Highlights of 28th Aeronautics Festival in Velikye Luki

The Velikye Luki Aeronautics festival (Воздухоплавание) is a yearly championship of flying hot air balloons that takes place in the city of Velikye Luki located in the south-east part of Pskov Oblast. The city is also called the Capital of aeronautics in Russia. The festival has been taking place since 1996. After a year-long wait, I was finally able to indulge and witness this festival first-hand! Here’s my experience of the event.

A view of the start sight during the evening flight. Image courtesy of the author

The week-long festival is most often scheduled at the start of summer. This year, the event included a special occasion — the celebration of Russia Day (on June 12th). It was the pearl of the festival. The week between June 9 and June 16 was filled with flights, emotions, energy, friendship, and most of all hot air balloons! People from all over Russia drove across the lands to reach the city of Velikye Luki and put their piloting skills to the test. A total of 44 teams from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Veliky Novgord, Pskov, Ryazan, Tyumen, Nizhni Novgorod, Tula, Yaroslavl, and more! Further, teams from Belarus and Kazakhstan also drove all the way to take part. Over the course of 8 days, there were 10 flights with various goals assigned to the pilots. From reaching the target destination to grabbing a key from a buoy floating in the river, the festive events were absolutely entertaining. Depending on the weather, wind speed, rain and other factors, two flights were arranged each day: one at 3 am and one later in the evening at 6 pm. As Velikye lLuki lies in the north-western part of Russia, during summer, the sun rises early and sets late, which means you can enjoy beautiful sunsets at 10 pm.

As a photographer, I took part and flew along with a pilot Anton Sizov from Kazakhstan, who with his team, had amassed hundreds of flight hours in various parts of the region. I joined him on the way out to the evening flight and experienced first-hand the unfolding, construction, and lift-off into the sky! The flights take place on the outskirts of the oblast, around 30 km from the city. The grasslands have plenty of space to lay out the balloon on the ground and pump it full of air. Once we arrived at the launch location, there was a quick briefing with the organizers that involved consulting a huge map. The briefing ended with the sound of an air horn. Let’s fly!

Next, all the participants started unpacking their balloons and getting their gondolas ready. Anton Sizovs's team consisted of four people: a driver and an Engineer, a ground navigator, and a pilot (Anton himself). While the team prepared the balloon for lift-off, Anton sat in his car, making calculations and preparing his flight route to reach the destination. Once ready, he jumped alongside his teammates to start filling the balloon with air and ready himself for lift-off. Within 22 minutes since the air horn, we were already 20 meters in the sky.

It felt amazing! We started ascending at a quick pace at about 2 meters per second. Once reaching our desired altitude, we were free to ascend or descend based on the direction of the wind and airspeed at each altitude. We crossed a number of streams and a ton of land to finally reach the destination where we found a space and landed. As the gondola has no wheels or springs, landing is a skilled manoeuvre — it requires constant balancing between releasing hot air from the balloon and pumping air into it — the landing was a thump at minimum. Once we landed, it was time for the next phase: the journey back. This is where the driver and navigator used their 4×4 trucks to cross streams and patches of wetland to reach us.

At the end of the flight, I was treated to a tradition of aeronautics. The first time a person flies in a hot air balloon, the team congratulates them by describing the story of the four elements of nature: for instance, the earth is symbolized by the grass we landed upon and the wind is described as the flight we conducted. However, fire and water were a unique expression. As per tradition, the fire is symbolized by burning a small strand of your hair, which is then doused with water or in my case, champagne, thereby completing the cycle of elements. This experience will forever be in my memories!

On June 12, Russia Day, the grand start of the tournament took place. I recall all pilots and participants having their fingers crossed about the weather. Spectacularly, the weather was bright and sunny. After a general briefing at the city square, all participants collected their flags and headed towards the flight region. It was around 7 pm when the fans started buzzing and the propane fires started roaring, we were witnessing one of the gems of Velikye Luki.

This time around, I flew along with an energizing all-female crew! Zhanna and the team were a group of 4 girls who were participants in the tournament and were waiting to click spectacular shots on the day. Having a bit of experience with my first flight, I hopped along with the girls and began to unwrap, pump, and get ready. As the sun popped out from the clouds, we dropped our cord and took off towards the city and as tradition calls, touching the Lokat river with our gondola is a must. We glided off across the city towards the open lands, all the while waving and wishing people on the ground a happy Russia Day!

Alas, the event eventually came to an end. Yet the memories of taking my first hot air balloon flight in the city of Velikye Luki, engaging with the wonderful people of Russia and embracing the true wilderness of the country will forever have a place in my heart.

Feel free to reach out to me via email ashish@ireddy.ru or peruse my work on Flickr.