Third Leg of the Triple Crown - Pumpkin Drop

Unfortunately, it was not meant for Ken and me to make it to the Pumpkin Drop as planned. After working overtime trying to make up for the time off for the trip to Albuquerque and troubles with the van (should we blame Jody who sold it to us many, many years ago or Dickie who won't sell his current one????), we decided it was best to stay near home.

Lainie volunteered to step up to the plate and serve as reporter for this event. Here is what she had to say:

Pumpkin Drop 2007

Friday August 31, 2007

Friday at the Walz compound, it is a lovely day. A slight breeze brings pilots into Munith for the beginning of Pumpkin Drop 2007. The third leg of the FAYA Triple Crown begins with spirits high.

Our Balloonmeister, Jody Leatherberry, and Safety Officer Chuck Walz held opening Ceremonies. The first announcement: that we have suffered our first casualty of the weekend. The Cramer’s Van has taken ill, and they will not be able to attend. After a moment of boos, followed by silence, the crowd rallied and was able to “GIVE IT UP FOR CRYSTAL FLASH!!” A beaming Biggs, donning a white t-shirt bearing the word “PROPANE” was cheerful, and ecstatic at the warm welcome. That is until he delivered the crowd-silencing blow…”The cost of this year’s propane has doubled since last year.” The crowd responded with overwhelming thanks and gratitude, thereby again, “GIVING IT UP FOR CRYSTAL FLASH.”

What can only be described as a no-wind flight. The evening begins unremarkably until there comes word that one of FAYA’s finest is caught in the middle of his own “Self-Declared” Watership Down Target in the middle of Portage Lake. Jody was able to make the acquaintance of a friendly pontoon driver to push him near the shore… just then Jody finds himself in a face to face clandestine meeting with the officers of the DNR, the following exchange ensues:

DNR: “Sir…you CAN NOT be here, it isn’t safe.”
Jody: “Look, you have two choices, you can let me land here, or you can call “Jenny” (Granholm) and tell her that I’m in danger and MUST land here.”
DNR: “THIS ISN’T SAFE!”
Jody: “Sir you are talking to a Professional. I just sailed across the Atlantic, and landed at Plymouth Rock.”

We can only now imagine the rest of the conversation, and which party walked away with the narrow victory, as “Jake Leatherneck” returned to the compound with his very weary Team Phoenix. After a post flight briefing to the crowd, Jody Leatherberry took a few moments to sit down with our own FAYA Special On-Site Correspondent Lainie Niemi:

LN: Did you think you were going to die?
Jody: My first instinct, naturally, was to panic. However, after a deep breath, and a quick prayer to the FAYA Founding Fathers, I was able to regain some my composure.
LN: Have you been in this situation before?
Jody: Only a few times have I been near the water, but never in a landing situation. Few have been able to experience the thrill and exhilaration of “Jake Leatherneck’s” Famous Acrobatic Water Stunts.
LN: Were your passengers scared?
Jody: Much to my surprise, the passengers kept their cool; much better than I did-I must admit. I was shocked, but they mustn’t have been able to sense the pure panic, and sheer terror that was seeping from my pores.
LN: Did you consider jumping?
Jody: I did think about it. But, it was after I weighed the fact that I’m still making payments on the balloon, and the more sobering fact that I do not currently have the aircraft properly insured…that I reconsidered and decided that I; just like a real Phoenix must rise from the ashes and start A NEW. I must fight for the innocent lives of my passengers.
LN: If you find yourself facing the same situation again, what would you do differently?
Jody: Differently—Yeah, Yeah—Yeah, I’m just gonna bail.

After the interview concluded, our on-site correspondent met with Mrs. Leatherberry, and asked how she handled the news of her husbands harrowing experience:

“I racked my memory, and tried to remember if he left the lottery ticket at home.”

Other sources close to Mrs. Leatherberry stated that upon being notified of Jody’s decent in to Portage Lake, she immediately began making arrangements to elope with FAYA’s most Eligible Bachelor, Trace Christenson.

Saturday September 1, 2007

Briefing began at 6:30 a.m. with some strong coffee, and heavy eyes. Again the wind seemed to have missed roll call. Joining the hunt this morning is Shawn Raya, whom arrived under the cover of darkness with Sandra and the kids in tow. After a few orders of business from Chuck and Jody the crew was off to the VFW for the first launch of the morning.

