Baloon Fiesta 2015 - Curt Lewis

550 pilots register to fly at Balloon Fiesta

Pilots from 17 countries make their way to New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -Pilots from 17 countries made their way to the International Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Five hundred-fifty pilots are registered for this year's festivities.

For some, it's their first time, but for Peter Procopio, it was a routine day.

"I've flown here since 1978," Procopio said.

He pilots the Koshare Gallup balloon and cannot stop coming back every year because of all the friendships he's made.

"It's kind of like an annual reunion, and you see a lot of fellow pilots that you haven't seen for years," said Procopio. "What's really special about the Albuquerque event is all the people that we meet and we've made friends here that we've stayed in touch with all these years."

Ursula Richards is new to piloting but has been a volunteer with the fiesta for more than 20 years. She will be flying her own balloon called SquawkURs.

She said she cannot wait to get up in the sky.

"The whole experience. Inflating my balloon, being able to launch from the field with 500 other balloons, so it should be very exciting," Richards said.

When she first began volunteering, she never knew she would become a pilot.

"I never really dreamed or expected to be a hot air balloon pilot. I was afraid of heights," she said.