hotairballoonist

THE PILOT LIGHT Feb 2022 So the votes are in and the name has been chosen. The HotAirBalloonist.com newsletter will now be known as “The Pilot Lite” Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting and who helped with nearly 3 dozen name suggestions. Equipment 4Sale I was asked the other day about how to list equipment for sale on the HAB site. I told them it was really quite easy to do and you did not even need to have a membership. We have opened up the Equipment 4Sale section to every balloonist whether they are members or not. But the request for help in listing equipment reminded me that we need to tell everyone again about all the Video Tutorials available in the Download Center on HotAirballoonist.com. There IS A VIDEO that SHOWS you how to list your equipment on the site for FREE. I wanted to take the time to explain the difference between a member listing equipment and a non-member listing equipment. A non-member (Guest) can list equipment on the site for free. They can include all the contact information they would like and up to 20MB of photos and as much descriptive text as they want. The listing will need to be approved by a moderator of the HAB site. Approval is normally done in less than 24 hours. A guest will need to request a moderator or an administrator to make changes to the listing or to delete the listing (so make sure you have it the way you want it before you post it). An HAB Member can list equipment on the site for free. They can include all the contact information they would like and up to 20MB of photos and as much descriptive text as they want. The can also go back and alter (edit) the listing any way they want at any time. They can also delete the listing when the equipment has sold. They can also use the “FOLLOW” feature to be instantly informed via email any time a reply has been made to their listing. Another thing to mention is that ANYONE “Member” or “Guest” can reply to an equipment listing. Just under the listing you will find a box where you can post a reply. If you are a member and “logged in” your reply will be posted instantly. If you are a guest your reply will need to be approved by a moderator. As a guest you should also include your contact information so the seller can get ahold of you. Since the “Equipment 4Sale” section is so well divided into different categories it is extremely easy to find just the right piece of equipment you are looking for. Please remember, a General Membership on the HAB site is only $20 for an entire year. It would be worth the membership just to be able to have the ability to manage your equipment listing and use the “Follow Feature” on the site. Drone Waiver. So my first waiver attempt was denied. I expected that result. I have been in contact with 5 FAA officials to work out a process for getting an approved waiver. They have all be very helpful. My goal is to create a guideline style form that any Balloonist can use anywhere in the country to get a waiver. Basically a “fill in the blanks” type of format where you enter the details that pertain to your specific location and conditions and the odds are 80% or better you will be approved. We will provide forms on the HAB site as well as tutorial videos for anyone who wants to use a drone to read the winds. IN the mean time feel free to watch the drone video I made about using a drone to read the winds at https://www.hotairballoonist.com/Video/MavicScreenVid.mp4 I will continue to work on getting a waiver till I get the right formula and then see if I can duplicate it for others. Flying my DRONE HIGHER THAN 400 FEET! IN the mean time there is a way you can fly your drone up to 800 ft or 1200 ft or higher legally! FAR 107.51 (b) Most of you know where the Radio Towers are in your flying area. Most of the time while we are flying, you are on the lookout for Radio Towers. Now they are your friend. Go to Skyvector.com Take a look at a sectional chart of your area. Find a radio tower nearby. Look at the height of the tower on the sectional. Remember the altitudes listed are MSL & AGL. The smaller number is AGL and if there is only one number then it is MSL. Go there and fly your drone to get your winds aloft readings. If you fly your drone within 400 ft of the tower and not more than 400 ft above the tower you are legal. Remember: If you are flying your drone before sunrise you must have a lighting system that can be seen from three miles away. Also keep in mind what direction the wind is coming from. As long as you are not flying your drone directly downwind of the tower you should not experience any interference in the wind data from the tower. SkyVector We have talked about this website in the past but there is a new feature on the site that deserves pointing out. Since we have been talking about Drones a lot lately there is a great feature on the SkyVector.com site called DROTAMs. Yes, it is, what it sounds like. NOTAMS for Drones. Yes, we have an online video tutorial about this feature, go there and check it out. It will show you areas that ARE approved for Drone Waiver operations as well as areas that Drone Operations are prohibited. It is a great site to check if you are in a prohibited area for operating a drone before you go out to fly one. It’s Official The 2022 Hall of Fame inductees have been announced. I could not be more proud that my father Jim Thompson is on the list. His involvement with ballooning started way back in the early days with me and my tissue paper experiments and evolved into nearly 5 decades of devotion to our wonderful sport. My father has been Involved in almost every aspect of ballooning. He is still active to this day building the “Notable Balloonist Biographical Information” category on the HotAirBalloonist.com site. Congratulations go out to Bob Rice, Jim Thompson and