CTBA Club Flights, and many individual adventures, often begin at one of a few customary launch sites. These sites have adequate space for safe operation, and usual wind patterns lead to areas with suitable landing sites.
Lloyd Cates has been flying, collecting data and experimenting with
Central Texas Red Zone
mapping for several years.
He is the architect of this pilot site.
Although it is getting a bit dated, an electronic red zone (PZ) map is available for the local Austin flying area. The electronic map is an 'overlay' files for use with the Delorme Street Atlas mapping package versions 4.0 and later. An attempt was made to make the Austin area PZ map compatible with the Balloonist's Marked-Up Map System Handbook by Neville Wallace. A copy of this handbook can be downloaded from the Balloon Life website.
Disclaimer Notice: The following electronic Red Zone map is assumed to be accurate to the best of our knowledge. However, it is maintained by humans who translated it from the CTBA's 'official' paper Red Zone map from Lloyd Cates. Since the red/green zones are often interpolated during the translation from a paper map to an electronic map by human creatures, assume nothing is accurate. Some Red Zones are from the 1970's, and others are reported by those who do not know how to read maps.
Please email any changes or corrections to the CTBA.
Download instructions:
Austin_PZ.sa4 - Austin, TX Red Zone Map (Street Atlas Vr 4.0) 14 KB Feb 23, 1999
Austin_PZ.sa6 - Austin, TX Red Zone Map (Street Atlas Vr 6.0) 14 KB Feb 23, 1999
Round Rock : Old Settler's Park
Old Settler's Park is East of Round Rock on Highway 79 about halfway to Hutto, next to Dell Diamond. The entrance is on the North side of the highway, and is marked by a stone gate and signs. In the park, follow the drive past the camp ground, across the creek, and past the soccer fields. The primary meeting location is at the old pavilion by the lakeside. If the old pavilion is in use, we often meet at the "new pavilion" just east of the main road, and south of the lake (see map below).
Mansfield Dam (Lake Travis Flight)
Mansfield Dam Park is the meeting area preceeding the Lake Travis flight. Launches are sited according to wind direction. Entrance to the park is to the north off FM-620 immediatly west of Mansfield Dam. We meet at the west end of the dam half hour before sunrise.
Link to Mansfield Dam on Google Maps
Updated: 23 July 2007 by Mike