Nearly eleven balloons lifted off into the beautiful azure skies above Stockbridge. A nice slow flight gives pilots three opportunities to hit a variety of targets in the area. As the flight progresses, it would seem without incident, until word of a pumpkin drop gone awry made its way throughout the crowd…

The phone calls were coming fast. First an angry Mrs. Cosgrove called “That Jody Leatherberry” and got Amanda…She called “That Jody Leatherberry” and informed him that Mrs. Cosgrove would like a call back about the dangerous situation that just occurred in her front yard. “That Jody Leatherberry” asked his wife kindly to call Safety Officer Chuck and explain the whole situation to him, OMITTING that she had first called and made aware “That Jody Leatherberry”. Wise beyond his years, Chuck was not to be fooled.

Back at the compound, the gang gathered for a critical incident debriefing during which it was decided by charter FAYA members to send new pilot (and pregnant) Amanda to Mrs. Cosgrove’s to smooth over Land Owner Relations. Upon her return, Amanda informed us that a wheelchair bound Mrs. C was livid, as her daughter had been standing under a tree near the scene of the alleged, and unexpected produce drop. As she was instructed during the debriefing, evidence was retrieved, tagged, sampled and photographed for filing under the title of “The Stockbridge Incident”. A photo review of the scene itself was conducted after Amanda stated that Birk’s pumpkin had IN FACT created a crater near Mrs. C’s fence. In order to ease the concerns of the landowner, Amanda, quick on her feet (as she is still in her first trimester) assured Mrs. C that the vigilante pumpkin pitcher had been removed from the Championship Competition.

Be careful what you ask for…

While at lunch Saturday afternoon Chuck made contact with Matt and Lainie who were rumored to be in the Jackson area at Meijer. Chuck asked them to bring back two chickens so that Brian could grill beer can chicken. A plan was then hatched by the Pumpkin Drop’s student pilot, to bring back two live chickens in addition to the two to be purchased at Meijer.

Unfamiliar with the locale and its merchants, a resourceful Matt Niemi contacted local pilot, aka The Balloonmeister, aka Jake Leatherneck, aka Jody Leatherberry to find the closest farmer where he may procure afore mentioned live birds. Following some quick investigation, Jody was able to point Matt and his accomplices to a farm market on Territorial Road. The gracious owner agreed to lend a chicken to the cause.

Once back at the Walz compound, Matt presented a gunny sack full of a live chicken to an unfazed Brian and Cindy. While Cindy was ready to have at the bird, thoughts were turned to the idea of photographing Chuck’s reaction to the package from the farm market. As Chuck arrived to pick up the chicken from Matt, he jumped back at the site of there being an actual live bird on the premises. “What the Hell…That thing is ALIVE!!!” Laughs were had by all, and as you can see, the plan came together in just the way it was intended.

Dinner is on…

Chef Brian and his lovely assistant Chuck were hard at work grilling mouth watering roasts, and beer can chickens, while a cauldron of chili continued to simmer, as it had all day, over hot coals. At about 4:30 p.m., everyone sat down to another sidesplitting meal complete with corn on the cob and nearly any other kind of dish to pass you can imagine. Crews were then spotted rolling their pilots out from under the tents to their vehicles.

Back to the skies…
Later that evening, there were more pumpkins dropped from the sky. Joey Gauthier made a nearly catastrophic throw, as he and Pat threw a pumpkin over-board to “make room” as it nearly landed on the hood of his own chase van!!! Thankfully the pumpkin narrowly missed the van, and made contact with the pavement only. This being the first flight that was completed without incident, everyone headed back to the tent to partake, and mingle…spirits remained high even as the group was besieged by the largest mosquitoes known to man…where we continued to “GIVE IT UP FOR CRYSTAL FLASH!!!”

Sunday September 2, 2007

A final mass launch took place after the final briefing, where the wind finally made it for roll call. After the tasks, the results were in…

Finishing in first place in the FAYA Triple Crown: Phil Clinger, followed closely in second place by Jim Birk. The only two pilots in attendance during all three legs of the crown.

Finishing in third place of the 2007 Pumpkin Drop was Chuck Walz. Second Place was taken by Shawn Raya, with Jody Leatherberry of Team Phoenix Racing taking home the first place trophy. Jody graciously accepted the trophy after a long, drawn out, and at times painful, tear-streaked Closing Ceremony.


Thanks were rightfully doled out, and yet another huge round of applause were handed to Chuck and Cindy for opening their home to another successful Pumpkin Drop, and the throngs that it drew. And one last time, we “GAVE IT UP FOR CRYSTAL FLASH!!!” A tired, and hung-over Pumpkin Drop crowd packed up and headed out.