Tucker Comstock the 2022 Hall of Fame inductees. Windy.com Many of you may be familiar with Windy.com. It is a very nice weather app and Windy.com is a great desktop application. I have watched the forecasted information and compared it to real world flight conditions and found that it is fairly accurate. The only drawback is that it does not provide winds aloft at reasonable heights. Your options are Surface, 330ft and 2,000ft and above. There is one feature on Windy.com that can be extremely useful. LIVE CAMERAS. Here in Florida we get FOG that develops right at sunrise. Now some days it is patchy and some days it can clamp in and hang around till NOON! Many days we would send one of our ground team or another pilot out to drive around the area and report back via the radio what the conditions were like out there. Sometimes you could be sitting in the only foggy location in the whole county or you could be in a sucker hole. Well, the addition of local cameras (mostly highway locations) is extremely helpful since now we can look at the conditions around the area using the application on our phone. When you have a chance have a look at Windy.com and check out the camera feature. Click on your location. Click on the down arrow at the top right of your map point flag staff. Then over on the right click on the round camera icon. Move your location point around to find different cameras in your area. Not all areas have web cameras however Windy.com makes it easy to add one if you know of a web cam in your area. We have a video tutorial on the HAB site about windy.com have a view of when you have time. Have fun and Let us know what you think. Video Tutorials A fantastic section that is often overlooked on the HotAirBalloonsit.com site is the Video Tutorials in the Download Center. There are video tutorials for more than four dozen different features and other content on the site. Just about anything you could want to do on the HotAirBalloonist.com is shown in an easy to follow video. Better yet we are willing to make a custom video just for you if you need. Let us know what feature or task you are trying to do on the site and we will make a video tutorial for you about that item. Not only will you find it easier to use the site but you will be helping us make it better for others as well. Here is your assignment for this newsletter. Take the time and watch just one of the Video Tutorials. Watch “The Exchange”. You may be amazed at that feature of the site and it just may encourage you to watch a few more of the amazing video tutorials on the site. Remember, we want you get the most out of the HAB site so we have videos to help. “The Exchange” combined with the “Follow Feature” are extremely powerful tools for local ballooning communities. Become a member. This is where I ask again for you to help me and the HotAirBalloonist.com site. If you are receiving this newsletter and you are not a paid member of the HotAirBalloonist.com site we would like to encourage you to become one. Membership fees help us make the site better for everyone. The fees are structured so you can spend as little as $20 a year to help support the site. There are also advertising opportunities all over the site too. There is even a Donation box in the right hand column on the front page. Use the Member Map to show your location or Start a Balloon Club. Post an item on the events calendar or get your local pilots to use the Exchange Feature inside the Balloon Rides category. Have a look at over 270 biographies of notable balloonists and enjoy some fantastic ballooning history. There are hundreds of files on the site and so much you can do on the site. The benefits of the Member Side of the site grow every day. Get your crew involved as well. Please support the site with your membership and participate. Send me an email if you have anything you want to see on the site or if you need a video tutorial about a feature on the site. Most of all Log IN and participate! I am a Hot Air Balloonist! One of the services we offer to our members that seems to have been forgotten is your own email address. Would you like your own @HotAirBalloonist.com email? Just like getting a @hotmail or a @Gmail or even a @Yahoo email address you can get a @HotAirBalloonist.com email. You can get one for your personal name (as long as it is not already taken) Jeff@HotAirBalloonist.com or you can get one with your company name BobsBalloons@HotAirBalloonist.com or any other @HotAirBalloonist.com you wish. Just send me a note at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com and I will get you set up with your own HAB email. SHARE We encourage you to share any part or all of our newsletters. Send this email along to your local ballooning friends. Post something in your local balloon club newsletter or add a link to HAB on your website. Urge other balloonists to become involved with HAB. We all share a love for this amazing form of flight. HotAirBalloonist.com was built for balloonists to enjoy, share, learn and evolve together. NOTE: If there was something in an old newsletter (Image or Link…) that you wanted to find again but you have lost the email, we keep copies of all the newsletters in a forum on the HAB site. Just go to “Past Newsletters” in the “Welcome All” category, to find online copies of past newsletters. Most of all, Thank you for all YOU do for the Balloon World. Jeff A Thompson

Post a Reply View File There are many areas of the site were members and visitors can interact. Posting a reply allows you to join a conversation, ask questions or even add more information about topics you wish to be involved in. This video tutorial shows how even a non member (visitor) can interact on the site. This tutorial shows how someone can ask questions about an item for sale in the Equipment 4Sale section area. Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 01/28/2022 Category Video Tutorials  

