Hot Air Balloon Flight Record - 25Jul2015
Brian training

My fan engine wasn't repaired until Friday so we scheduled another instruction flight with Brian. The surface forecast was to pick up speed by 9am so we met at 5am to get off early. Rudi was also out today.

A different direction for this flight. The pibal headed E toward Maynard and curved S up higher. Rudi got off first and headed SSE. We didn't have to climb very far to move faster than forecast. The Boston skyline was hidden in a heavy marine layer all along the coast.

Where possible we flew at tree top level to slow down. That provided practice with wind shears (speed change rather than direction). Climbed to maintain SSW toward Hudson. Tried to set up for Marlboro High School but we turned right and went over the building, missing the larger parking lots. Skipped the fenced track for the Middle School, but we were too far from 85 to hit any corner.

Crossing Marlboro center, we noticed Rudi E of us and the marine layer appeared closer. South of the center we tried to fly lower and turn S, SSE for the industrial areas along 85 but continued SSW. Eventually crossed over a ridge with large yards beyond. The ridge gave us some protection so we could descend and slow to land in a driveway. The entire area was 3 generations of one family!

The crew found us with a phone tracking app but had difficulty finding the correct driveway. The marine layer blew in and we moved a little to deflate down the driveway before it blew us around too much.

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