The TV soaps were temporarily shunned on Wednesday evening in the suburb of Coosan, as the people of the neighbourhood came out in their droves to watch two hot air balloons land perfectly in adjacent fields.
Local enthusiast John Kenny in the JFC balloon accompanied Irish Balloon Flight’s Malcolm White in the biggest hot air balloon in Ireland in a voyage from the Glasson Golf and Country Club in the hope of reaching Mr Kenny’s home in Bealnamullia.
However, after an hour and a quarter of flying across the inner lakes, a combination of prudence, proximity to Athlone, and a lessening breeze saw the two pilots decide to choose their eventual landing points in the semi-agricultural townland.
“That was good fun last night. I was very tempted to go over [the Shannon] to Bealnamullia, but windspeed determines everything, and if you’re approaching a town, you’ve got to weigh up your options. And the gas was getting low,” said Mr Kenny, a 20-year veteran of the hot air game, who works as a TV and satellite installer during the day.
“Fortunately, I know the owner of the field and that’s a great help. Ah, it’s lovely if you get a nice evening like that. Last night was what we call a stand-up landing. Then you had all the kids coming in and talking. It’s magical like that. Made my evening,” he said.
He told how on a recent flight over Longford the meteorology was not so forgiving and he landed in a back garden in Tashinny, near Abbeyshrule.
“We’d hardly touched down and they brought us out drinks,” he laughed.
Mr Kenny was flying a balloon whose 90,000 cu ft (2,550 cu m ) can carry four or five people, and which is owned by the plastics manufacturer, John Francis Concannon from Tuam.
The Hunky Dory-sponsored craft flown by Malcolm White is a commercially operated balloon capable of carrying 14 people for between €200 and €250 a flight.
Mr Kenny was the man responsible for getting the annual Irish Balloon Festival to the Big Meadow in 2009 and 2010
