Weekend Update & Fw: Balloon Fiesta Park - Weekly Events for week: June 22-28, 2026

1 view

Skip to first unread message

President - DCEF

unread,

Jun 23, 2026, 5:35:16 PM (8 hours ago) Jun 23

Hi All,

Weekend Update: The Balloon Fiesta Park is OPEN this Monday-Wednesday. BFP is CLOSED to flying this Thursday-Sunday.

BFP Weekly Forecast: Weather Underground 10 Day

Daily Reminders: Don't forget to visibly hang your Gate Card from your rearview mirror while you are at the Park. Check the 2 Runway Barriers/Signs for center position with the signs facing out to block each end of the Runway. Do respect the Balloonists if they are up and give them full airspace. Watch for and avoid other park users. Refrain from flying in the airspace above them. Remember that the airspace over the Golf Training Center (Driving Range) is a NO FLY ZONE. Clean up your Area (cigarettes/trash) or Crash Site (all pieces/parts) when you're finished, as well as all broken prop blades. If you see a broken prop, even if it is not yours, please pick it up and throw it away. Thanks.

Flight Awareness: Stand 25' back from the Runway to allow for a Safety Margin and so all Pilots have a clear visual perspective. All turns from the Runway shall be away from the Pits. (Always fly to the west of the Runway over D6) The prevailing wind directs the Flight Pattern. (North Wind effects a Left Pattern and South Wind effects a Right Pattern at BFP) Call out Take-Offs, Landings, and any Maneuvers that could affect another Flyer. Use common sense if performing an unusual Flight Plan or Maneuver. Communicate with others if flying large or fast aircraft. Try to stay north of Key Grab (E/W road) so as not to interfere with the gliders.

Unless everyone agrees otherwise, AIRCRAFT may NOT be flown in or from the Infield (D7 between the Blue Awning and the Runway) while others are using the Runway.

It is OK to fly from the Pits only IF:

A. You are alone, just you and your plane.

B. Everyone else agrees, understands, and is doing the same.

As soon as anyone goes to fly from the Runway, Infield Flying and any Infield Agreement STOPS. Even if you are already flying, land safely or move to the Runway. MICROS may use the Infield to the north or south of the North Blue Awning when the Runway is occupied and there is agreement with everyone flying. However, remember that BFP is primarily for bigger, faster planes because of its fantastic Runway and grass. Please keep these little wonders well behind the Runway and NOT over any Pilot. Refer to Protocol.

Los Lunas Indoor Flying: Flying this Friday!

Friday Night Indoor Flying, sponsored by the Belen Area Radio Controllers (BARC), is held at the Los Lunas Senior High School Gym on the 1st and 3rd Friday from 6-10pm of every month.

1776 Emilio Lopez Rd., Los Lunas, 87031. Check attached map for entry.

I25 to Los Lunas Main Street. East on Main, then 1st left on Emilio Lopez Road. North to Los Lunas High School. Take 1st entrance to the East side of the building. Follow the blue line on the map. The handicap parking area is where you will park if you need to use the elevator to come up to the gym. These doors will NOT be open. You will need to call me (John) and I will come down and let you in. If you can carry your stuff up 13 steps with 3 landings breaking them up, then you can park in the Park Here area and up the steps to that open door.

If you should happen to arrive and the main gate is closed, please call me and I will open it for you.

There are chairs available in the gym, but you will have to bring your own table or just use an extra chair or 2. We will have to get out any chairs we use and return them when we leave.

You must be an AMA member to fly for insurance reasons. So, don't forget your AMA card.

Thanks,

John (505) 975-0321

Cumberland Heights Presbyterian Church Indoor: No flying until Thursday, July 16th at 6:30 pm

Questions: Neall Doren - ne...@haughtmail.com

Call/Text: Neal Doren (505) 681-5998

Cheers,

Greg Rullman

President

Duke City Electric Flyers

Hint of the Week: When in doubt, check your speed control. Yes, many times, this means learning the beeps!

If your plane's power system is acting funny... weird sounds, cutouts, power losses, you know... anything but smooth consistent power, you really need to check that ESC's Manual and learn how to program the unit.

