, “Mort’s Rescue at Kham Duc“.
I’m sure you’ve seen most of the images there elsewhere on the web.
I’m familiar with at least one of your books – Hit My Smoke. I have a tremendous respect for the FAC role in South East Asia. Because I live here (shuttling between Bangkok and Manila) I have a special interest in the 1960-75 era of the FACs. I never knew anything about this until I real Christopher Robbins’ book, The Ravens.
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My family and i attendad the !2th Balloon Fiesta even if im from General santos city..I enjoyed it so much,but i planned to be there for the 13th PIHABF…
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Hi Norman, thanks for your note.
The 14th Balloon Fiesta is at Clark on Feb 12-15. It always gets better every year so you won’t be disappointed, I’m sure. Come look for Carlo and I — we should be at the operations tent just outside the fence line. Would be very good to meet you, and maybe we can chat a bit or even go and see some of the airplanes on the flight line!
.
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Oh..soRRY…
hi ToneT,I did not aTtend thE 14th PIHABF bCoZ
of my sTudieS..
Im a Friend of the Asiana air saFari Team
especially Capt.Joy…
haha!!
no jokE!!
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Norman, nice to have an Asian Air Safari Team person on board here. See at the 15th PIHABF then! 😀
.
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Hi Sir Tonet, are you this year’s Air Boss? I saw the coverage of “Unang Hirit” this morning and it reminded me of your blog about the past Fiesta’s.
I was actually hoping this year’s balloon fiesta would fall on May 🙂 Maybe next year . . . ?
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Yes sir, still the Air Boss. Carlo will soon take over… .
Fiesta will be in February every year. Great weather month, no typhoons or rain, cool enough for the hot air inside the balloons to lift.
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Ehh that’s cool, hope to meet him soon, the future Air Boss.
Good luck for the final day Sir. I’ll start planning my vacation for next year’s 🙂 even for just the week.
WN
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Hello trying to figure out how to contact you here, I am old and not very good with computers. I worked at Clark AB 1981-1984. You and I have a mutual friend in southern Philippines. My friends in Angeles can’t contact him since the day of the floods! Was wondering if you have heard from him. Many here in America are very nervous. He was like a father to us and all those that learned to skydive or scuba dive from him. I think you’ll know right off who I mean.
Patrick
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Patrick, I know who you mean. I have only one old phone number for him. I will try and get some more information. Let’s stay in touch on this comment thread. I also have your email, above. Let’s hope that he is fine, and I will do my best to find out for sure.
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Patrick, someone who visited him late last year said our friend was not directly affected by the floods in the southern Philippines. Unfortunately I am unable to share more specific information. I can send messages, if you want. Long roundabout route, but best I can do.
I hope this is okay!
Tonet
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Thank you so much Tonet, all of us appreciate any news! My prayers to those that have suffered the typhoon.
Patrick
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Thanks for the article post.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
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