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There are many things I’ve been wanting to do since moving to New Mexico a few years ago, and top at that list was going on a hot-air balloon ride.
Though I’ve been up in one before — twice, actually — I really wanted to go up again now that I was living in the hot-air balloon capitol. I see them from my backyard almost daily, and that just fed into my desire.
Since moving here, I’ve also been to several mass ascensions at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and have been mesmerized while watching hundreds of balloons soar into air, one after the other, for an hour.
On Oct. 9, I got the chance to merge both of those experiences. I was teamed with pilot Mark Yocum for Air Rocky Top for a flight out of Balloon Fiesta. Yocom — and his crew — was a gracious and enthusiastic coach. I watched as they inflated the balloon and prepared for takeoff. Then, I climbed into the gondola. It was crowded with three of us in there (there was also another guest on the flight), but we managed to each find our space.
I was a bit jittery as we took flight. After all, it’s been a few years since my last ride, and the ascension was much quicker than I recalled. However, I quickly got settled in as we achieved a cruising altitude, all the while taking in the scenery of balloons above us, around us and below us. It was an amazing sight.
We floated over Corrales and aimed for the Rio Grande. “It’s always my goal to hit the river for a splash and dash,” Yocom said. As we lowered for the famed maneuver, the winds took a shift, and we had to rise back up.
PHOTOS: Balloon Fiesta 2024 — A view from above
Rio Rancho Observer Editor Tracy Goldizen took a flight from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with pilot Mark Yocom on his balloon Air Rocky Top Wednesday morning. The flight went over Corrales, then down the Rio Grande to Coors and Montaño boulevards. Here are photos from that flight.
As many of the balloons drifted over Rio Rancho or stayed close to the Balloon Fiesta Park, we continued to cruise down the river near the Cottonwood area, over Los Ranchos de Albuquerque and back into Northwest Albuquerque, with Yocum eventually pointing out his house.
“This is my hometown, so I know the area,” including small, lesser-known landing areas in the city, he said as we drifted away from the main balloon traffic. He said no flight is ever the same and he learns something new every time he’s in the air.
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Yocum, who moved to Albuquerque in 1996 after growing up in the Chicago area, talked about his love of flying as we coasted over the river. He said that love started when he took his first airplane ride as a young child.
“I started fixed-wing training in 1993 and finished out that license in 2005, but with fixed wing, you’re at an airport and you’re limited to airports,” he said. “With ballooning, I can take off and land just about anywhere, and it’s a lot less expensive at the end of the day. However I can get in the air; it doesn’t matter.”
Yocom, a Sandia Labs employee, is a recreational pilot who puts in about 60-70 hours of flying a year since beginning a few years ago. “That’s a lot for a recreational pilot,” he said, adding that when the bug gets you, it gets you good.
He and his crew fly multiple events in the region, including in others in New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho and even into Nebraska. His sister, Meredith Yocum serves as his crew chief with crewmates Antimony, Aris, Jacob, John, Ray, Rebecca, Sofia, Tiffany and Tim.
But this week, it’s been all about the Balloon Fiesta. As we continued to follow the river, Yocom said we were doing what’s called “contour flying,” or “tickling the tops of the trees,” which he said was one of his favorite things to do.
“The trick is how to pulse your burns and get the subtle lift and drop,” Yocom said. “Patience is the name of the game in ballooning. You have to be patient anytime you want to make a maneuver. It takes a lot of precision and practice. Inputs take 10-20 seconds to take effect, so you have to plan that much more in advance.”
And, it’s not just utilizing the vents to go up and down. It’s also about utilizing the wind layers to get direction changes. Even with that skill and knowledge, you’re still at the mercy of the wind.
As we neared Montaño and Coors, what would end up being our ultimate landing spot, the opportunity for a splash and dash presented itself again. We drifted lower, and once again the wind took us off the path for the elusive maneuver.
However, shortly after that, the winds shifted again in our favor, and he was able to achieve the feat for us (thank goodness I was in my snowboots so I didn’t get soggy socks), making Yocom five for five on his 2024 Fiesta flights so far.
Shortly after, we found ourselves landing and Yocom’s crew quickly packed all the equipment up and we headed back to Balloon Fiesta Park, where Yocom gave a brief history of ballooning’s origins in 1780s France and the sport’s champagne toast, closing with the Balloonist’s Prayer:
“May the winds welcome you with softness. May the sun bless you with warm hands. May you fly so high and so well that God joins you in laughter, and sets you back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.”
All in all, it was a great morning and wonderful experience, and I’m already looking forward to ride No. 4.
