{"id":6527,"date":"2016-05-27T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T02:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/?p=6527"},"modified":"2018-05-29T21:15:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T01:15:09","slug":"flying-to-fort-sumner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/?p=6527","title":{"rendered":"Flying to Fort Sumner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I got to take a side trip to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. I was helping set up a a command\/data ground station there, which, depending on the winds, can be used to extend BIT&#8217;s flight.<\/p>\n<p>I flew out of Palestine airport, just around the corner from CSBF. I took their plane, and the balloon facility in Fort Sumner location is at the airport. There was some worry that the bad weather in Palestine would mean we couldn&#8217;t fly back, but the pilots found a way.<\/p>\n<!-- Awesome Flickr Gallery Start --><!-- - Version - 3.5.6 - User ID - 27717602@N03 - Photoset ID - 72157668982115435 - Gallery ID -  - Group ID -  - Tags -  - Popular -  - Per Page - 100 - Sort Order - flickr - Photo Size - _m - Custom Size - 0 - Square - false - Captions - on - Description - on - Columns - 3 - Credit Note - off - Background Color - Transparent - Width - auto - Pagination - on - Slideshow - flickr - Disable slideshow? - --><div class='afg-gallery custom-gallery-134' id='afg-134' style='background-color:Transparent; width:100%; color:; border-color:Transparent;'><div class='afg-table' style='width:100%'><div class='afg-row'><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296380915' title='En route'><img class='afg-img' title='En route' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7213\/27296380915_45ab54c10d_m.jpg' alt='En route \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296380915\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>En route <\/div><div class='afg-description'>Wind farm in windy New Mexico<\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27263134486' title='Conqeust'><img class='afg-img' title='Conqeust' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7412\/27263134486_d6ab4b5a69_m.jpg' alt='Conqeust \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27263134486\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Conqeust <\/div><div class='afg-description'>Electronics for commanding balloons in flight, from the airplane<\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296375845' title='NASA'><img class='afg-img' title='NASA' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7251\/27296375845_90817e2ed7_m.jpg' alt='NASA \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296375845\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>NASA <\/div><div class='afg-description'>Faded logo on the CSBF facility in Fort Sumner<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-row'><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27021386860' title='Inside the control tower'><img class='afg-img' title='Inside the control tower' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7462\/27021386860_668a277818_m.jpg' alt='Inside the control tower \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27021386860\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Inside the control tower <\/div><div class='afg-description'>The computer I set up in the foreground<\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27021383860' title='The hangar'><img class='afg-img' title='The hangar' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7768\/27021383860_67eba3047f_m.jpg' alt='The hangar \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27021383860\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>The hangar <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296371665' title='More hangar'><img class='afg-img' title='More hangar' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7530\/27296371665_e4236462e9_m.jpg' alt='More hangar \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296371665\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>More hangar <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-row'><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27021381140' title='Collection of random stuff'><img class='afg-img' title='Collection of random stuff' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7178\/27021381140_0bd7ce8543_m.jpg' alt='Collection of random stuff \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27021381140\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Collection of random stuff <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/26690210783' title='NASA truck'><img class='afg-img' title='NASA truck' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7461\/26690210783_7cc35ab861_m.jpg' alt='NASA truck \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/26690210783\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>NASA truck <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296358595' title='Tumble weed'><img class='afg-img' title='Tumble weed' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7780\/27296358595_5e067133c0_m.jpg' alt='Tumble weed \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27296358595\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Tumble weed <\/div><div class='afg-description'>This city slicker ain't never seed one before<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-row'><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/26690207103' title='Mobile Launch Vehicle'><img class='afg-img' title='Mobile Launch Vehicle' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7034\/26690207103_6cb8d7d025_m.jpg' alt='Mobile Launch Vehicle \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/26690207103\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Mobile Launch Vehicle <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27226544041' title='My sweet ride'><img class='afg-img' title='My sweet ride' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7597\/27226544041_d51f8944f2_m.jpg' alt='My sweet ride \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27226544041\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>My sweet ride <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/26690204273' title='Made it back'><img class='afg-img' title='Made it back' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7255\/26690204273_8bc858e999_m.jpg' alt='Made it back \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/26690204273\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Made it back <\/div><div class='afg-description'>The pilots found a small window in between storms.<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class='afg-row'><div class='afg-cell' style='width:33%;'><a   target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27226538861' title='Fort Sumner panorama'><img class='afg-img' title='Fort Sumner panorama' src='https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7527\/27226538861_1905832c3c_m.jpg' alt='Fort Sumner panorama \u2022 &lt;a style=&quot;font-size:0.8em;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/27717602@N03\/27226538861\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View on Flickr&lt;\/a&gt;'\/><\/a><div class='afg-title' style='font-size:1em'>Fort Sumner panorama <\/div><div class='afg-description'><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- Awesome Flickr Gallery End -->\n<p>And a closer look at the panorama:<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/sjbenton\/27226538861\/in\/album-72157668982115435\/\" title=\"Fort Sumner panorama\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/c6.staticflickr.com\/8\/7527\/27226538861_1905832c3c_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"154\" alt=\"Fort Sumner panorama\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/c2.staticflickr.com\/8\/7597\/27226544041_d51f8944f2_n.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\" alt=\"My sweet ride\"> Yesterday I got to take a side trip to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. I was helping set up a a command\/data ground station there, which, depending on the winds, can be used to extend BIT&#8217;s flight. I flew out of Palestine airport, just around the corner from CSBF. I took their plane, and the balloon facility in Fort Sumner location is at the airport. There was some worry that the bad weather in Palestine would mean we couldn&#8217;t fly back, but the pilots found a way. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6527"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6528,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6527\/revisions\/6528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}