Lucidity
UFO Pilot
Summoned once again by the roar of propane burners, we deployed over the Labor Day weekend to the vibrant, artistic town of Sequim on the tip of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Our mission: to fly its inaugural hot air balloon festival.
We've already posted a gallery of still images from the event on our website. Now, having spent nearly every spare hour betwix that moment and this frantically editing the video, it is finally ready for its public debut:
We owe much to all of the folks who helped make this happen, beginning with the festival organizers and all of the great pilots who we worked with during the event – most especially Captain Crystal Stout of the Morning Star Balloon Company, our relentless supporter and advocate, and a good friend.
Also in line for a pail full of praise is Andy and everyone at the Sequim Valley Airport, who welcomed us and our odd-looking aircraft like we actually belonged there. You're a class act, Andy!
As I noted previously on our website, the festival also gave us the opportunity to meet Bill – “WildWill” over on FPVLab – a fellow FPVer who turned out with us bright and early Monday morning and contributed some footage to this project, as well. Thank you, Bill!
With this project, I hope that we not only captured the spectacle of the event, but gave you some insights about how hot air balloons function as aircraft.
Whether it was using a FLIR thermal imaging camera to show you how heat moves inside the envelope, or capturing the view from above as the top is pulled off a balloon to bring it back to Earth, we tried to show you some things that you might not have ever seen before.
We hope you enjoyed it!
We've already posted a gallery of still images from the event on our website. Now, having spent nearly every spare hour betwix that moment and this frantically editing the video, it is finally ready for its public debut:
We owe much to all of the folks who helped make this happen, beginning with the festival organizers and all of the great pilots who we worked with during the event – most especially Captain Crystal Stout of the Morning Star Balloon Company, our relentless supporter and advocate, and a good friend.
Also in line for a pail full of praise is Andy and everyone at the Sequim Valley Airport, who welcomed us and our odd-looking aircraft like we actually belonged there. You're a class act, Andy!
As I noted previously on our website, the festival also gave us the opportunity to meet Bill – “WildWill” over on FPVLab – a fellow FPVer who turned out with us bright and early Monday morning and contributed some footage to this project, as well. Thank you, Bill!
With this project, I hope that we not only captured the spectacle of the event, but gave you some insights about how hot air balloons function as aircraft.
Whether it was using a FLIR thermal imaging camera to show you how heat moves inside the envelope, or capturing the view from above as the top is pulled off a balloon to bring it back to Earth, we tried to show you some things that you might not have ever seen before.
We hope you enjoyed it!
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