Goodreader View File Transfer large files directly to your PC or Laptop Sometimes you files that are too large to email or to send from your phone to your PC. Many times your phone will want you to edit or trim a video before it will allow you to send the file. What if there were a way to send files directly to your PC from your phone using your phones WiFi signal. Watch this video and learn how you can using a simple program called Goodreader. Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 01/27/2022 Category Video Tutorials  

View File Opt Out This is a Video Tutorial showing how to Opt out or back into the Monthly Newsletter on HotAirBalloonist.com Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 01/19/2022 Category Video Tutorials  

View File Using Coupon Codes Coupon Codes From time to time we offer a special to our members. Often this is in the form of a Coupon Code. This can be for a membership or a product of some kind. Using a Coupon Code is easy. Simply type you coupon code in the box at checkout to receive a discount on your item. Watch this video to learn exactly how it works. Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 01/19/2022 Category Video Tutorials  

View File SkyVector.com SkyVector.com A wonderful site with up to date sectional charts for all of the united states. Airport information and MORE. Watch this video and then check out their site! Tell them HAB sent you! Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 01/17/2022 Category Video Tutorials  

Once again I wish to ask for your forgiveness. I do not wish to annoy or pester you about this issue, but I feel it is important. It has been brought to my attention that some members do not have email that allows for HTML mail. This means that embedded hyperlinks in words or images will not work. Many of the reference links that we have provided (that were embedded) in past newsletters were unable to be used. I wish to give every HAB member the chance to make their voice heard before the FAA potentially causes (What I believe will be) damaging harm to our beloved hobby, sport, lively hood and industry. Here is a list of reference links for your review. If you are unable to click on the link you may copy and paste them into a browser for review. The NTSB public hearing on the Lockhart incident. https://www.hotairballoonist.com/docs/LockheartTexasNTSBhearing.pdf The Medical Examiners Guide for providing a 2nd Class Medical https://www.hotairballoonist.com/docs/FAA-AMEguide.pdf The NTSB’s comments and recommendations on the incident. https://www.hotairballoonist.com/docs/FAA-2021-1040-0056.pdf HotAirBalloonist.com’s comments on the proposed regulations. https://www.hotairballoonist.com/docs/HAB-FAA-NPRM.pdf Here is where you can go read other responses. https://www.regulations.gov/document/FAA-2021-1040-0001/comment?postedDateFrom=2022-01-09&postedDateTo=2022-01-11 Here is where you can go and post your own remarks. https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FAA-2021-1040-0001 Time is running out. If you hold a commercial rating for LTA Ballooning this affects YOU. It will cost you more money to continue to enjoy your sport. It could potentially cost you hundreds if not thousands a year more. Please get involved before it is too late. Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World. Jeff A Thompson

Time is running out! I know I have pestered you about this and this will be the last time because things are about to hit the Inflation Fan. You have just about 12 days left. I have made two postings on the FAA NPRM comments page. One under my name and one for the HotAirBalloonist.com community website. I may even make one more post this week. Just to review. Pilot Skip Nichols flew on a marginal IFR day and descended thru clouds into high tension powerlines killing himself and 15 passengers. The NTSB had a board of inquiry and suggested that commercial balloon pilots be required to have a 2nd class medical or an LOA to conduct commercial balloon activities. Here are direct links to resources you should be aware of. The NTSB Recommendation. The transcript of the NTSB public hearing. The passed regulation Here are some key comments from the FAA and the hearing transcript. As you can see from the transcript that the NTSB admits the probable cause was poor decision making. A medical of any kind will not prevent that. The NTSB also suggests “Ways to target” and “Pose the most significant safety risks” This would indicate the LARGE BALLOON RIDE OPERATORS. Lastly, when it comes to a “Letter of Authorization” here is what was testified at the NTSB Hearing on the Lockhart incident in that regard. So as we wind down to the last few days to make any comments, WILL YOU? Here is a question for you. Are you obese? Look at this chart and calculate your BMI. Then ask are you considered obese? You may not qualify for a 2nd class medical. Look at the chart below. If your score is to the right of the RED area you may have a problem. Do you snore? You may have sleep apnea? You guessed it, you may have a problem! Even if you are in good health can you list every doctor visit, the reason for the visit and every medication prescription and over the counter going back 3 years? Go ahead and register with the FAA and fill out a form 8500-8 Take a look at all of the info they will want from you. We have only a few days left to comment. The proposed regulations will have a far reaching impact on many aspects of ballooning. It is my opinion that a 2nd class medical will do little to promote safety in any way yet harm the LTA world in so many ways that we simply cannot even predict at this time. YOU HAVE 12 days left to make a comment. CLICK HERE to voice your comments.

