hotairballoonist

View File Drone Winds "NEW Procedure" You may have noticed that the procedure for reading winds with a drone has changed. Watch this video so see how and why! Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 11/06/2024 Category Video Tutorials  

Greater Orlando Balloon Rides offers flight each morning (Weather Permitting) in the Disney area of Orlando Florida. The flight program is several hours long and can be scheduled for any day you wish. The Greater Orlando Balloon Rides website allows you to choose a flight date with their online calendar scheduling. Choose your flight date, enter some contact information and place a refundable deposit and POOF your set! Visit https://greaterorlandoballoonrides.com for more information.

View File Paid Memebership? Do you have a paid membership? Is it expired? How do I find out? What if I have lost my password? How do I renew? All of these questions are answered here in this Video. Remember that PAID MEMBERSHIPS is what keeps this site alive. Please support this resource for all Balloonist. Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 05/31/2024 Category Video Tutorials  

Hi Classic Pilot, Hey everyone! Are you looking forward to your upcoming events? From Telluride to Carson City, Helen to Sikeston, Coshocton to Battle Creek and Indianola the summer flying season is rushing at us in a hurry. Are you ready? While this is an exciting time for all of us who fly in festivals and competition we also want to remind everyone to please be safe. Fly within your comfort level and NOT because others are flying. Just because balloons around you are inflating does not mean you must do so. The safety of your crew, passengers, and spectators is most important. Remember YOU are the PIC of your aircraft and everyone out there is most likely taking video on their phones! Most of all treasure your flights, friends and the amazing fellowship that ballooning has to offer everyone. Take the time to invite everyone you come in contact with into the fun and adventure of ballooning. Each of you are AMAZING and the ambassador(s) for all of us! How’s your rig? Some of you have flown very little yet this year. Many will be hitting the road for the first time. Take the time to check over your equipment. From trailers to bearings, lights to hitch latches, a little time invested in checking things over real good is time that may be saved sitting on the side of the road somewhere. Also remember things like your inflator fan, and strikers, flints, radios, gloves, and more. I remember years ago a crew person who was stung horribly by wasps who had made a nest in a glove bag mounted on the inside of a trailer door. Unless you look over EVERYTHING real good you just don’t know what nasty little surprises are waiting for you and the worst time.. There is simply nothing better than a road trip to a balloon festival that goes off without a hitch. We hope you have an entire summer like that! Gots STufF? Do you need Balloon Cups? Do you need a new Envelope Bag? How about an HAB or LTA sticker for your rig? There are many great items available on the Balloons-andBeyond.com site. In fact we have 4 balloon cup versions available right now! Many of them have balloons that you may know on them. Take the time and have a look. Get a couple of sleeves or more for your summer adventures. Each cup has the Balloonist Prayer on them so they make great after flight champagne ceremony cups. Plastic and dishwasher safe they even make a great souvenir for your passengers and crew. Go to and have a look! Click here to see one of the cups. Click here to order cups. The Aviation Ranch. I have been to balloon heaven and it is in Georgia! If any of you are traveling up and down interstate 75 and are passing through Georgia it is worth a stop for an afternoon or even an evening to see the Aviation Ranch. What an amazing place! Tom and Jessica Warren have been working (their butts off) for two years now to create a place for ballooning and Balloonist to fly, relax, share stories around a campfire and so much more. They have done so much already and have plans to do even more in the future. To learn even more about this place check out the website Aviation-Ranch.com. Even the website has much to offer! Get an Aviation-Ranch hat or a Koozie in the store. There are slide shows and videos about some of the projects they have done. There are competition videos for those who wish to learn more about flying competition. SOON they will have cabins and sleeping accommodations for extended visits. They have an amazing launch and landing area on the property and so much more. Hats off to the Warrens and all the other pilots and crew who are part of this project! Truly amazing! Visit https://aviation-ranch.com for more information and to see the ranch! Members needed! Please help support the HotAirBalloonist.com site with a membership to the site. A general membership is only $20 a year and allows you so many advantages. Members SEE the private side of the site that the general public does not see. Members can interact and create articles, photo galleries and even your own balloon club within the site. Members can see hundreds of files and many dozens of video tutorials and best of all members can download ALL the files for FREE! Once you are a member you can download ten times the value of your membership in tutorials and files in the download center. Plus you are helping to support and keep running the only interactive balloonist platform on the web. We have created a short 2 minute video that shows you how to check if you have a paid membership on the site. It also shows you how to recover and reset your password if you have forgotten it. Take a moment and view My Membership https://hotairballoonist.com/Video/mymembership.mp4 Thank you all, for everything you do for the Balloon World.

