A REALITY CHECK WEEK #2 (CONCLUSION)!

" The Glow" is held the night before a hot air balloon flight.

This has been an incredible two weeks! What drove the idea for a series of "Reality Check" BLOG Posts in the first place was my increasing awareness about how many people in our society have taken to rushing, rushing, rushing through life at the speed of sound. I watched this for months before asking this question: "Are they rushing towards a destination, or away from something in their past?" One thing became clear to me: None of it was healthy because by design, this frantic rush kept others at bay and never allowed anyone to get close enough emotionally to those who created this chaos. In an attempt to avoid this scenario altogether, I went back to my days as a Psychology major in college and remembered the late Dr. Viktor Frankl's pioneering work on "the meaning of life" and what it is that matters to us! With this in mind, I've shared a variety of images and memories. Some of them were quite simple, some were matters of the heart and still others were just plain funny! From hair color issues to the last car John DeLorean owned, this has been one wild ride! That's how we got here. This morning, I've decided to "take us out" with my story about surviving a very hard landing in a hot air balloon while I was broadcasting "live" one morning on an FM radio station.

A Balloon Closely Resembling Ours

A Texas Balloon Festival contacted the radio station where I was working. They were seeking a broadcasting personality to serve as Master of Ceremonies for their event. At the time, I was transitioning into a management position as Director of Marketing and Promotions. I was still "On the Air", but after my air shift ended I spent hours with the outgoing Public Relations Director who was retiring. As his replacement I was tasked with merging two departments--Marketing and Public Relations into my new title. Since I was going "Off the Air" soon, the station felt that I was ideal for the Emcee role. I'm sure it didn't hurt that I had been writing for a commercial aviation magazine and knew quite a bit about flight. So, at 6 AM one weekday morning, I reported to a Holiday Inn near the Festival site for a mandatory FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) safety briefing. Afterwards, I was paired with a retired Delta Air Lines Captain. An avid hot air balloonist, this would be his first flight since losing one daughter to cancer a year earlier. He was a great guy and we regaled each other with stories of airline CEO's I had interviewed.

When we reached the site, our colorful balloon was one of fifty tethered to the ground from the traditional "Glow" the night before. We entered the gondola and I started putting on my portable headphones and microphone to hear the station. I also had a cell phone open to the Morning "Drive Time" personality who was "On the Air". This time slot attracts radio's largest audience of the day with listeners commuting to work tuned in to the station with their car radios. In a hot air balloon, you can only ascend or descend; there is of course no steering. Our craft was huge. As part of the competition for points, we descended low enough to toss a white bean bag from our craft to land as close as possible to a number of white colored "X" symbols placed on the ground. We earned points for how close our bean bags landed to the targets. We wound up earning 3rd Place. Meanwhile, the station would cut to us at 600 feet, 800 feet and I'd report on where our geographical location was at any given time. Below I could see listeners pulled over in their cars on the highway birm standing outside waving frantically to us. We waved back and eventually began the descent for our landing. A highway passed beneath us and a farm lay ahead with a church and a parking lot to pass over first (please, no jokes about Passover). Within moments, we knew we were in serious trouble. As we were about 30 feet above the ground, a gust of wind took hold of our balloon and we began plunging to earth. My pilot yelled for me to bend my knees and to hold on tight! Through my headphones I could hear our radio personality tossing the broadcast over to me. He had no idea what was about to happen. "It's now twenty past the hour and time to check in on Michael Manning who is actually aloft at the Balloon Festival. Michael, tell us what's happening"...At that moment we struck the ground and our gondola was suddenly pulled up wildly another 15 feet. Our balloon was now dangerously out of control. Both my pilot and I survived the bounce, but now the gondola tilted sideways and all I could see was the ground rushing up at us. We impacted with my pilot taking the brunt of the crash standing behind the propane tanks. Instantly, I feared he was crushed. He was working quickly to turn off the fuel flow. During the impact, my body was ejected up and forward from the gondola. My tennis shoes became caught on the valve stems atop the propane tanks as I was thrown to the ground on my back. If only my feet had not been tangled on the tanks! The fuel flow was now turned to the "Off" position (Thank God, because this prevented my feet and legs from sustaining serious burns. Since I was slammed against the ground, the air was knocked out of my lungs and I can remember seeing the massive material from our balloon cascading over us toward a church building. The tendency to panic when one can't breathe in air is very common and I was seized with this horrible feeling. With the balloon canopy now deflated, the North wind gust caused our craft to be dragged along the ground for 35 feet and my body was trapped hanging half way out of the gondola. I could hear the announcer at the radio staton in my headphones trying to call me repeatedly.

The entire craft finally slid to a stop. I was scraped up along my back and arms, desperately trying to breathe! Finally, I took a few frantic breaths and started to reach for the propane tanks to extricate my pilot. Ground rescue crews started to appear around us and I remember them looking horrified and sick with shock as they shouted to us: "Are you alright!" My pilot was pinned behind the tanks. He was pulled from the gondola while someone quickly freed my feet as I managed to tumble free and eventually stand up. It's a miracle that I sustained no broken bones. Though dazed for few moments, my pilot yelled "Roll the material!" We joined the others and helped. Twenty minutes after the mishap, a group of rowdy people poured Champagne into plastic glasses and surrounded us to sing two Irish songs...one was about victory and defiance, the other was a Toast to our good health! It may have been only 9 AM but we drank to both wishes! I was lucky to be alive and eventually drove back to the studios to tell our story "On the Air". The skies that day were a clear blue. A fitting story to end our series (for now) with an undeniable Reality!

Cast from "Desperate Housewives" Toasting!