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Photos By
JD Olson
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Balloons And The Albuquerque Airport
Photo by J.D. Olson
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An old airplane replica hangs from the ceiling and it is strictly VFR. equipped. However, that is not a problem because except for extreme weather conditions, you will just about always find good flying conditions in Albuquerque.
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Photo by J.D. Olson
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It is the beautiful weather condition at Albuquerque that make it such a popular spot for balloonist to fly their balloons. It was their balloons that helped lead to a very interesting experience I had with the Albuquerque Airport.
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Those Hot Air Balloons!
Photo by J.D. Olson
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It was March 30th, 1974 and I remember it like it was yesterday. Well, maybe I don't remember it like it was yesterday, but the details of the trip are in my old flight log, so that helps me remember it like it was yesterday.
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Photo by J.D. Olson
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Balloonists had gathered South East of the airport for one of their big flying events. I don't know how many there were, but there were more balloons in Albuquerque that day than I thought there were in the world.
As a rule the balloons are not a problem for pilots. The flight reports available to pilots, show the dates and areas that are being used by the balloonists. Hot air balloons have right of way over powered aircraft. That means that you stay away from the area!
But what happens when you run out of gas in your airplane,
you are eight miles from the airport, and all of those balloons are between you and the airport? You would think that if you ran out of gas you would no longer be considered a powered aircraft and the balloonist would no longer have the right of way, so you could just fly right through them. However, it doesn't work that way. Disafortunamente!
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Balloons and N3676W
Photo by J.D. Olson
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Well, like I said, it was March 30th, 1974 and I was in a Piper Cherokee or PA-32 as they are listed in the book. I had just been checked out in the Cherokee the day before. The Cherokee is a low wing, six place plus a jump seat for kids, high performance airplane with a constant speed prop. Before March 29th, all of my flying had been in a Cessna 152 or 172. The 152 is a two place, high wing, low performance trainer, and the 172 was a 3 1/2 passenger version of the same thing.
There was myself, two other men, the wife of one of the men, my mother, my son and one of my daughters. One of the men was the thirty year old manager of a building materials business in Alamogordo, let's call him Tom. We were all living in Alamogordo at the time. Tom had never been up in an airplane.
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OOPS!
Photo by J.D. Olson
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I had just tuned to 123.9 on the radio. "Albuquerque approach, this is Cherokee November three, six seventy six whiskey reporting about eight miles south for landing at Albuquerque". At that moment the motor stopped running. A quick glance at the four fuel gauges, and all where showing "E". The flying club in Alamogordo needed to send an airplane prop to Albuquerque to be rebuilt so the deal was that if I would take the prop to Albuquerque, I could use the plane for free. They also said that aviation fuel was 37¢ a gallon in Alamogordo and only 34¢ a gallon in Albuquerque. So, I was to fill up in Albuquerque.
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Airport! What Airport?
Photo by J.D. Olson
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The airport by now, had realized that I was flying dead stick (dead stick means without the engine running). I was flying at about 11,000 feet ASL. Albuquerque Airport is at 4,955 feet ASL. That meant that I was about 6,000 feet above the ground. With the load that I had and no engine running, the plane would loose about 800 feet a minute. At 90 MPH I would get 1 and 1/2 miles closer to the airport each minute. If you do the math, you see that I had between 6 and 8 minutes of flying time left. NO PROBLEM! the airport is only 8 miles away.
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Oh! That Airport!
Photo by J.D. Olson
Airport: "Cherokee 3, 6, 7, 6 whiskey,
do you have runway 17 in sight"
Me: "Negative" was my response.
I was busy trying to restart the airplane.
I didn't have time to identify a runway!
Airport: "Cherokee 3, 6, 7, 6 whiskey,
do you have runway 12 in sight"
Me: "Negative" was again my response.
I was still trying to re-start the engine.
I still couldn't identify a runway!
Airport: "Cherokee 3, 6, 7, 6 whiskey,
do you have the airport in sight"
Me: "ROGER!" was my response.
I was still trying to re-start the engine.
But I had time to find the airport!
Airport: "Cherokee 3, 6, 7, 6 whiskey,
cleared for any runway!"
Me: "Thank You Albuquerque!"
And I was still trying to re-start the engine.
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Those Balloons!
Photo by J.D. Olson
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My glide time was based on level flight from where I was, direct to the airport.
However, between the airport and me, my plane, and my passengers, were about a billion hot air balloons.
I can't go through them. That would make them mad, make the FAA mad, make the flying club mad, and maybe even mess up some balloons and the airplane. I would need to go around and that would mean another mile or so. It would also mean banking the plane which would cause the plane to drop faster.
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Airport Straight Ahead!
Photo by J.D. Olson
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We did make it to the airport runway and just before touchdown, it was time to set up for the landing.
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Landing Dead Stick
Photo by J.D. Olson
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The plane lands differently when there is no propwash to help keep the nose up. On the Cherokee with the nose so long, it is very important to keep the nose high. If you allow the nose wheel to touch down first you could bust the nose wheel off. The Cherokee will not taxi very well with out a nose wheel. It would be hard to steer and if the engine was running, it would damage the prop. However, our engine wasn't running so I didn't need to worry about damaging the propeller. Without the engine running, you exaggerate the nose up position so you flair nose high.
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Lucky Landing
Photo by J.D. Olson
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Just before the plane was to touch down, I pulled way back on the wheel to bring
the nose high for my flair. With the nose so high, a little fuel ran to the back
of the tank and down to the engine. With this new little bit of fuel, a second
before the tires touched the runway, the engine restarted. It didn't start soon
enough to help with the landing, but it did start soon enough to help with the FAA.
Because the engine was actually running when I landed, I was able to taxi to the fuel pump.
Just as I arrived at the pump, that last bit of fuel was also gone. The luck was this,
technically it was a controlled, power landing.
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New Mexico Sunset
Photo by J.D. Olson
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My mother said we might have only seen three men in the plane,
and only known of three men in the plane, but she was convinced there
was a fourth man riding in the back seat that day. She might have been right, and
if she was right, the extra weight of a fourth man that I didn't know anything about,
could explain why I used more fuel than I had estimated, and caused me to almost
run out of gas, before I made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Photos Submited By
JD Olson
Home State:
Oregon
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