Aerostation 
 The Art of Ballooning 

Hot Air Balloon Flight Record - 17,18Jul2004
Greenriver Festival - Kathy & Dave, Nadine & Erik

Launch:  Greenfield, MA - Greenfield Community College   Duration:  1:15, 1:10
Land:  GCC, LCL SW   Distance:  1.46, 4.96
Link To: Green River Festival
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Map of the flight


This year continues with the mixed weather. We drove out to Greenfield under stormy skies. Late in the aternoon the weather was looking better. But in the end there was a line of cells west that could have moved into our area, so the Friday evening flight was cancelled.

Saturday morning was calm with clear skies. As it common for the area, we had some fog over the launch site. Reports were clear south in the valley, and it wasn't thick, so it was mostly gone by the time we were inflated.

The initial balloons, including the hare, headed NW, we headed W, and the last balloons headed S. When we got to the bottom of the ridge we turned S, climbing a bit higher we turned E. Before reaching I-91 we dropped down again and turned WNW back toward the field. Eventually returned to our launch site after more than an hour.

Saturday evening looked very promising. Moving cells were well north and east, moving east. Cells in Albany were not moving much and were breaking up. Our one problem was a small cell east, then north, then east of us. It wasn't big and it wasn't moving in a specific direction. Perodically we could see ran, probably virga, falling. As we watched during our launch window, we saw some lightening. Shortly before our 7pm limit to call the flight on or off, the center of the cloud collapsed with heavy rain in the distance, and the outflow arrived at the launch field. That completed the decision to cancel.

Sunday morning was great. Light winds and no fog, just a light low ground mist in spots. Directions looked like they would carry us into the SW hills. We followed the hare, Re/Max, south along the edge of the hills. Re/Max climbed high and we lost sight overhead for a while. Next we knew, Re/Max was north of ut. Climbed to head north, but the track quickly changed to north west. Never got north of Re/Max to make a marker drop. Once the crew was close, we dropped lower to setup for a large cut hay field. Couldn't get close to the house because of the cows.


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This page modified: August 14 2023 16:52:50.