Best moment from West Baden

From: <mkirda_at_sbcglobal.net>
Date: 08 Apr 2014 11:22:36 -0700

This had nothing to do with flying actually. Well, almost nothing.

There was a little boy, maybe 18 months to 2 years old, still pretty much non-verbal if you understand what I mean. During one of my flights, I had to steer several times as I never got past 60'. This little guy couldn't care less about the planes, but boy he was taken with my balloon.

After I let the plane go, I stopped and talked to him a bit and told him I'd bring down my balloon for him as it was bigger than he was. His eyes went wide. I brought it down and sure enough, it dwarfed him. The look of sheer joy on his face was wonderful to see. He was so excited. I let him whack it a few times. Then I had him walk with me back to the pit area and let him put the balloon back up. He was so excited he was jumping up and down and giggling with delight.

Later on I saw him wandering into the pit area, grabbing balloons, pulling them down a bit and letting go. He had the biggest grin and was so happy to be playing with our balloons.

I spoke with another guest - this was his second time to WB. The last time was in the 80's - the hotel was dilapidated, he said, but this same competition was going on. He said he had told his friends about it but never could find any more info on the models, so he kind of forgot about it. And now, 20+ years later, first time back to the hotel and the same competition is going on. He was thrilled to see it again.

Regards.
Mike Kirda
Received on Tue Apr 08 2014 - 11:22:37 CEST