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Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): the Nav Canada flight information center (FIC) in Québec City

Photography: The St-Jean-sur-Richelieu hot air balloon festival

The hot air balloon C-FNHP is being inflated at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu festival in 2012
The hot air balloon C-FNHP is being inflated at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu festival in 2012

The Nav Canada flight service specialists (FSS) working at the flight information center (FIC) at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport (CYQB) regularly receive telephone calls from hot air balloon pilots preparing their next flight. Actual and forecasted wind conditions are important, be it on the ground or in the air. But the FSS must also take into account the slightest possibility of a rain shower that would wet the balloon’s envelope, the variation in the convection according to the time of the day which would then affect the winds, the local effects, etc.

Although it is interesting to brief a hot air balloon pilot on the telephone, it is far better to witness their activity when getting ready for a flight. And the effect is even more striking when you position yourself in the middle of a field where more than a hundred hot air balloons lift altogether.

A first group of hot air balloons are autorized to lift at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu festival in 2012
A first group of hot air balloons are autorized to lift at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu festival in 2012

Summer 2012. A beautiful day was expected in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Blue sky and calm winds were forecasted for the evening. There would certainly be photo opportunities (Canon 5D MKII).

The field where the balloons were being prepared was fenced, but there were here and there openings and it seemed possible to enter the area without attracting too much attention. I made an attempt and could rapidly live the frenzy associated with the preparation and launch of more than one hundred hot air balloons.

Rising hot air balloons in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu in 2012
Rising hot air balloons in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu in 2012

The balloons progressively took shape and it became possible to see their designs and superb colours. Each team was taking care of the last details that ensure a synchronized launch when the signal would be given. The organizer eventually gave the go ahead signal and the hot air balloons all lifted up within a very short time span. This was a magnificent show!

Hot air ballons at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Festival in 2012
Hot air ballons at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Festival in 2012
Visitors at the 2012 St-Jean-sur-Richelieu hot air balloons festival
Visitors at the 2012 St-Jean-sur-Richelieu hot air balloons festival

Few years earlier, during summer 2005, a hot air balloon had flown over our house in Quebec City at about one hundred feet. This was not a normal situation to witness that balloon slowly lose altitude and get closer to electrical wires. I had taken my bike and followed the balloon since it became obvious that the pilot was trying to land, possibly short of propane gas.

The pilot did not have an easy task, flying low over the city streets, close to the wires and other obstacles. The passengers must have been wondering what would be the issue of that flight. Arriving near a school, the pilot had seen a small parking lot and tried to land there, avoiding the church steeple on the other side of the street.

We were few citizens to hang to the basket and immobilize it while the balloon’s envelope was slowly deflating. I was able to take a shot of that unusual balloon’s approach…

Hot air balloon landing on a Quebec City street in 2005
Hot air balloon landing on a Quebec City street in 2005

For more real life stories about being a FSS in Quebec City, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Quebec City

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Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

A wedding anniversary in a hot air balloon (C-GFCM)

Summer 1988. I only had few months left as a Transport Canada flight service specialist (FSS) in Rouyn-Noranda (CYUY) before being transferred to Iqaluit, an isolated Arctic post in the Nunavut, Canada. That summer, during my annual holidays, I took few days to drive to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, just in time for my parent’s wedding anniversary.

We thought of offering them a ride in a hot air balloon. The balloon would lift from a field facing the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Cégep.

Hot air being blown in the balloon C-GFCM in preparation for the flight from the Cégep de St-Jean-sur-Richelieu terrain, 1988
Hot air being blown in the balloon C-GFCM in preparation for the flight from the Cégep de St-Jean-sur-Richelieu terrain, 1988

The winds were favoring a flight path that would allow the crossing of the Richelieu River. The pilot would profit from that opportunity since the crossing of that river is very popular with the city’s inhabitants. We just hoped that the wind direction would not change while the balloon was over the water.

The amount of propane gas being limited, the flight would have to be at a quick enough pace to allow the pilot to get away from Iberville’s buildings once on the other side of the river. I don’t think my parents were worried about those details. I imagined that their anxiety was instead building up at the same time as the balloon envelope was gaining volume.

Hot air balloon C-GFCM in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu 1988
Hot air balloon C-GFCM in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu 1988

As soon as the balloon lifted off, it drifted towards the river. This would allow the pilot to touch the river with the basket, something he did twenty minutes later with great ability.

The hot air balloon C-GFCM is now airborne in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, (1988)
The hot air balloon C-GFCM is now airborne in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, (1988)
Hot air balloon C-GFCM over the Richelieu river in Québec, about to touch the water. (1988)
Hot air balloon C-GFCM over the Richelieu river in Québec, about to touch the water. (1988)

The balloon then regained altitude, just high enough to skim over a corn field on the other side of the river. We were following the balloon’s path by car. We used all the shortcuts available, and were creative when it came to following traffic rules and road signs.

Hot air balloon C-GFCM and an old Quebec farm (1988)
Hot air balloon C-GFCM and an old Quebec farm (1988)

About one hour later, the pilot started the descent. The balloon landed without problem in a field. When essential manoeuvers were completed, he surprised us by pulling few items out of the basket: a small folding table, a red-checked tablecloth and glasses for everyone.

The evening was a complete success. Somewhere in the countryside, just before night time, we celebrated with a bottle of champagne…

For more real life stories on the Rouyn-Noranda flight service station and flight service specialists, click here:

Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda