Shhh... It's Sort of a Secret Whimventure®
Balloon Training for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
So last weekend I headed to scenic Hoboken, New Jersey to take my first steps into a larger world… or at least try to join “flight management” for this year’s centennial parade. What does this entail? I’m not allowed to say much, it’s all proprietary and top secret. Basically, I was coached by some great people and tried my hand at actually directing a crew of balloon handlers on a rather windy day.
As a retired educator I had years of experience on some of the needed skills- specially, blowing a whistle and walking backwards. There is more to it than just that and I definitely have some work to do before I can earn my Aeronaut wings. Things I need to work on:
Giving directions clearly and allowing wait time for those instructions to be heard and processed before moving on.
Being far enough ahead of the balloon to make sure it is following the correct path.
Giving positive feedback to everyone involved throughout the experience, I’m there to cheer everyone on not yell out orders… Which I wasn’t yelling, but I know I need to be say “good job!” more especially when things get tough.
After my rotation and debriefing I spent some time on another balloon as a handler and was able to see how windy it was. Ugh. The next day my arms were sore from trying to keep the balloon under control. My fault, with a number of people trying to give helpful advice, but giving contradictory directions it was a bit of a challenge.
Next (if I’m asked to) I head back for classroom training and more practice. So “Smudge” the new MINI will be getting more miles (over so far 9,000 in almost three months) as we drive back and forth from Indiana to New Jersey. I’m looking forward to the challenge and will be spending a bunch of time walking backwards. I’m even thinking about doing the Orc Stomp 5k at Gen Con backwards.
Sorry I don’t have any photos of the event (we were asked not to and I’m Lawful Good) but here are a few that should be OK for publication.
Bruce always comes up with something different. Here it's that pizza picture. Looks more like eels. Of course it was taken at a brewery so ...
But making ballon pilot has got to be fun. Crossing fingers weather will be calm since Bruce doesn't weigh that much and being blown away could be source of a Hollywood Whimventure!