Katherine Wadsworth Delano 4-26-22.pdf

Leo Eisenberg Obituary 1921-2017.pdf Mar 24, Doc 1.pdfMar 24, Doc 2.pdfMar 24, Doc 6.pdfMar 24, Doc 7.pdfMar 24, Doc 8.pdf

ROGER CLARK Commercial Pilot / Elite Balloon Instructor (NAFI) Palmetto Sun Balloons 864-631-3243 roger.clark@live.com www.palmettosunballoons.com 132 Fawnbrook Drive, Greer, SC 29650

Bio Maureen Mullen Lynch for Notable File.pdf

Bio Wiedkehr Women - Denise & Donna.pdf

October means one thing to most Balloonist. It’s Fiesta Time. I have been watching the postings on Facebook and I get a big smile on my face to hear about everyone going to Albuquerque for the big event! It was many years ago when I went to “The Big One” It is an exciting event and one that can test your skills in a big way. Please BE SAFE. Here are some great things to remember. Not everyone who flies has the same skill level or even recent flight time. Be super alert to all the balloons around you. Some are flying only for the first time at the event and others may only have 5 flights under their belt this entire year! Take an experienced ground crew with you to help keep you aware of everything around you. Heck if you can take another pilot with you, do so! Don’t fly over your head. If you would not fly in the conditions at home don’t fly in them there. If the weather conditions are marginal for your taste you certainly don’t want to be up there with 100’s of other balloons! Fly to have fun and enjoy the experience and NOT because everyone else is. Take the time to talk to your ground team. Make sure they are aware of everything that is going on. Tell them NOT to get in a hurry to chase, drive the vehicle FIRST and worry about the balloon second. One of the things, that occurs way too often and does not make national headlines are the incidents on the ground that do not involve a balloon. While I wish for everyone to have great flights I am hoping that ALL participants are safe, (in the air and on the ground). Look for the Thompson’s Jon is flying for Rainbow Riders and Mom and Dad (Connie and Jim) are lurking around there somewhere as well. FOR SALE I have been looking at the different options online for Balloon Equipment. There are several places online, Facebook is the most common place I find things for sale. The issue I run into is what if you are searching for a specific item? A Tank or a Fan or just a Bottom End. That is where most “For Sale” places fall short. There is nearly, no way to find exactly what you are looking for without doing a bunch of sorting or scrolling back over dozens of things you have no interest in. The Equipment 4SALE section on HotAirBalloonist.com is set up so you can find EXACTLY what you are looking for in just a couple of clicks. When we say a couple of clicks we mean TWO. In almost every case you can find a whole section of exactly what you are looking for in two clicks. Here are just a few of the features of using the HotAirBalloonist.com Equipment 4SALE forum. AS THE SELLER, You can post as much descriptive text as you wish. You can add as many photos as you like. You can include details such as Price, Location, Hours, Shipping Options, Model, Make You can also include all your contact information such as Phone, Email, Address, and best way to contact. Return to your post and edit in any way you wish. Add more photos, text or even change the price of your item. In addition as a member on the site you can take advantage of the “Follow Feature” to be notified whenever someone posts a comment or question about your item. I encourage you to have a look at the Equipment 4SALE section on HotAirBalloonist.com and see for yourself. If you have equipment for sale, send me an email with all the details and I will create a 4SALE post for you! BALLOON CUPS So we are expecting the new custom Balloon cups to show up here at the shop any day! We have another cup in the works and it has 5 spaces left. SO… if you were one of the people who did not get a spot on the first cup but would still like to have your balloon on a custom cup here is your chance. Go to this page. https://balloons-andbeyond.com/2023-balloon-cup/ Fill out the form with your details, Balloon name and add a real good photo of your balloon. Then