Until next time…

FAYA Triple Crown Leg #2 Report

This report was filed by Phil Clinger - the pictures he included would not copy over so you will have to wait until he resends them in jpeg format. Until then, enjoy............

In keeping with the mission of the FAYA, the Flag City Balloonfest had met all of the sanctioning requirements by the end of the media flight on Friday morning. Eight balloons launched from Emory Adams field for a short but spectacular flight to the East. Most all of us landed in a couple of beautiful yards with nice short grass and happy landowners. However, it was not until most of us were at breakfast that the magnificence of the landing site was understood. As we were ordering our breakfast (about an hour after we packed up) I received a call from Jody Leatherberry wanting to know how to get to propane (he sometimes needs help getting to the target too). When I inquired as to if they had been lost, he explained that they had been at the TIKI BAR. Of course I have no idea why I would not have expected anything less than for Jody to land at Margaritaville, Ohio. But regardless, the Leatherberry crew had managed to land at what would become the weekend’s premier FAYA gathering location.

Little did Jody’s gracious hosts know what they were in for, but hey, if ya got a Tiki Bar in the back yard, ya kinda have to expect it. With Friday evenings ballooning activities cancelled, several FAYA representatives made there way over to Jack & Bonnie’s Tiki Bar and we made ourselves a party. Before the evening was over there was a lot less left to drink in Ohio, some extra decorations behind Jack’s bar (ask the girls), and a number of footprints on the tables. All indicators that the FAYA was taking Findlay by storm. (Of course the real storm was to come on Monday.)

With not enough time between the end of the party and the rapidly approaching morning briefing, We headed back to our spectacular accommodations at the Findlay Inn and Conference Center. I am still not sure what I said when my alarm went off later that morning, but I am sure it shouldn’t be repeated here.

The Saturday morning darkness gave way to a wonderful sunrise and great flying weather. The tired, but functional, competition director called a Gordon Bennett Memorial and a Multiple Judge Declared goal. The early guys had the advantage as the left started to dissipate but there was still an easy high road to take between the first and second targets. With numerous great marker drops Debby Young led the pack after a 4.64m drop at the Gordon Bennett and a 0.22m drop at the Multiple Judge.

The great Saturday weather brought a record crowd to the event and the parking lot was full about an hour before the scheduled flight. The evening’s weather was not conducive to competition with pending rain, however, the pilots put on a great show with a mass launch from the field and an extremely rare evening “box.” Several pilots including Shawn Raya and Joe Zvada landed back at the field after a lengthy flight. Joe was able to make four passes over the field before landing to the crowds delight – if they only knew how unusual it was to have this kind of weather. After the flight we had an amazing balloon glow anchored around our two flag balloons “Freedom” and “American Rocket.”

Saturday night brought a much larger crowd to the Tiki Bar as the word spread that the FAYA was having another meeting. Jack was presented with an autographed Flag City Balloonfest shirt and given an honorary membership to the FAYA. Before leaving later that night (or morning) we promised to visit Jack again next year at the 9th annual Flag City Balloonfest.


For more pictures of the event visit: http://www.pbase.com/flagcity/root
Sunday morning we awoke to foul weather and by briefing time the rain was coming down. Little did anyone know just how much rain Findlay was about to get. The briefing was cancelled but almost every pilot stayed for the awards brunch and enjoyed a great meal followed by a video of the event that will be mailed to all of the pilots. After doing her rain dance all night, Debby Young was officially announced as the 2007 Flag City Balloonfest Champion.
Many thanks to the sponsors, volunteers, committee, pilots, and crews that make this event the highlight of the year in the Findlay community.

