Flowers in the skies of Azerbaijan
... that's more or less the wish expressed by three well-dressed gentlemen, who quite unexpectedly entered the office of the balloon company "geo-Die Luftwerker" in Luebeck one day in autumn 2009. One of those later turned out to be the governor of Baku.
It all sounded just like the country the three gentlemen came from:
one from a fairy tale!
And, it was the beginning of a wonderful encounter between the Orient and the Occident. Between people from the Caucasus, curious about a completely new adventure with balloons in the skies of Azerbaijan and three balloon pilots from Germany, curious about a country "at the edge of the world". However, roughly as in the old German saying: first the work and then the pleasure, the relationship began on a completely commercial basis:
Baku - a capital 3 metres below sea level
Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, lies 3 metres below sea level and is the most important port on the Caspian Sea. In May, its approx. 2 million inhabitants celebrate the most important festival of the year, "Gül Bayrami", the flower festival. For 2010 the highlight of this event was planned to be a balloon event over the skies of Baku, honouring the deceased president Heydər Aliyev.
The first thing was to clarify many questions on both sides, since up to that point Azerbaijan was new territory for balloon pilots. Things that seemed so simple for us such as: size and equipment of the balloons, artwork, registration, permissions, take-off and landing location, transport to and in Azerbaijan as well as finally the weather factor, were at the centre of the first meetings.
Production of the envelopes by deadline was an important part of the project. Thanks to the digital printing machine purchased in 2009, Cameron was able to print "the flowers of Baku" in first-class picture quality on the envelope fabric. Delivery between "Cameron Balloons Ltd." and "geo-Die Luftwerker" ran smoothly according to standard routine and a meanwhile well-rehearsed partnership.
The Knight of the Rose (Rosenkavalier) from the inside
After the news arrived in Lübeck at the end of April of the safe and accident-free arrival of the balloons, the project moved into the "hot phase". The pilots Dominik Baummüller, Robert Meyknecht and Markus Pieper were to make one or two flights over Baku with the colourful Z150 before the festival. Not so easy when you consider that Baku itself is located on a peninsular of approx. 30 km in a north/south direction jutting out into the Caspian Sea. On this peninsular you can find the town of Goradil to the north of the densely constructed urban area of Baku. In between there are two lakes surrounded by numerous oil wells and also to the east of Baku the international airport as an imaginary wall before reaching the sea. That meant max. 3 miles of landing surface in the north and east of the city.
The first flight over Baku
There's no better chase vehicle!
When you know that the translation of Baku is "city of the winds", then even the experienced north-German balloon pilot becomes a bit subdued and maps out the possible take-off and landing situations in his mind. It got serious on 7th May, on the occasion of a first test flight. The local forecast was a 6-knot wind from the SSE that turned out to be a north wind and moved the balloon towards the coastline of the Caspian Sea less than 1 mile away. It was only at a height of 3,000 feet that the wind turned to SW and the flight could be concluded safely with solid land beneath the basket. A good omen for the subsequent 14 flights within the framework of the festival!
20 m² balloon repair station at the city limits...
Apart from a small tear in the "rose envelope", which was competently sewn in the 20 m² "balloon repair station" at the city limits of Baku, all three balloons were ready to use for their public appearance.
Again and again, during our 6-day stay, there were also opportunities to get to know the country, the people, and the special hospitality of the Azerbaijanis. We became familiar with the basics of tea culture as well as both the healthy and simultaneously varied cuisine.
Tulips in Baku
Several thousand on-lookers, TV stations from Azerbaijan and from the whole Caucasus region as well as from Turkey were waiting for the incumbent President, Ilham Aliyev personally, for the climax of the flower festival. He had without further ado given instructions that he wanted to see the balloons at 11 a.m. local time during his tour through the park. Now we really had a problem! How do you tell an Azerbaijanian potentate the meaning of thermal winds for balloons? The answer to the question was 2 tons of sand and six helpers per balloon, with whom we were finally able to display the show-pieces securely on the ground.
1.5 million heads of blossom for the former President
Children in costume for the GÜL BAYRAMI
A concluding evening flight within the framework of the flower festival rounded off the Azerbaijan adventure for all involved.
The Baku project 2010 thus became a further success of the year for the whole team, especially for "geo-Die Luftwerker", with Robert Meyknecht.
geo • Die Luftwerker
Lübeck, August 2nd, 2010
Robert Meyknecht