2013 Hot Air
Balloon Festival
The Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is an annual tourism extravaganza at the Omni Aviation Complex in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. It features colorful and sometimes odd-shaped hot air balloons from around the world. Celebrated in a fiesta atmosphere, it is the biggest aviation sports event in the Philippines. About 60,000 local visitors and foreign tourists come to see this big event, sometimes a cause for traffic snarls near the activity grounds inside the freeport zone.
This was my first time to watch this event with my family and camera buddies.
​It rained the previous day so we were worried about the weather. But apprehensions soon vanished when the dawn greeted us with its magnificent splendor.
​Definitely one of the crowd favorites was the "Tulips" balloon which was closely monitored by the crowd.
​The opening act of the Balloon Festival was the unveiling of the giant Philippine flag from a parachutist.
​We were all in awe upon seeing the tulips balloon take-off. It passed by over our heads and I was able to take this photo of its pilot adding more hot air to increase its lift.
​By this time, most of the balloons were already filled-up and soon some of them were taking off in pursuit of a "rabbit" - a leading balloon which launched ahead first
​Other visual delights were the pink elephant, the fire truck and the upside down Humpty-dumpty balloons.
​The organizers utilized this flying aerial platform where they mounted a video camera to take aerial footages.
​Malaysian motorized paragliders dropped in to join the festivities
​Part of the show was this plane doing some daredevil maneuevers
​One of the breath-taking acts to follow the balloon launch was the intro of the Breitling Jet team which did incredible aerial stunts. It brought back memories of watching the famous Blue Angels of the USAF of yesteryears.
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Unfortunately, we didn't get to finish the whole show as we only stayed 'til noon. But the morning show was more than enough to thrill kids and adults alike.
​The balloonist arrived shortly to their starting positions and proceeded to prepare and inflate their colorful entries.
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