Hot Air Balloon Shoot-Out
Fifth Annual Hot Air Balloon Shoot-Out: There are many types of hot air balloon events held across the country, and internationally as well. Of them, there are non competitive, competitive events. It is a truly unique situation to have such a small community host a competitive hot air balloon challenge.
What you will see this weekend in Carson City is 21 pilots coming together to celebrate what is great about ballooning. This is a very tight knit community, with other groups of friends and families within, which make up the fabric of that entire ballooning community.
The flights that will take place in the evening are non-competitive flights, more for the entertainment of the spectators. The balloons will launch from the centrally located launch site located behind Carson City-Crystal High School. As always, we’ll have a DJ, and an announcer to make your experience fun and exciting. Saturday night, the stage at the launch site will have live entertainment as well.
Competitive flights will be held in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday morning. All of our pilots will meet for a weather and safety briefing, and then set off for launch sites throughout the areas surrounding town. Their first target is, in fact, the launch site at the school. Planning is critical. Our pilots will be watching trends in the wind, and use their extensive knowledge of the weather to calculate exactly where the best place to launch is, to guarantee that they will make it to the first target at the school. Once the first target is out of the way, the field of pilots will fly on to a second, and sometimes a third target.
Points are awarded to pilots according to how close a pilot’s "baggie" lands near the center of the "X". It is very important to remember that as spectators, everyone must stay at least 500 ft away from each target. Safety of our participants is extremely important.
Come on out to want the launches, children young and old are certain to have a WONDERFUL time!
Hot Air Balloon Glow
Join us while we "Glow"! A fun and exciting way to end a nice evening of flying, is topped off with a "Glow" at the launch site. We are pleased to answer the call of the community, and offer a "Glow" both Friday, and Saturday evening of the Hot Air Balloon Shoot-Out Event.
On Friday evening after the flight, half of our pilots will take the field again, located at the Carson City-Crystal High School, and inflate their balloon ‘envelopes’, to show the crowd how they "glow" and "twinkle glow". Join our announcer Tom Maynard as he counts the crowd down… "3…2…1…GLOW!"
In exactly the same manner on Saturday evening, the other half of our pilot roster will take the field for the same type of 'glow'. So, if you didn’t see your favorite balloon Friday night, come back on Saturday night to see if 'your' balloon will be glowing among the crowd. And please stay to join us for the fireworks display presented by Harvey’s Milling Company, and The Laurels of Carson City, on Saturday evening AFTER the "Glow"!
