ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Day 6 of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is also the first of two Special Shapes Rodeos planned for this year’s session. However, due to the winds, a lot of the bigger shapes stayed on the ground with static displays, entertaining the crowds on the field.
“[The winds are] a little too fast for shapes. They need a little more room to land. The taller shapes really don’t fly as well as the round shapes,” said Debbie Young, pilot of the Elvis balloon.
But the pilots take it in stride to be able to fly in Albuquerque. “The view is just spectacular. You can’t get this anywhere in the world,” says Tico the Sloth pilot Todd Monahan. “I’ve traveled all over, flown in five different countries. I come back here every year; this is my sixteenth year and I come back here on purpose.”
Toby Brown, pilot of the Kermie Frog balloon, says a lot of the special shapes are “appendage” balloons, making them more difficult to fly in high winds. “A lot of times that will pivot them and rotate them around a little bit,” Brown says.
