hotairballoonist

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcM5J5h1jis

Currently we have no scores to post. Hopefully as the event will supply us with scores as they are posted at the event. Remember to click the FOLLOW button at the top of this post so you will be notified when new scores are posted. Thank you.

As many of you begin to take flight and events are starting to take place all over the country we want to ask everyone to please be extra cautious. Some have not flown in a very long time! Take things slow and double and triple check everything. Look over ALL of your equipment with a fresh eye. The same goes for the ground team. We want everyone to have a fantastic flying season with old friends and most of all a safe flying season! Motion X to HotAir Many pilots who have used the Motion X app for years are switching over to the HotAir.app. The recent update “HotAir 12.0” has included many new features. In fact our tutorial on the HotAir.app went from 39 pages to over 100 pages (to give you an idea of all the new features). We were recently asked if there was a way to get the waypoints from Motion X transferred over to the HotAir.app. The answer is YES you can. We have created a PDF tutorial (Available for download) on how to transfer your Motion X waypoints over to the HotAir.app. Here is the link. Remember you must be logged in to download tutorials for FREE! You can find the download in the Download Center under the category “Tutorials & Presentations”. Event Scores We have created a new category for balloon events. This new category is for Event Scores. If you look under the heading of “Current News” you will see a tab marked “Event Scores” This is a new category were you can start a topic about your event or even an event you are flying in and post the scores. You can add a PDF of the current scores or you can simply upload an image of a score sheet. Then as new scores are posted you can simply go back and “EDIT” your topic and add the new images or PDF files. This is a great way to keep your family or other balloon friends up to date on the event stats. I am happy to help anyone (pilot or event organizer) use this new category on the HotAirBalloonist.com site. Since my stroke I am no longer able to fly competition but still love it and I am sure there are many other balloonists out there who would also love to keep up to date on competition scores. There is a topic posted in the new category along with a “How To” video. Have a look at this today! YOU@HotAirBalloonist.com How would you like an email address of your own at HotAirBalloonist.com? You can! Use your own name or even your balloons name. If you have a name you would like to use please email me at Jeff@HotAirBalloonist.com. Yes Jeff@ has been taken. Speaking about events. I am sure many of you already know but as a reminder we have news scrubbers on the HotAirBalloonist.com site. In the Current Events category there is a page called “Ballooning in the NEWS”. The main content (Center area) of this page is any balloon news that is posted on the internet. In the right hand column of the page there is another feed called “Balloon Festival News” This page is a great one to have Book-marked on your browser. You can go to one page and see the headlines about ballooning in the news. Find out about ballooning events FIRST! New Sites being developed. As many of you know I have been grounded by a hemorrhagic stroke. While this has made flying commercially (currently) not an option for me my work on the HotAirBalloonist.com site continues with new Categories, Topics and How To videos and tutorial presentations. In addition to the HAB site I have also been working on other sites for fellow balloonists. The most recent sites are www.Balloons-andBeyond.com and www.FlipFlopFantasies.com The Flip Flop site has been developed for a special shape balloon with an online booking calendar. It includes (Paperless) online waivers, tether contracts and even balloon festival appearance contracts all online! If you would like to have your website rebuilt and/or updated let me know! I am happy to take on new clients and especially fellow balloonists sites since I have a little experience with ballooning and running a commercial ride operation. AGAIN PLEASE BE SAFE With the recent incident in Albuquerque I urge everyone to fly safely. Remember you represent all of us! I am thrilled every day when I receive news of pilots receiving the Ed Yost Master Pilot award. Remember flying safe takes effort and alertness and the ability to know your own personal limits. Thank YOU for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson

View File Downloading Map Files Downloading Map files for use with the HotAir.App Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 07/10/2021 Category Video Tutorials  

There are many pilots all over the country interested in the scores from balloon events. Many events have websites that just do not allow you to post easily the scores form your competition event. HotAirBalloonist.com has made posting scores a 30 second process! This video explains how simple it is to post all the scores from your event. You can post every event in seconds. Here are the requirements. First you must have an Event Organizers membership on HotAirBalloonist.com. This is easy to do, currently we are offering a FREE Event Organizers membership for a FULL YEAR to anyone who would like to post scores. Second, we would like for you to post a link to the "Event Scores" forum on your events website. Last, If your event is not on our Events Calendar please take a moment and post it. You can post event dates, details, contact information and MORE. Once your event is posted on the HotAirBalloonist.com calendar it will also appear on the Member Map. All you need to do is send us an email. Let us know the name and the email of the person you would like to have permission to post scores. That is it! Email us at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com Take a moment to download and watch this video on how easy posting your event scores can be. Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

