Twitter
Facebook
The mayors of Landstuhl and Ramstein-Miesenbach sailed the skies over the Palatinate in the Royal Netherlands air force’s hot air balloon last Wednesday evening.
They were invited by the chief of staff of NATO’s Air Headquarters at Ramstein, Maj. Gen. Jon Abma, as an onset for the Dutch National Reception that took place April 22. The balloon, which was initially supposed to take off in a field on Ramstein, was blessed by the 86th Operations Support Squadron.
The journey started at about 5 p.m. when the six passengers — Mayor of Landstuhl Klaus Grumer and his wife, Mayor of Ramstein-Miesenbach Klaus Layes and his wife, as well as Col. Ron Hagemeijer and Lt. Col. Koos Van de Watering, two Dutch staff officers at NATO’s Air Headquarters — were briefed about safety procedures for the flight. The pilot confirmed the weather conditions were suitable for flight, but due to the direction of the wind, the balloon pilot had to divert to a location about 15 miles north of Ramstein.
Because of the wind, take off was moved to an open field close to the small town of Altenglan, where they arrived at about 6:30 p.m. The set up and inflation only took 30 minutes. Once the balloon was fully inflated, the burners were fired up to heat the air inside the balloon, causing it to rise into an upright position.
After the balloon was inflated, the passengers climbed on board and the flight began.
After a smooth launch, the balloon climbed to 1,500 feet and began heading south. The ground crew followed the balloon by “chase vehicle” and contacted the pilot to hear his intentions of where he wanted to land. Because the pilot could not take off from Ramstein, he tried to make up for this by trying to land on base.
After an hour of flight, the pilot contacted Air Traffic Control and asked permission to land. Due to heavy air traffic his request was delayed, causing the balloon to slightly drift away, making it impossible to land on base. About 10 minutes later, the balloon landed in an open field close to the town of Mittelbrunn. Upon touching ground, the balloon was deflated and packed into the chase vehicle.
The flight drew to a close with champagne and the exchanging of highlights from the flight, making it an out of this world experience for its VIP passengers.
