Balloon fest in NM Oct. 6-14

Hot air balloon pilot Frank Bacon has flown in the clear blue skies above Albuquerque for the past 34 years at the city's Balloon Fiesta. He looks forward to enjoying the camaraderie with fellow pilots and schmoozing with curious balloon fans at the annual premier ballooning event.

Despite all the exciting elements of the fiesta, there's one thing Bacon's not looking forward to: trying to find a spot to land his balloon, Sun Flyer, in an ever-growing city.

The area that surrounds the fiesta's balloon launch site in north Albuquerque and the primary balloon flight zone has been gobbled up by increasing development, with open fields being filled with large big-box stores and other businesses _ and possibly deadly power lines.

"As the land has gone away, as a pilot you start looking for a landing site pretty quickly after takeoff," said Bacon, of Albuquerque. "Once we get up off the field, where (the balloon) goes depends on the wind and makes where we're going to land hard to predict. It's a shot in the dark sometimes."

The 36th annual fiesta, which runs from Oct. 6-14, has become the city's identity both in the U.S. and worldwide, and preserving the event requires a balancing act between development and ballooning, said balloon pilot Paul Smith, executive director for the fiesta.

"It's not a crisis, but it's a very important issue to ballooning," Smith said. "At the fiesta, the balloons are kind of pretty and they fly away and spectators go and grab a breakfast burrito, but all balloons have to be able to land somewhere. Without the (landing sites), we won't have a Balloon Fiesta."

Last year, the fiesta drew around 800,000 visitors, more than 700 balloons and 1,000 pilots, said Kathie Leyendecker, fiesta spokeswoman.

This year's event will feature a new hot air balloon flight simulator, a balloon pin trading event and 11 new special shape balloons, including the Belgium built and owned Darth Vader balloon, flying to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, Leyendecker said.

Gary Bennett, president of the fiesta's board of directors, said the city's fall weather creates nearly perfect flying conditions. This unique scenario, known as the "Albuquerque box," is made up of upper and lower level winds created by the Rio Grande Valley and the nearby Sandia Mountains.

The box allows pilots not only to track their flight pattern from north to south but also to land close to their original launch site, which is typically Balloon Fiesta Park in the valley on the northern edge of the city, he said.

The area has been historically more rural, but in recent years has been growing with numerous industrial companies.

Balloons can't fly where there are not favorable wind patterns, Bennett said. Pilots aren't necessarily at the point of competing for landing spots, but the choices are getting fairly tight.

"Development in the (Albuquerque) north valley has become extraordinary in recent years. Thousands of acres have been eaten up overnight," said Bennett, also a balloon pilot. "The pilots aren't fighting for parking spots, it's more just trying to find the parking lot."

A balloon needs at least a half-acre at the minimum to land if there is little or no wind, he said. Windier conditions call for more space, possibly an acre or more.

"When navigating an object about 100 feet tall and trying to land in a small spot, those things can always get dicey. As a pilot, I've felt uncomfortable when it's breezy and spots are limited. You have to be pretty exacting in your piloting," Bennett said.

To deal with limited space issues, the fiesta started a new program this year called "X Marks the Spot." The fiesta invited people who have at least one acre of land free of power lines near Balloon Fiesta Park to lay out a white sheet on the land, letting pilots see from the air that they can use the property as a landing site.

Leyendecker said the response has been "unbelievable" with about 180 acres within a 2-mile radius of the park offered by private citizens within the first week of the program's start.

"This land is absolutely critical to the fiesta," she said. "We were amazed to find this much land."

The city of Albuquerque has offered parks, golf courses and all public land and open space in the fly zone to be used as landing sites. Albuquerque Public Schools also agreed to allow landing in area public school yards and track fields, Smith said.

Nearby Sandia Pueblo also allows balloonist to land on most of its 20,000 acres.

Ed Adams, chief operating officer for the city, said the goal in dealing with landing sites is to look at untapped opportunities in the balloon flight area. Adams said his office also is working to acquire key properties that serve as popular landing sites.

Adams said a bond approved in a recent municipal election allocated $3 million for a 22-acre site near the park that has served as a popular landing site for balloons in the past. The site was recently threatened by major development from a large retailer, but those plans have since been abandoned.

"Let's take advantage of what we have. With the passing of the bond, we now have some real money to go out and acquire high-priority properties," Adams said. "We've been working with and coordinating with property owners to get as many landing sites as we can, and so far we're making pretty good progress."

"Albuquerque is a pretty balloon-friendly town. We all understand how important it is to the community to have the fiesta, and the majority of people are pretty receptive to the need for balloonist landing sites," he added.

Bennett said Balloon Fiesta Park has moved six times around the city due to development and land issues, but that staying in the current "box" zone is essential to the fiesta's success.

Bacon has had a brush with the downside of development, hitting a small power line during one fiesta flight. Though he suffered no injuries to himself or his balloon, he said it's an event he never wants to experience again.

"It was absolutely terrifying. But I went up again the next day. It's like falling off a horse _ you don't let it get to you," the veteran pilot said. "But if the fiesta moves out of Albuquerque, it'll loose its charm. It's all about the box."