GALLERY: The Endless Mountains Hot Air Balloon “Rachel’s Dream” landed on Riverwalk light pole early Sunday Morning
By Andrew Harris, photos by Bethany Bridge and KA Kruger Photography,
This was a perfect balloon rally. The weather, the crowds, and the balloon teams worked together for truly “Great” weekend. One rare mishap at the Riverwalk Plaza during the early morning launch demonstrated the skills of the “Balloonmeister,” and Wellsville’s emergency services team.
Tony Saxton has been flying hot air balloons for over thirty years and has spent twenty five years flying in the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally. He is the pilot of “Rachel’s Dream,” and also a recently retired chief of his native volunteer fire department. Saxton is also a longtime and current “balloonmeister” of the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally. The unexpected couldn’t have happened to a more expirienced pilot.
As “Rachel’s Dream” floated along the Genesee River, sometimes even “dipping” into the river he decided to land the balloon in the Riverwalk Plaza parking lot. Not an uncommon landing spot and convienent for the crew, until the unexpected happened.
Saxton, the balloon pilot and the former Fleetville, Pennsylvania Volunteer Fire Company Chief has flown thousands of flights. This was his first mishap and he describes it as “unavoidable.”
“As I started to land a totally unexpected wind gust hit us. I was already committed to landing so we gently set down but unfortunatly on top of a parking lot light pole which ripped into the balloon,” pilot Tony Saxton explained.
Always vigilant, the Wellsville Volunteer Ambulance Corp was monitoring the morning flight and immediately noticed the mishap, and potential hazards. Electricity, the crew, the crowd, and preventing further damage to the balloon were immediate concerns.
After a quick assessment the Emerald Hook and Ladder truck was deployed to the scene.
The lightpole itself runs on an automatic timer and was already deactivated according the fire crew on the scene.
Once in place, the ladder was extended with two volunteers in the bucket, Billy Day III and Bryce Schoonover. The team worked with Saxton and his crew to safely remove the balloon from the light post and allow the pilot to finish the landing. The pilot and balloonmeister and former fire chief himself had this to say about the effort:
“They were all very professional, worked with me to get the balloon off the light pole and the outcome was as good as possible. A big thank to the Wellsville emergency team and especially the Emeralds!!”
That rare event certainly unfolded well but of course everyone wants to know: How is Rachel’s Dream? Will the balloon live to fly again?
Saxton was happy to report that with the help of the ladder truck the damage was minimal and the balloon will be fully repaired and back in the air soon.
“These balloons are designed in modules so that a rip, or wear and tear in one place doesn’t compromise the entire balloon. They are suprisingly easy to fix and we’ll be back in the air by the end of the month! “
Visit the Wellsville Sun on Facebook to see an full video of the “mishap and rescue,” thanks to KA Kruger Photography.
