Officials from the Great Texas Balloon Race worked with a local landowner on Thursday morning to make sure he wasn\u2019t feeling blue about 20 or so balloonists making an unexpected landing in his pasture.<\/p>\n
The race has a map designating areas around Longview as red zones (no landing there unless it\u2019s an extreme emergency), yellow zones, (try not to land there if possible and be careful if you do) and green zones (it\u2019s perfectly fine to land in these places).<\/p>\n
An unusual easterly wind took the balloonists south of Gladewater, into an area that wasn\u2019t even on the event\u2019s map, said John Rich, chairman of the Landowners Relations committee of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cLanding in this area wasn\u2019t something we\u2019d anticipated or planned for, but luckily we were able to contact the landowner and he was very gracious about allowing the balloonists and their crews on his property,\u201d Rich said.<\/p>\n
The landowner asked that vehicles stick to the road, rather than driving across pasture land, and be careful of power lines. Rich and other race officials relayed this information to the balloonists and said they made every effort to cooperate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got out here and were able to talk to a foreman and get things worked out,\u201d Rich said. \u201cBecause winds have such an impact on the direction balloons fly, we can\u2019t always know ahead of time where they\u2019ll end up.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Linder, owner of the property where the balloons landed, said he was surprised to get a call from race officials, but allowed balloonists to land on his property because it was a safe place for them to land and they were in need of help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were not any problems, and they were in and out of there quickly,\u201d Linder said. \u201cThe Great East Texas Balloon Race has always been a good event to support for the local economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the past several years, the map has gradually changed from mostly red to lots of green and yellow, Rich said.<\/p>\n
The biggest red zone remains the Texas Operations of Eastman Chemical, which asks that balloonists avoid its plant because of the possible danger if a balloonist crossed a chemical vent.<\/p>\n
Other landowners who request their property be labeled as red zones own livestock, which they feel might be spooked by the balloons, Rich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, we have a lot of cooperation from local landowners,\u201d he said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t do this race without their willingness to let us land on property throughout the Longview area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One property owner who\u2019s more than willing to have his land labeled green is Dr. John Petty, who owns about 400 acres on Estes Parkway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe balloon activities are so great for our community that I\u2019m happy to provide a place for them to land,\u201d Petty said. \u201cIt\u2019s always a delightful experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petty has cattle on the property, but said the animals have never been spooked by the balloons.<\/p>\n