when you submit that page it will take you to a page where you can purchase a case of cups. To get your balloon on the cup you are required to pre-purchase a case of cups. A case of cups is $325 and contains 500 cups (that will have YOUR balloon on them) When you purchase a case the price per cup works out to 65 cents a cup. A super cheap souvenir to give to your passengers and crew! Also remember the cups have the Balloonist’s prayer on them! Don’t forget to hide away a sleeve of cups for your own personal collection. What did I do? In the last newsletter I described a situation that was, in my mind, a super dangerous situation that could have ended up in a horrible disaster. I asked the question what would you do? This is a great topic at this moment with so many heading to Albuquerque for Fiesta. Here is a reminder of what I was a witness to” I was up in Helen GA for the Helen to the Atlantic event. My father was going on a Gas Balloon flight at the event. The afternoon flight was a go but things had not calmed down. Everyone was told to use a tie off because of the thermals and very tight launch areas. I figured I would walk down and help in any way I could. As I was walking around the balloons I saw a balloon rolling all over the place in the gusty conditions. I walked over to the basket to see if I could find the pilot. What I saw seriously scared me to death. The pilot had taken a rope tied to their pickup truck. Ran the rope through the basket via one of the tank strap holes around the fuel tank and out the other tank strap hole. So the entire balloon was secured by a rope around a fuel tank and wicker. To make matters worse the parachute line, was lying about 20 up inside the envelope. It was not tied to anything at all. This means that if the balloon started to take off in a gust of wind someone would have to run INTO the balloon to grab that parachute line to deflate the balloon. I have tried to deflate a balloon while riding along inside. It is nearly impossible to get enough friction on Balloon Fabric to pull out a straight pull parachute. Then, LORD HELP everyone if that rope tore that tank out of the basket and severed the fuel line! So what would you do? My solution was to immediately create a safe environment and explain to the pilot the issues I saw. I went into the balloon and grabbed the parachute line. Walked out and handed the line to one of the ground team holding open the mouth. I told them if this balloon begins to move again to pull on this line as hard as they could. I then walked over and shut off the fan. I knew this would bring the pilot from where ever they were down to the basket. It worked. The pilot was over at the next balloon to the left talking to another pilot. They came running back to the basket to find out what had happened to the fan. I was there and told them that I had shut it off. I asked them if they thought the rope thru the wicker and around the tank could lift that pickup truck. I then explained that the balloon could. While they were very upset with my actions they also could see my point. If a gust or thermal were to grab that balloon it would rip that tank right out of the side of that basket and there would be no way to stop that balloon. We had a very productive conversation. I then helped them get launched. I urge each of you to keep an eye on your fellow balloonist. HELP each other be safe. Please not only be alert for potential situations with your own equipment and crew, but the others around you! Additionally, be receptive to constructive advice from others. We know everyone does things differently but maybe, just maybe that other guy might have a good idea. One of the stories I have told in the past and still rings true today. I was a very cocky young pilot. I had way more talent than sense. My parents realized this and did not want to inhibit my drive and passion. My father gave me a great piece of advice I still remember to this day. “Even that guy who does 9 out of 10 things wrong is worth watching because the one thing he does right is something you may not have thought of” Learn from everyone and always be willing to share and…… Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World. be safe