Welcome to the January 2022 newsletter. We are still looking for a name. We had many of you vote for our newsletter name. We were hoping to narrow the mega list of names down to just 10 names. We had a few names that tied for points, so we have 14 names left. Please when you have a moment, log into the site and go to the “Welcome All” category and scroll down to the “Past Newsletters” forum. In this forum you will find the very first topic is the Newsletter Names. Last month we had you choose your top 6 names and this month we are going to have you choose just 3 from our 14 finalists. Read the list over carefully because YOU may be the vote that chooses the winning name and our monthly newsletter will forever carry the name you have voted for. Thank you in advance for participating! Drone Waiver. As expected our first attempt at obtaining a waiver to exceed the 400 ft. limit for using a drone to read the winds was denied. We fully expected this to happen. Unfortunately the process is not an easy one, but it can be done! We did learn a bunch of stuff by making the attempt. First, you need to follow the example of a successful waiver. Max Moerles has been successful in getting a waiver to use his drone up to 1500 feet. This provides great wind data prior to a flight. Some of the important things considered in his waiver. Pilot observer, an extra pair of eyes to help the drone “remote pilot” operator keep a look out for other aircraft. Position Lights, visible for up to 3 miles for pre-dawn flights. Specific Geographic location, GPS coordinates for the operation of the drone. Specific Timeframe, a period specific (30 min) amount of time to conduct the operation. The FAA will issue a NOTAM about your flight operation to be given as part of any flight briefing for a pilot operating in that area at that time. If you have a flying area where there are several pilots who fly on a regular basis it would be advantageous for at least one of your area pilots to become drone certified and set up a waiver for your area. So, If you are still wondering about using a drone to read the winds here are some resources First watch this online video. DroneWinds. Next download this presentation DroneWindsPDF then go to Max Moerles site and read his documentation. Remember you must be logged in to HAB to download files for free! DO YOU CARE? We have mentioned this in last month’s newsletter but we are now getting down to the wire. Can you say NPRM? Do you understand what is about to happen to our wonderful sport? My opinion is fairly simple; the ramifications of requiring a 2nd class medical for commercial balloon pilots will damage our industry in ways that most do not even comprehend. I understand that we must do something to make ballooning safer and I am all for that. The large ride balloons “for the most part” do a great job of being safe however large balloons are more difficult to fly. I have often said that there is a big difference between driving a bass boat and a cruise ship. Maybe the large balloons should be in a separate class of their own. That being said, the small operators will be crushed by regulations of a LOA or a 2nd class medical. There are Balloon Events that will be harmed by this. There are special shape balloon pilots that will be harmed by this and even corporate sponsored balloons (like RE/MAX) will be harmed. Small ride operators will be harmed or close up. As a result, you will have fewer annuals and repair stations who will lose business, raise prices, or go out of business. Many private pilots will stop flying because they will have to make a 6hr (or more) trip to the nearest repair station. There will be a cascading effect that will cripple or destroy Ballooning as we know it. Do YOU CARE? Do you understand what is involved with getting a LOA? Currently the FAA is understaffed and overwhelmed. You may have to spend 2-4 MONTHS on the ground “not flying” while you wait to get your LOA approved. This is if you have completed the paperwork correctly! If your application gets rejected and you have to start over, “good luck”. Do you know what it takes to get a 2nd class medical? Have a look at THIS FORM. Can you list every medication you take? Keep in mind they ask for prescription and NON-prescription medications! Can you go down the list and check off all the Yes/No questions and be prepared to explain any “Yes” answer. Then can you list all the doctor visits you have had in the last 3 years! Date, Doctor, Reason for Visit! Are you beginning to get a feel for what this will do to Ballooning? How many Balloonists who do ANY kind of commercial ballooning, whether it is an occasional ride, balloon events, advertising, banners, tethers and a host of other activities will just QUIT? Do you wonder what the AME looks for? CLICK HERE to see the AME Checklist. All 519 pages! So that all being said.. DO YOU CARE!!?? Time is running out to post your views. As of my writing of this newsletter the NPRM has just over 50 postings. When you think about the thousands of pilots this will have a dramatic effect on it is rather sad to think that only 50 people have taken the time to post. I would like to say thank you to: Jason Hicks, Dave Bair, Stephen Mroz, Mark Mroczkowski, Jeff Buesing, Sky Sail Balloons (Geoff Turner), Steven Lombardi, Tim Gale, Shari Gale, Barbara Fricke, Micah Lyons, City of Albany Parks & Recreation, Kelly Levine, Dean Vorhees, James Greer, Gary Cooper Gentle Breeze Hot Air Balloon (Laurie Givin) Daniel Keith, Michael Arbuthnot, Keith Reeves, Peter Turoff, Robert Grimes, Robert Gonzales, Michael Shrum, Cheryl Isaacs, Thomas Pflasterer, John Folsom, Ryan Yde, Lawrence Brown, Damien Ristaino, Mark Guenin, David Ammenti, Shawn Knickerbocker. Regardless of their views on the subject at least they posted an opinion! I thank each one for this. We have less than 20 days left. Please go HERE and read some of the postings. Take the time and post your own views. There is a limit on the amount you can post on the FAA site. So you may want to write your opinion in a document on your computer first. Then if it is too big for the FAA site you can upload the file. Look, My flying days are done. As many of you know I suffered a nasty hemorrhagic stroke and have not flown since. With the medications I am on and all of the different doctors I am seeing the likelihood that I will ever fly commercially again is nearly ZERO. In spite of this I still love this sport. I love ballooning and the people (pilots and crews) that make this sport so amazing. I will do anything I can to help it and help YOU in any way that I still can. If that means having to sit down once a month and be a pest so be it! DO YOU CARE? BFA As many of you know I have supported the BFA for 45 years. I will continue to support them because I believe that the work they do is important. Regardless of your opinion of the BFA I do want you to know that we have a category on the HAB site where we post information from the BFA. We do this because the information that is posted by the BFA is (most often) important to ballooning in general. Here is a direct link to that category where you can view the different forums and postings within. Newsletters. In our monthly newsletter we post a bunch of links to various resources online. We save each of these newsletters online for your future reference. If you need to look up something that we have posted in one of the newsletters just go to the “Welcome All” category. At the bottom of that category you will find the Past Newsletters forum. Inside that forum you will find all the past newsletters listed in chronological order. Don’t forget to vote for the Newsletter name while you are there. The Download Center. You may not realize this but YOU as a member can share files in our download center! Think of it as a “DropBox” for Balloonists. In the Download center there are dozens of categories and hundreds of files. One of the categories is called “Balloon Related Resources”. In this category there is a Sub-Category called Balloonist File Sharing. This is where YOU as a member can upload and share a file. You can share photos, Map files, drawings, Documents, PDF files and more. Let’s say you have a tether contract you wish to share with another pilot. Just upload it and send them a link. How about a video that is too large to email. Just upload and send them a link. Here are the details; you can upload up to 40mb. The file should be balloon related in some fashion. You must be a logged in member to upload and to download files. You can also select a purchase price for your file! So you can actually SELL your file if you wish. Proceeds will be credited to your account. Have a look at the HAB Download Center, you may be amazed at all the items you will find there. Make sure you log in to see the full Download Center. Welcome to 2022. Once again I wish to thank each of you for your part in Ballooning. From Ground Teams to the Pilots, Event Organizer’s, Repairmen and more “Thank you”. I am thankful to be a part of this amazing world that I find to be so mesmerizing. I hope that in this New Year, we can move forward and get back to enjoying our sport. Ballooning is truly an art; I very much miss sharing that “Art” with the first time passengers. I no longer fly commercially and I have come to terms with that. I have over 7,400 flights to look back on and memories that span 45 years. I thank each of you for being part of my little world. I now spend my time flying a keyboard and creating stuff for balloonists online. If you need web work of any kind let me know. If you are not a paid member please consider becoming one. Encourage your ground team to get a membership. Remember the HotAirBalloonist.com site was built for YOU. If there are features you would like to see just let me know. The Download Center is filled with great video tutorials that explain dozens and dozens of features already built into the site. The site grows a little more each day because of you, Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World. Jeff A Thompson

Image Composer Program View File I was unable to upload the entire file here for download but. Here is the link where you can download the file. https://www.hotairballoonist.com/progs/imageC Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 12/21/2016 Category Photo & Graphics Applications  

