Where are you going to land? We all hear that question from people who are going on thier first flight. Many will answer that question with "Where the wind takes us". We all know that we fly with the wind. Often we’re not real sure where we’re gonna land.
I would encourage each of you to choose your landing site before you launch on every flight. What did the pi-ball do? What did the forecast say? What did your drone show you was up there. Fly a competition flight EVERY TIME YOU FLY! It will make you a better pilot!
Creating a flying area is not only good for your flight skills but by launching and landing in the same fields all the time you can greatly reduce landowner issues. Find those spots where you know you have permission to launch and land and mark them on your map! USE THEM! Not only will this make you a better pilot but when you are landing in areas where people are used to seeing you, this can also reduce the number of "911 Balloon Crash calls"
For 30 years I flew in an area where we had very few good spots to land and if you missed you, you ended up in a swamp someplace or in an area that was literally un accessible. We had to use the same launch and landing areas more out of survival then anything else. You could ruin your whole day landing out in an area where only a tractor or air boat could get to you. I have seen pilots even have to hire a helicopter to get their balloon out.
So, we would plan our flights from lunch land. Every time. We had one landing site that we would target from miles away (8-15) day after day from many different launch sites all around the compass. Flight after flight we would land within 40 feet of the same spot every time. Our ground team would literally walk out in the field and stand in one spot and we would fly into their open arms!
The land owner knew is was us every time and if there were ruts left by a chase crew somewhere on the property he would know it was not from us. This was an additional benefit as well.
If you fly with the HotAir.app you can use the measure tool pre-flight to determine your launch and landing sites and see if you can accomplish landing in the target field. The next time you fly in a balloon competition you may be surprised how well you do because your flying to a target on every flight.
All my best to you.
Fly well, Have FUN & BE SAFE
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