Narrative:

On jan/xa/09 I set up to land my hot air balloon at the tracy airport. I broadcast my intentions on the CTAF; 122.8; several times. I announced that I was planning to land my balloon at the tracy airport and that I would likely cross runway 30 in the course of my landing. Another pilot; in an airplane; acknowledged my transmission and announced that he would be looking for the balloon. In the final stages of my landing; I observed an airplane approaching runway 30; the runway that I was about to cross. I was only a few ft above the ground. He appeared to be a couple hundred ft above me and about 1/4 mile away. Shortly; he banked away from me and made another circuit around the pattern before landing. I proceeded to make a normal balloon landing. As a balloon; and the lower aircraft; I had the right-of-way. I didn't feel in peril at any time. A balloon is a very large; slow moving aircraft that is very easy to see. Both the airplane pilot and I acted in a timely fashion. One area of improvement in the education of airplane pilots might be helpful. Balloons travel the same direction and speed as the wind. There is only indirect steering of a balloon. That indirect steering is accomplished by changing altitude and finding a new wind. The right combination of winds must be anticipated and selected. It can take a balloon pilot much longer to get set up for landing at a specific point than for an airplane; and it is much more difficult to 'go around' and make another approach to landing. If airplane pilots were aware of this difference they would be in a better position to appreciate and anticipate the actions of balloon pilots.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A balloon pilot landing at Tracy; CA; Airport comments that some fixed wing pilots do not realize the difficulty balloon pilots have preparing to land near an airport when a conflict with a fixed wing aircraft develops.

Narrative: On Jan/XA/09 I set up to land my hot air balloon at the Tracy Airport. I broadcast my intentions on the CTAF; 122.8; several times. I announced that I was planning to land my balloon at the Tracy Airport and that I would likely cross Runway 30 in the course of my landing. Another pilot; in an airplane; acknowledged my transmission and announced that he would be looking for the balloon. In the final stages of my landing; I observed an airplane approaching Runway 30; the runway that I was about to cross. I was only a few FT above the ground. He appeared to be a couple hundred FT above me and about 1/4 mile away. Shortly; he banked away from me and made another circuit around the pattern before landing. I proceeded to make a normal balloon landing. As a balloon; and the lower aircraft; I had the right-of-way. I didn't feel in peril at any time. A balloon is a very large; slow moving aircraft that is very easy to see. Both the airplane pilot and I acted in a timely fashion. One area of improvement in the education of airplane pilots might be helpful. Balloons travel the same direction and speed as the wind. There is only indirect steering of a balloon. That indirect steering is accomplished by changing altitude and finding a new wind. The right combination of winds must be anticipated and selected. It can take a balloon pilot much longer to get set up for landing at a specific point than for an airplane; and it is much more difficult to 'go around' and make another approach to landing. If airplane pilots were aware of this difference they would be in a better position to appreciate and anticipate the actions of balloon pilots.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.