Puffer Alert

Well, the trip to Albuquerque for JW's funeral was extremely eventful. The funeral service was lovely with lots of wonderful tributes from his family and friends. Jim and Charlie both served as pallbearers and did JW proud. We are all fairly certain, however, that JW wanted to yank their chains just a bit before they left town. After laughing that he got Birk inside of a church for over an hour and also wearing a tie, JW must have thought he'd keep us in town a bit longer. We headed to the airport later than planned and arrived to learn that Jim and my flight to Denver was delayed beyond any hope of making a connection to Columbus. The very nice United gate agent had already rebooked us on American routing us through Dallas and was glad to see us check in. Just as she started to print the boarding passes, American called to say that all flights into and out of Dallas were on a weather hold and that they would not accept us as passengers. Instead we left the counter with 2 hotel vouchers, 2 dinner vouchers, 2 breakfast vouchers, and confirmed seats on a plane today (Thursday). Because our cancellation was due to the crew not showing up on time, we were compensated for our troubles. Charlie's flight had also been delayed, but he worked a scam with Northwest and was going to make a quick hop to Memphis to handle some things for his father's estate (only Charlie would have his dad's death certificate along to use for a special bereavement rate). He treated Jim and me to a drink and headed off to security. We took the shuttle to the the Wyndam along with a young guy that said his flight to Dallas had been cancelled. When we were checking in I noticed that Jim had two boarding passes for the Denver to Columbus flight and none for the Albq. to Denver one. Back to the airport we went. I called Charlie because I was sure that he was NOT headed anywhere. We were correct, he was standing back at Northwest retrieving his checked bag and had to bum a spare bed from Jim since he got nothing for the weather related problem. We met up with Pat, Karen, and Mark at the bar for drinks and dinner (thanks again to the HOF). Since it had been a long stressful day, we headed to bed early which was good because all of our flights were at 6 AM. Left the hotel at 4:30 and after checking Jim's bag and getting more boarding passes (another story of its own) we started through security. Jim said we should go through the "Puffer Machine" because you didn't have to take your shoes off. Well, I had on Crocs and didn't care about the shoe situation but blindly followed Jim and Charlie. We put all of our stuff on the conveyor belt including our shoes because you DO have to remove them and stepped into the Puffer. Guess who got stopped for a Puffer Alert.......not anyone who might possibly REALLY have gun powder residue on them. ME. After they released me from the Puffer machine, I got to have the "complete" body pat-down including as the TSA agent said all of the "sensitive" parts. She promised to go quickly so that Jim and Charlie wouldn't turn around and laugh. No such luck as they were already almost peeing their pants. After the pat down, I got to go to the "penalty box" where EVERY item in my bags was examined and sniffed. The agent asked what medications I took and when I asked why she wanted to know she told me that they are emitted through the skin. Since I only take Aleve, I haven't a clue what set the damn thing off. We shared our vouchers with Charlie and all had bagels and cream cheese before heading off to our gates. I ducked into the restroom and came out to see BAM walking back from the counter. Guess the "Cramer and Birk party" had been paged because there were too many boarding passes for us. They let us sit in the seats we wanted so all was right with the world. Arrived in Denver with a 2 hour layover and of course discovered that our new gate was right next to the one we just got off. Had we had the 50 minutes like the original schedule, we would have walked a mile. Flight to Columbus was fine - had one last drink courtesy of the HOF. I got home around 5 and Jim was still only halfway last I heard from him. Charlie made it to Detroit and was headed to see his brand new granddaughter that was born while we were flying. She weighed in at 8'14" so Michelle had to have a C section. Both were doing well and Charlie promises to send pictures.

JW Byrd - One of the Four Amigos

The ballooning world suffered a great loss on Thursday, August 23rd with the passing of JW Byrd. For those of you that never had the chance to meet or get to know JW, you really missed out. He was definitely one of the "good guys" and understood the foundation of this group better than most. His smile and sense of humor will be greatly missed.

This might have been one of the first FAYA pictures ever taken. Our fingers were all directed at Dickie, but only in the most loving way..........

Serious Competition

Well, this photo was just submitted by one of our junior members (not old enough to legally drink). Never let it be said that this group does not take competition seriously. They will do about anything to stay in first place. All is fair and love and war and if you read the FAYA rules you would know that there is no penalty for this action.

Two Events Sign On

Two events have requested official FAYA sanctioning. The first will be held this weekend (August 17 -19) at Findlay, Ohio. Phil Clinger will uphold the FAYA mission to make the event fun and full of parking lot stories and fellowship. The next event will be Labor Day weekend. The Pumpkin Drop will have no problems meeting the sanctioning guidelines. I'm pretty sure that they don't have any rules and I know from numerous drunken phone calls from past events that they have the fellowship part down pat. If you haven't been invited to either of these events......too bad for you. Let's see who is ready to get the official FAYA tattoo.

Birthday Week for Charter FAYA Members

Well, it was a big birthday week for three of the charter members of FAYA. Bubbs, the Big Taco, and Peggy all celebrated their respective birthdays in style. In keeping with tradition, the other FAYA members toasted them from their home locations. Allen will be glad to have tomorrow off from drinking as it is his day to volunteer at the hospital. Anxious to hear all of the details about the birthday parties and see any pictures that might have been taken.