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding ADS-B requirements and lighter-than-air aircraft. This has led to much speculation that in some way, lighter than air aircraft were going to need to be equipped with ADS-B equipment to be able to operate near either Class B or C airspace. So, let’s look at the rules (14 CFR 91.225) that have been in place since the required installation of ADS-B took place in 2020. Who is required to have ADS-B? Since ADS-B has a constant power requirement and requires interaction with a WAAS enabled GPS, an electrical system must be employed, which by rule must have been installed by the manufacturer as a part of the type certification of the aircraft. Aircraft that were not manufactured with an electrical system are not required to install ADS-B. That includes hot air and gas balloons. Installation in balloons is currently not available. In addition, these systems are installed under an STC specifically directed at each aircraft manufacturer. This relates to things like antenna stability and placement, which would need to be fixed and permanent. Each installation must display the aircraft N number and must contain the internal ICAO code, which is installed by the avionics installer. Most of this could not be accomplished in balloons. Where can you fly without the requirement for ADS-B to be installed? You can fly under the shelf of any Class C and under the shelf of any Class B and that includes the airspace within the Mode C veil. You may not operate within either the Class C or B airspace that is within the wedding cake shelves or in the area that goes to the surface without ADS-B. In other words, you may not fly within the wedding cake. Flight within this airspace would require a waiver issued for a particular operation for non-ADS-B equipped aircraft. What about non-permanent ADS-B installations? They are not likely to be approved for many reasons and rules have not yet been proposed for temporary installations for the purpose of special flight operations such as record flights or gas balloon events. There have been waivers issued for these operations in the past, but the future of these waivers is in question. There are flying areas around the country that conflict with ADS-B required Class C airspace, so waivers will likely be needed to continue to operate in this airspace, or if not available, the flying area modified to avoid these areas. So how does ADS-B affect me? For most balloon operations, the ADS-B requirement will not apply. We encourage you to read the language as listed in 14 CFR 91.225. LINK: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-91/subpart-C/section-91.225. How is the BFA involved? The BFA Government Relations committee has engaged the FAA in ongoing conversations regarding the ADS-B requirements, the future of waivered operations in Class C and the issue of portable ADS-B units. We will continue to provide our members with information in this regard. Sincerely, Pat Cannon, President Balloon Federation of America president@bfa.net

Are you looking for that once in a lifetime trip? Want to share an event with someone special that you both will talk about forever? Look NO Further. Flip Flop Fantasies Hot Air Balloon flights are the HOTTEST ticket in town. Pardon our pun, the FFF (Flip Flop Flight program is simply second to no one! With more than 4 decades (That’s 40 years for those of you in Rio Linda) Capt Terry Dillard is one of the highest flight hour pilots in all of Florida. Born and raised here in the Central Florida area his knowledge of the area and his ability to show you the area from a birds eye view will have you spell bound! Visit www.FlipFlopFantasies.com

Vote for the name the Newsletter We have been collecting names for our monthly newsletter. We have quite a list! Now it is time for you to vote! Here is a link to the voting post. Read down the list of names and choose your 6 favorite names. Then vote for your favorite names in your order of preference (1st – 6th). We will then use a point system to determine the top ten most popular names. Next month we will have the final vote from the ten finalists. Should be fun, so have a look and take a moment to vote. By the way, if you have a good name it’s not too late. Just scroll down to the bottom of the voting post and place your name in the reply box. If we like it enough it just might appear with the ten finalists next month. Post on the front page. Have you noticed the Status Updates? ON the front page of the HotAirBalloonist.com community in the right hand column there is a “Recent Status Updates” bar. This area is located directly below our Facebook feed. The Status Updates area displays updates from our membership. YOU can post a quick note for others to see quickly and easily right on the front page of HotAirBalloonist.com. Think of it as a public twitter feed for ballooning. Swing in and post a note for other Balloonists. There are two ways to post on the feed. Directly on the front page of HAB or in your profile area. Status updates must first be turned ON for your account. It is very easy to do. There is a video tutorial LOCATED HERE that will walk you thru the process. Turn on your Status Updates and post a note on the front page of HAB today! Cold Weather Flying Things are getting cold and the flakes are starting to fly! Are you ready for winter flying? I know during the winter months many Balloonists do not go out