BALLOONING IN 2002

Balloonmeeting PHOINIX

Hot air balloon fiesta in Latgale - Balloonmeeting PHOINIX, took place in DAGDA city from July 26 to July 28, 2002.

DAGDA is a small countryside city - a pearl of Latgale. "Phoinix" - a fabulous bird of immortality and revival is a symbol of the city. DAGDA celebrates the 10th anniversary of getting city status in July 2002.

A balloon competition was arranged as a part of the fiesta in a friendly ambiance with fair play.

DAGDA surroundings offered exiting flying possibilities. Competition flights were going to over picturesque area. There are ancient castle mounds, the deepest lake of Baltic - Dridzis Lake and the richest lake of Latvia with 69 islands - Ezezers (Hedgehog Lake) among the others lakes.

There were 4 flights and 7 tasks and the special cristal trophy "Phoenix 2002" won Hungarian pilot JANOS KOVACS. The 2nd place took Gunars Dukste from Latvia and the 3rd - Michail Bakanov from Moscow.

Travellers' Club ALTIUS is much obliged to all who helped to make Balloonmeeting PHOINIX as unforgettable adventure for all inhabitants of Dagda city and its guests!

Nordic Nation Balloon Cup Over Stockholm

Stockholm, capital of Sweden, celebrated its 750th anniversary. Among the various events and happenings for the first time since 1912 there was an exciting ballooning event and a serious team competition over the centre of Stockholm June 5-8, 2002.

Participants - Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Latvia team.

There were 4 flights in ideal weather conditions. The target was located on the water just outside the Royal Palace. The balloons could flight as low as 0 ft over water and 300 ft MSL over the city centre up to 3000 ft showing a high level competition to several hundred thousand spectators.

Official results of the competition:

1.Sweden		320		points
2.Latvia		252		points
3.Norway		252		points
4.Finland		204		points
5.Denmark		183		points

More pictures and results.

10 Years Anniversary of the Latvian Ballooning

April 4, 1992 the first Latvian hot air balloon VINNIJS took off to its first flight from the Riga Old city - Doma laukums.

It was begginning of the Latvian ballooning.

There are 9 hot air balloons in Latvia today - VINNIJS, ZEFIRS, COCA-COLA, LMT EZIS, DAUGAVA, VINNIJS II, LMT EZIS II, RIGA un PRIEKA!

More pictures of The 10th anniversary celebrated on April 4, 2002 in Riga Od city heart - Doma laukums. 

FAI / CIA Annual Conference in Riga!

March 6-9, 2002 the FAI/CIA annual conference was held in Riga.

The official representatives of the Latvian ballooning was NAC's president Viesturs Koziols.

CIA Cinference Minutes and the other information you can find in

http://www.fai.org/ballooning/