Hot-air balloons return to our skies

Jun. 19—It's hard to get a bad view of Diamond Park when conditions are like they were Thursday evening — completely clear skies, a light breeze, temperatures in the low 70s.

But for the best view, I recommend setting up about two or three blocks west and about 550 feet straight up.

And for a somehow-even-better view, try to arrange for a hot-air balloon to glide gently by, just above the tree line.

I was lucky enough to get a look at that view during a 45-minute balloon flight that took me and pilot Alex Jonard over downtown Meadville in the Legal Eagle 2ZX racing balloon.

It was the sort of picture-perfect moment that Meadville attorney and long-time Thurston Classic organizer Ted Watts arranged for city residents for decades — a magical sort of moment that had cars slowing down, families waving up into the sky and Rite Aid employees taking to the public address system, announcing to customers, "There are hot-air balloons outside!"

Two hot-air balloons flew over Meadville on Thursday evening, the night that traditionally would have seen the Thurston Classic opening with the Joyce Stevens Memorial Night Glow. Both balloons had belonged to Watts, who died in October due to complications from COVID-19: the original Legal Eagle and the similarly decorated Legal Eagle 2ZX.

The Thurston Classic was canceled last year and this year due to the pandemic that claimed the life of its leader. The balloon festival is expected to return in 2022, but in the meantime seven pilots who flew in the event for decades were determined to pay tribute to Watts and — in the words of Jonard, one of two pilots to participate in every Thurston Classic since 1988 — to "have balloons over Meadville on Father's Day weekend."

With unpromising weekend weather forecasts looming over the tribute, some participants arrived early, including Jonard; Mike Emich of Akron, Ohio, the other pilot to participate in every Classic; and Ray Hinchcliff of Canton, Ohio, the pilot-in-training who worked with Watts for nearly two years and who now owns both Legal Eagle balloons.

Not only did both Legal Eagles take flight under near-perfect conditions, but the original, with Emich and Hinchcliff aboard, did indeed gently glide over Diamond Park and even seemed to hover for several moments directly above Watts and Pepicelli P.C., the law firm Watts helped to lead since its founding in 1991.

The Legal Eagle 2ZX, meanwhile, followed along behind and above its rounder namesake, carrying a reporter who was relatively useless with regard to anything hot-air balloon-related. Fortunately, Jonard said he had experience with useless passengers like me — "They're the only ones I take up," he joked as we floated 700 feet above downtown Meadville.

Liftoff took place in a soccer field located alongside French Creek, just north of Mercer Street. From there we ascended rapidly, floating over downtown Meadville, then headed north past Allegheny College, and H.P. Way Park, continuing alongside the Crawford County Fairgrounds and nearly to Woodcock Creek Lake.

It's hard to imagine conditions more perfect than what we encountered above the city, with the sun descending toward the hills west of the city as we rambled to the northeast at about 6 mph.

The sights were the kind of thing that people literally climb mountains for — or shell out significant sums of money for. And they were worth the effort or expense — a chance for an unmediated view from above, suspended but secure, with a 360-degree view of Crawford County.

But while the sights were something, it was the sounds that gave the experience its unearthly quality: the rustle and flap of the balloon's nylon envelope; greetings uttered by spectators several hundred feet below that sounded like they were coming from the opposite corner of the gondola; the gentle silence as the landscape spun by underneath, all punctuated periodically by the dragon's roar of the propane burner, nudging us a little further skyward.

It's an experience that seems somehow primitive but that has been made much more enjoyable by technology, according to Jonard, who kept one eye on power lines and potential landing sites and the other on GPS mapping equipment throughout the flight. For a pilot trained in the 1980s, who still remembers that in a pinch plummeting saliva can sometimes give an indication of shifting wind conditions directly below a balloon, relying on constantly updating meteorological reports makes things easier.

Seemingly as soon as we were aloft, we were headed back down, fickle winds having forced Jonard to repeatedly reevaluate landing zones. In the end a field of wildflowers near where North Wayland and Ryan roads intersect with Dickson Road proved inviting enough, and Jonard brought us down quickly but gently, avoiding a pointy television antenna stretching up from an adjacent backyard.

Rona Johnson was watching "Homestead Rescue" when she began to wonder why strangers were scrambling through her backyard, but a quick glance outside explained the situation. It's not every day that a hot air balloon comes down in your backyard, but thanks to Watts, it's hardly unheard of in the Meadville area. One year, Johnson said, two came down in her backyard and another in her sideyard.

Exchanging a long hug with Ted Watts Jr., who was part of the trail crew as he had been many times before at the Thurston Classic, Jonard said, "We couldn't have asked for a better flight."

"What a night — that's about as good as you can get right there," he continued. "Somebody must have had a hand in it — we couldn't have gotten a night like this otherwise — no way."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.