Fired a 12 million BTU burner into a giant Chicago flag predawn from second base at Wrigley Field.
I crafted a weather preset with opposing wind directions at ground level and aloft so that I could actually steer the balloon using my altitude. Then I launched for an epic sight seeing tour.
I prefer simming with a monitor and TrackIR, but it was views from the basket like these when I was really, really jealous of the VR users:
Drzewiecki Design’s Chicago Landmarks is spectacular, and you can’t really appreciate it unless you drift by slow and close, so I’ve been really looking forward to this flight ever since the HPG balloon was announced. You can actually see the L train running along the tracks and crossing Chicago River bridges.
On the south side of the city, i saw some nice playing fields where I was going to put it down. I botched the approach though, but then thought, heck I took off from Wrigley. Why don’t I go for the gold and try to land this thing at Comiskey Park, or whatever it’s called these days.
For a minute I thought I was going to overshoot and wind up in the stands like a Frank Thomas “Big Hurt” home run. But I think Flight Simulator actually modeled the wind flow around the stadium, and the winds went slack once I dipped below the roof line, allowing me to set it down in the outfield.