much. I remember flying up in Michigan as much as we could in the winter. We called them Phogg’s Frosty Flights. I also remember some seriously cold (Below -0) flights. Winter flying can have some challenges but they can also be extremely fun and quite spectacular for those willing to take on the challenge. Here are a few things to consider, Warm or Pressurized propane. Cold fuel can be hazardous in several ways. Most importantly is reduced fuel pressure resulting in poor burner performance! This can also cause issues with pilot lights failing or getting blown out easily by cross winds commonly found in winter wind sheers. Make sure the chase vehicle is FULL of fuel. When flying in cold weather the ground team will be staying warm in the vehicle. This means running the engine the entire time you are flying. If you are in an area with snow there is the added possibility of getting stuck and a full tank of fuel may make the difference between a warm or very uncomfortable wait till help arrives. Dress properly and make sure your crew and passengers do as well. Lots of layers are a great way to dress. You can always take a layer or two off if you need. Make sure your lower half is especially well insulated. While flying, you are basically standing still in the basket. You are not active and creating a high rate of blood flow or body heat. Lower extremities can get super cold easily. There is nothing worse than cold feet on a flight. Have extra crew. After a flight on a real cold day let your ground team start the pack-up of the balloon. Get the pilot and passengers into the warm vehicle for a few minutes. They have been standing still in a cold balloon for a long time and a little time in the warm vehicle will do them good. The crew (who has been in the warm vehicle) can start the pack away process. Once you have had a few moments to get thawed out you can go out to help them finish up! Choose your weather carefully. On many days in the winter the winds can pick up quickly after sunrise. In the winter, when the trees lose all their leaves, there is much less friction against the atmosphere. Many days the winds will pick up quickly after sunrise. There will also be many days were the cold dense air will settle near the surface and cause a severe wind shear to develop in the 400-600 ft range. Be cautious of this layer! Your balloon can skip off of this layer when trying to descend for landing. The cross wind can extinguish pilot lights and even cause the side of your balloon to cave in enough that you could burn the mouth! Wind shears are no joke! Take a thermos of coffee. Many times after a flight you may find yourself far away from the comforts of urban sprawl (or a 7-Eleven). After a cold flight a nice warm cup of coffee can be a wonderful slice of comfort for a frozen soul. Best of all, a flight in the winter can help keep you current! Unless you have several thousand hours (and even then) it is easy to become “out of practice” I remember flying passenger flights in the spring in Michigan when the weather would become flyable (yet sporty) and we were dealing with months of very little flight time. This was a great recipe for incidents. Get some flights in during the winter to keep your skills sharp. Getting a Medical If you have never had a medical, (Like Me) it can be quite confusing. Where do I go? Who do I see? Will I pass? What happens if I don’t pass? What are the requirements? There are a ton of questions. The best advice I can give you is asking around among your local pilots and see if one of them has been thru the process. See if they can help give you some tips and advice on where to go and what they will ask. I have done some research on the FAA website and found scattered information. Much to my dismay the form for finding an AME (Airman Medical Examiner) did not work. I did find the form 8500-8 this form states, The FAA MedXPress system allows anyone requesting an FAA Medical Clearance or Medical Certificate to electronically complete an application. Information entered into MedXPress is available to your FAA-designated Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) for review at the time of your medical examination. We also found a nice little informational PDF about medications located here. We would love to have YOUR INPUT on this topic. Do you have your Second Class Medical? How did you go about getting it? Tell us more about your experience. Start a topic in the Balloon Medicals Forum inside the FAA category on the HAB site. I know my brother Jon Thompson took his medical and had some issues with the stress test, Maybe we can get him to write our first topic in the new Balloon Medicals Forum. Please keep in mind that this category and Forum are private (Members Only) areas of the HAB site. You must be logged in to see and to make a comment. DroneWinds We have been working with the people from AirData.com. We now have our own discount code. If you are planning to use a Drone to get your winds aloft (instead of using a helium balloon and compass) you will need an account with AirData.com. HotAirBalloonist.com has now received a discount code for 20% off of any of their paid memberships. Just use the discount code BALLOON20 at checkout and receive a 20% discount! If you have