Mowing So there I am mowing away

[Farmwithjunk]

I knew a farmer who was really upset when a balloon landed in the middle of his grain field. He was even angrier when he saw the chase vehicle opening his gate to go driving out to the balloon. He quickly informed them that they could drive through his field, but that they would do it on four flat tires since he would shoot them all out with his shotgun that he was carrying.:shocked::laughing:

My wife, who's an otherwise rational woman, is ADDICTED to watching Judge Judy...

A few days ago, I walked in just as she was sitting down to watch an episode. There was a case where an ultralight landed in some guys field of peas just a day before harvest. The pilot was claiming he has a right to his own safety that required him to land. The farmer said he wanted the value of estimated crop value of what was destroyed. The ultralight pilot tried to fly out of the field after making a repair. The farmer held him on the ground (by parking his truck in the path of the ultralight)

You would have thought this was most serious claim ever brought before a court.

Ended up a judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $700+ and a VERY unhappy ultralight pilot. (And me promising to disconnect the Dish service if we don't get to watch the news instead of Judge Judy)

 

[Short Game]

The first flight manual I ever read (and I remember only this one part) said, "In the event that you must make a forced landing, hit the softest, cheapest, thing in sight, as slowly as possible."

 

[JRobyn]

My balloon experience is about half Bird and half Kebo. I was hunting one Saturday morning in a large tract (1100 acres) about 60 miles north of Atlanta. One of the main attractions of hunting there is that it was PLENTY far enough away from the big city and isolated enough that is was very private and quiet. So I keep thinking that I am hearing voices. Very faintly. Coming from behind my treestand where I know there is hundreds of acres of nothing but forest. After a few minutes they seemed to get a little louder. And then WHOOOSH!! from the balloon burners about 50ft directly over my head. Like Bird said - I thought a jet engine had just somehow fired up in mid-air and was about to crash on top of me. During the few seconds it took me to put it together that it was a balloon, I nearly soiled myself.

 

[GGB]

In the rural subdivision we used to live in south of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, we had several balloons land on the vacant lots across from our home. As I recall, they usually opened a bottle of champane upon landing for the guests onboard.

We frequently had advance warning from one of our dogs who would go nuts over seeing the balloons coming near. Pretty funny to watch!

We even had a father who was teaching his son how to fly their ultralight aircraft, land on the street in front of the house after concern over a possible engine problem. After checking it out and determining that all was okay, he left his son off to ride back to the airfield where they kept the ultralight with his wife in their car, and he then took off from the street to get back. It definetely made for an interesting Saturday morning....Wish I'd had a camera handy.

I've never been in an utralight or ballon, but did get to take a flight in a glider a few years ago in Florida while on vacation. Great experience-I loved it!

GGB

 

[Perplexed]

My cousin used to live in Albuquerque, not far from the fields where they hold the annual balloon festival. She told me that during one festival, a balloon came down in her backyard with technical problems. The descending basket broke her TV antenna (yes, this was a long time ago!), so when the chase vehicle arrived, the crew captain gave my cousin his business card to call for compensation. They were all very nice about it, and she served them coffee while they packed up the balloon.