Hi Capt. Jeff Thompson, How is everyone doing this year? I know I say this over and over, but… Thank you all for what you do for the Balloon World. It has now been three and a half years since a stoke, ended my ballooning career, but I still stay involved as much as I can. Remember if there is anything you need and you think I can help send me an email or call me and toss the idea or question at me. I would be thrilled to help in any way I can. This newsletter we will talk about some of the projects I have been working on and some ideas for the future. I guess I am officially doing basket rehabs. Tom Warren the Kubicek dealer for the southeast region has been bringing baskets to me to “Fix UP” I use that term lightly since some of them are pretty major overhauls but I am happy to do this. I love breathing new life into a basket that would have been thrown into a landfill, or worse flown to the point of failure. Scott McClinton came down here to Florida to give me a basket that was a real mess. Even my wife looked at me when we brought it into the shop and said “Boy I hope you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew on this one”. I just told her, “One step at a time” Here is a before and after shot of that basket. There was one little Aurora, I threatened to keep We have also been manufacturing Competition Targets and Markers for balloon events. While these targets and markers are built to the exact BFA standards for competition you do not have to be a big time competitor to have some fun target flying at an event. We have made a couple of them for the Aviation Ranch near Cordele Georgia and they have been sent to balloon events who just want to have some fun and fly at a target and toss a few markers! Contact Tom Warren to ask him if you would like to use a target for the weekend. He will send you a target kit with everything you need including 40 markers. He is just asking that you send the kit back when you are done with it. Check out the event in Anderson SC for videos of them flying at a target for fun or do a search for Aviation Ranch on Facebook. If you are interested in getting a Target Kit of your own you can check them out on Balloons-andBeyond.com under the tab “Event Gear” The kit is super nice and comes with everything you need to set up a target anywhere. Markers are not included but can be ordered there as well. Speaking of Balloons-andBeyond.com We are ordering the next set of Balloon Cups! We have just submitted all the artwork for approval from the manufacturer and expect to have our order finalized by mid week this next week. It will be about 4-6 weeks for manufacturing and then we will ship out the cups to each balloonist who is on the cup the very day that they come in. Here are the Balloons on the new 2023 Custom Balloon Cup. We did have many pilots who sent in photos but never purchased a case of cups or sent in their information after we had sold all the spots. We believe the demand for custom cups could be great enough for us to have a second run. A custom run of cups is 50 cases. We must make a substantial investment to get them run and then sell off the extra cases over time. The last run took us more than two years to use up. So we require 14 pilots to pre-purchase a minimum of one case (500 cups) to get their balloon on the cup. A case of cups is $325. This means that if you purchase a case your, per cup cost will be about 65 cents. A super cheap souvenir to give to a passenger after the flight and they are perfect for the traditional champagne toast! We sold out of spots on this run and still had a few others who wanted to be on it. We limit the number of balloons to 14 so the cup does not look over crowded and that each balloon is large enough that there is no doubt that it is their balloon on the cup. You can see a nice animation of the first cup HERE. Once we get this cup into production we will see if there are enough pilots to place another order. We have also been contacted by several balloon clubs about having a cup done just for their club pilots. We also could do a cup run for an event. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. I had a couple of our local pilots stop by my shop last week (as they often do). We talk about all sorts of stuff and quite often I tell them stories about ballooning in the 70’s and many of the hard lessons we learned. They had a great idea. What about doing a "Talkinar". I know that is not a real word but instead of a Safety Seminar what about a Safety Talkinar? You cant get into ballooning without making a few dumb mistakes! Over the years some (most) of us up with many stories of what went well as well as, what went wrong. I have often been told that I should write down some of the stories and maybe I should. What about getting a group of pilots together and talk specifically about how YOU do things and things you have done wrong or situations you have seen. Here is an example. I was up in Helen GA for the Helen to the Atlantic event. My father was going on a Gas Balloon flight at the event. The afternoon flight was a go but things had not calmed down. Everyone was told to use a tie off because of the thermals and very tight launch areas. I figured I would walk down and help in any way I could. As I was walking around the balloons I saw a balloon rolling all over the place in the gusty conditions. I walked over to the basket to see if I could find the pilot. What I saw seriously scared me to death. The pilot had taken a rope tied to their pickup truck. Ran the rope through the basket via one of the tank strap holes around the fuel tank and out the other tank strap hole. So the entire balloon was secured by a rope around a fuel tank and wicker. To make matters worse the parachute line, was lying about 20 up inside the envelope. It was not tied to anything at all. This means that if the balloon started to take off in a gust of wind someone would have to run INTO the balloon to grab that parachute line to deflate the balloon. I have tried to deflate a balloon while riding along inside. It is nearly impossible to get enough friction on Balloon Fabric to pull out a straight pull parachute. Then, LORD HELP everyone if that rope tore that tank out of the basket and severed the fuel line! So what would you do? I will tell you what I did.. In the next newsletter. Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World. Please get a paid membership to the site. Fly Well, Have FUN and BE SAFE.