CLARK FREEPORT – Global warming, already causing havoc in other countries, seems to be rearing its ugly head for the forthcoming four-day 16th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta slated here starting this Thursday.
“I have not only my fingers, but also my legs crossed for the right wind velocity for the festival,” Capt. Joy Roa, president of the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Foundation (PIHABF) told Punto.
This year’s festival is expected to draw no less than 100,000 visitors.
Roa said that effects of global warming has not spared the country, as he cited an apparent change of wind pattern at the site for the balloon fiesta within the grounds of the Philippine Air Force’s 300th air base wind in this freeport.
He noted that recent velocity measurements indicated that wind in the site has been moving at about 10 knots. This, he said, is unusual at this time of the year at the festival site.
“Ideally, hot air ballooning is best at no more than eight knots,” he added.
But the giant deflated balloons from various countries have already been flown in, ready to be inflated for the festival starting Sunday, he said.
“Everyday, I have been conscious of wind chimes and I pray the weather will be most cooperative for the festival,” he said.
The festival this year will also commemorate the 100th year of aviation in the country by displaying a reconstructed “Shriver Skylark”, the first aircraft to be flown in the country during the Manila Carnival in 1911, merely eight years after the Wright brothers flew the first airplanes on Dec. 17, 1903.
The state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC), which provided P3.5 million subsidy for the festival, said no less than 27 hot air balloons from various countries. Seven of these balloons are expected to be uniquely designed.
Apart from local balloonists, others from Sweden, United States, Hungary, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, England, and South Korea are expected to fly during the festival.
Roa said the festival will also commemorate the 100th year of aviation in the Philippines.
“We will reconstruct the first aircraft that first flew in the country and it will be on display at the festival site. Later, it will be donated to the PAF museum,” he added.
“I have not only my fingers, but also my legs crossed for the right wind velocity for the festival,” Capt. Joy Roa, president of the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Foundation (PIHABF) told Punto.
This year’s festival is expected to draw no less than 100,000 visitors.
Roa said that effects of global warming has not spared the country, as he cited an apparent change of wind pattern at the site for the balloon fiesta within the grounds of the Philippine Air Force’s 300th air base wind in this freeport.
He noted that recent velocity measurements indicated that wind in the site has been moving at about 10 knots. This, he said, is unusual at this time of the year at the festival site.
“Ideally, hot air ballooning is best at no more than eight knots,” he added.
But the giant deflated balloons from various countries have already been flown in, ready to be inflated for the festival starting Sunday, he said.
“Everyday, I have been conscious of wind chimes and I pray the weather will be most cooperative for the festival,” he said.
The festival this year will also commemorate the 100th year of aviation in the country by displaying a reconstructed “Shriver Skylark”, the first aircraft to be flown in the country during the Manila Carnival in 1911, merely eight years after the Wright brothers flew the first airplanes on Dec. 17, 1903.
The state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC), which provided P3.5 million subsidy for the festival, said no less than 27 hot air balloons from various countries. Seven of these balloons are expected to be uniquely designed.
Apart from local balloonists, others from Sweden, United States, Hungary, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, England, and South Korea are expected to fly during the festival.
Roa said the festival will also commemorate the 100th year of aviation in the Philippines.
“We will reconstruct the first aircraft that first flew in the country and it will be on display at the festival site. Later, it will be donated to the PAF museum,” he added.
t plane exhibitions and competitions, kite flying exhibitions, radio-controlled model aircraft demonstration and paragliding shows. Food and souvenir booths would be aplenty during the four-day fest, organizers also said.