not already downloaded the DroneWinds presentation YOU SHOULD! Remember all files are FREE for download by MEMBERS! So log in and go to the “Download Center” Click on the Tutorials & Presentations and you will find the DroneWinds link. Currently it is listed as one of the current favorites and easy to find. There are over 85 pages of information about using a drone to check your winds aloft before you fly instead of using a helium balloon. Balloon Cups Have you had a look at the new balloon cups? For those of you who are unaware, after flight champagne cups are available at www.Balloons-andBeyond.com. These balloon cups are custom made with real balloons in COLOR on the sides of the cup. They have the Balloonists Prayer written on them! The cups are available for purchase online and shipped out the same day! The cups are dishwasher safe and inexpensive enough to allow your passengers to keep as a souvenir after the flight. Stop in and have a look or better yet order some today. BALLOON SERVICES Do you provide Balloon Services? You may ask what we mean by that, fair enough. Do you repair balloons? Do you fly rides? Do you do advertising like a Re/Max balloon or a local banner advertiser? Do you make products for Balloonists? Do you fly a balloon? Do you operate a safety seminar? I could go on and on but I am sure you get the idea. Do you have any relation to Hot Air Ballooning then we want you on the Hot Air Balloonist Member Map. Even if you are not a member you should have a pin in the map. This is simply the best way to find anyone or anything balloon related in the world! Honestly. Have a look at the member map. Stick a pin in the map if you do not have one there already! Tell your friends who may not get the HAB Newsletter! Tell them about the Member Map and have them get on it. The HAB Member Map simply allows you to find anyone anywhere who has anything to do with Ballooning on one very easy to use map. If you have not had a look at the HAB Member Map in a while go take a look! There is still time! Can you say NPRM? HEY GANG! This is important! If there is nothing else my little newsletter does I hope this is it. I hope this single paragraph gets you off your butt and on the computer to help save our sport. If you do not realize what is going on right now with the FAA and the potential devastation it could cause for our sport you are either DEAD or living under a ROCK. Do I have your attention now? Do you have a 2nd class medical? Do you want one? If we do not get together and speak up you’re going to need one! Here is what you should do. First, Go to the HotAirBalloonist.com site and read my letter to the FAA about my opinion on the proposed 2nd class medical requirement. I do not care if you agree or not. Just read it because it may give you some things to think about. Next, go to the FAA link and write your own opinion on what they should do! If we do not get together and speak up they will do whatever they think the public wants without any regard to what it will do to our sport, hobby or family business. Here are the links. My Opinion / Reply. The FAA Website for posting your remarks. PLEASE DO THIS!!! I was on the site today only to find 16 postings. That is correct our sport with thousands of pilots could only manage to make sixteen responses to a potential new law that could destroy nearly every aspect of our industry. Do you know ADS-B? You should! There is even more regulation on the way. Contact Scott Appleman or Adam Magee about the new regulations coming our way. Here is a link were you can learn a little more about potential electronics you may be required to have on board your balloon. https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/ https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/pilot/ https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/atc/ At the Thompson Compound Many of you may remember that I am recovering from a pretty nasty stroke. I am happy to say that I am doing well. We do have other challenges here at the Thompson Compound my son Noah was diagnosed this year with Leukemia. I want to say “Thank You” to all of the Balloon Community for the support and words of encouragement for our whole family. I am no longer flying full time but doing my best to help any Balloonists in any way I can with my work on the internet and other projects here in the shop. My son Noah (The real Superhero) is responding well to the treatments for his leukemia and we are over 300 days into his treatment with nearly 500 days to go. If any of you are interested in his journey you can see regular updates and photos on his website at www.TheAmazingNoah.com. Have a look and become a subscriber to his YouTube channel @NoahsHeroes. As always if you need any help with the HotAirBalloonist.com site I am thrilled to be of service. Just send me an email at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com with your needs, questions or any request you believe I can help with and I will do anything I can to be of value. While I am still battling some minor health issues I am very fortunate to be able to work online and try to share my years of experience in a beneficial way. As I love to say… Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World. Jeff A Thompson