I can't go into detail here. We're in sorta the same situation we had with Radio Manufacturers years back and their servo plugs. Remember that? They were all basically the same size plug, except each brand had to have a different wire arrangement so the servos would only work with their equipment. Thank someone, they all came to their senses!

As far as ESCs go, most makers program them at the factory for the best operation with the most used motors, or for any particular aircraft they will be put in. The defaults are typically set to those parameters so the user doesn't have to mess with them. However, sometimes they are not.

I recently purchased the new FlightLine Mustang. This P-51 is really well done in almost every area. But flying, I found it had an annoying little "screech" occurring after I powered off to come down out of a maneuver and then powered back up at the bottom... Pull out. Power. Screech! Every time. Almost as if the prop was controlling the ESC! I called Motion about it and the tech (not mentioned) reproduced the "Manual" talk. Problem was, the FreeWing Manual had a new item in the list of programmable features called Active Freewheeling. I could tell that the gent really did not know what that was. Neither did I!

He - and the Manual - stated that one could buy a programming unit with a display to properly check for the correct functions. I looked online and there were a few units of different makes and all proprietary, however only one for Freewing ESCs fitting the description. It had 2 reviews. Both were 1 star and both had failed to work! Great.

I guess it's up to me and the beeps!

It's a little brain scratching to program an ESC if you've never done it before. They all have similar but different steps in moving the Throttle back and forth to move from or to make selections based on beeps coming from the motor of different tones and of different lengths. The sequence usually passes through all the selections, then circles back around to the beginning. I recommend reading the manual thoroughly to understand everything they are telling you. I recommend removing the prop before you start. I also recommend writing your selections down on paper so you can see what you need to do while moving the throttle stick. It takes a bit of practice and you want to get these selections just right.

The trick is remembering that most all of these little Electron Secretion Creatures circle back to the beginning after running through their selections. Use that unique system for practice. You may make a mistake the first two or three tries, but eventually, you will get the hang of it and go right through the sequence without missing a beat... er, selection.

As far as what to program, I can't tell you, as there are too many different set-ups. - Is the motor an outrunner or an inrunner? How many poles? How many cells? The list goes on and on. When in doubt, get advice or set things to medium. Check the defaults in your manual.

Here's my current set-up for the FlightLine Mustang/FreeWing ESC as an example

1. Brake Type - Disabled (you really don't want a motor brake on a scale prop plane)
2. Brake Force - Low (it's actually OFF because the Brake is disabled above)
3. Voltage Cutoff Type - Soft (this is so the prop gradually slows down when the battery is too low, telling you something. However, it's actually disabled from #5)
4. # LiPo Cells - Auto (you could put in a number as well if the plane is always using the same cell count)
5. Cutoff Voltage - Disabled (here is my preference. I would rather lose a battery than the plane. Use the Tx Batt Voltage warning instead, or a simple timer to warn you before it gets too low)
6. Start Up Mode - Normal (you want the prop to spin up fast on a prop plane. Slow for something like a heli)
7. Timing - Medium (safely used for most outrunners. The higher the timing, the faster the spin, the higher the amps, the higher the heat, and the shorter the flight)
8. Active Freewheel - Off (no screech!)
9. Search Mode - Off

Again, this is just an example for this particular speed control. But, it should give you a good idea if you have to "get into one!"

Btw... after trial and error, I found that setting the Active Freewheeling to OFF got rid of the in-air screech. Yaaay!

Note: I also had a Freewing ESC Manual from another, earlier airplane. It was labeled as a V1. The Mustang's was labeled as a V2. Interestingly, the V1 said to set Freewheeling to OFF. The V2 said to put it ON!

To unsubscribe, please reply to this newsletter with UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject Box… Thanks! g

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Rice, Susan <asr...@cabq.gov>

To: Rice, Susan <asr...@cabq.gov>

Cc: Gonzales, Sarah <sarahg...@cabq.gov>; Martinez, Jimmy <jimmym...@cabq.gov>

Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 04:07:41 PM MDT

Subject: RE: Balloon Fiesta Park - Weekly Events for week: June 22-28, 2026

Hi All,

June is a busy month.

Gate 3 is working (when we don’t have it locked open for special events).

Gate 4 will remain closed until after July 4, 2026.

Thanks,