View File Balloon Event Scores There are many pilots all over the country interested in the scores from balloon events. Many events have websites that just do not allow you to post easily the scores form your competition event. HotAirBalloonist.com has made posting scores a 30 second process! This video explains how simple it is to post all the scores from your event. You can post every event in seconds. Here are the requirements. First you must have an Event Organizers membership on HotAirBalloonist.com. This is easy to do, currently we are offering a FREE Event Organizers membership for a FULL YEAR to anyone who would like to post scores. Second, we would like for you to post a link to the "Event Scores" forum on your events website. Last, If your event is not on our Events Calendar please take a moment and post it. You can post event dates, details, contact information and MORE. Once your event is posted on the HotAirBalloonist.com calendar it will also appear on the Member Map. All you need to do is send us an email. Let us know the name and the email of the person you would like to have permission to post scores. That is it! Email us at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com Take a moment to download and watch this video on how easy posting your event scores can be. Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson. Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 06/21/2021 Category Video Tutorials  

Competition Marker and Target Specs View File This is the official specifications for competition markers and competition targets. To Create the markers we suggest a Hot Knife be used to seal the edges of the markers so they do not fray from use. We also make the entire marker from one strip of fabric. We use a 6 mil plastic bag inside the weighted portion of the marker. The plastic bag is 3inches long and two inches wide. We fold over the top of the zipper portion so as to prevent the force of impact opening the plastic bag. We also insert the plastic bag with the zipper portion in a vertical position. The sides of the zippered plastic bag are cut at the factory and are likely to split open on impact. By placing the plastic bag in a vertical position the impact forces are on the folded section and on the bottom of the bag where the plastic is uncut. We weigh the fabric strips for each color since the weight of the colors are different and we adjust the sand placed inside of the plastic bags to adjust for the weight differences in fabric color. The process of weighing the strips is to take 10 strips of fabric and average them. We also do this with the plastic bags and add .10 grams for the stitching. The end result is a marker that is within 1/100's of a gram of the 77 gram goal. Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 05/12/2021 Category Balloon Related Resources  

HI Darwin, I would look on the Member Map and see if you can find a balloonist in your area. Then you can contact them directly. At the very least you will have someone who flies in that area and may be able to direct you to someone who can help. That is the intent of this site. Thank you. Jeff

Practical Test Standards (Commercial LTA) View File Practical Test Standards (Commercial LTA) Submitter hotairballoonist Submitted 05/06/2021 Category FAA Forms  

This video does a wonderful job of explaining the Pilot Achievement Award Program and the Crew Achievement Award Program. My Father and I are PAAP DA-8's and my mother is a Master Crew Chief in the CAAP so we can (First Hand) tell you that these programs are extremely well designed and beneficial. Enjoy. Jeff

I just wanted to send you a quick note about a few things going on. Emails We just acquired a new email server. We can now send out 10,000 emails per month. There is no limit on how many can be sent at one time so feel free to follow categories, Calendars, Files, and any other topic of interest. When new information is posted you will receive an email! Just like the Reflector and more! We have an area for our members called the Hot Topics category. Currently we have more than 250 pilots and crews who follow the sub-category called “HAB Walkie Talkie” this category is intended to be a communication hub for all members on the site. This is a member’s only area of the site so you must be logged in just to view it. When you post a topic in the HAB Walkie Talkie the HAB email system will send out hundreds of emails to all the followers of this category in seconds. This system works very much like the Balloon Reflector. The primary difference is that you can include photos, Hyperlinks and even files for download. It is a fantastic way to share ideas, files and more. Log in and go to the Walkie Talkie and click on FOLLOW at the top right side of the category then YOU TO will be instantly informed. Follow a member! We have talked a bunch over the years about the “Follow Feature” on HotAirBalloonist.com. It truly is a fantastic feature on the site. The Follow Feature allows YOU to choose what you are informed about. You can follow Topics, Forums, Categories and Sub-Categories, Calendars, Files and more. WELL, now you can follow a specific member! That’s correct. Are you interested with a specific member on the site and want to know when that person posts anything new? FOLLOW them. So the best feature on the site just got better! Balloon Ride operators Do you take passengers? Are you on our list of operator’s? Go look. The Balloon Ride section of the HAB site is open to the public. Go see if we have YOU listed. If you are not listed please let us know so we can create a listing for you. Better yet become a member and create your own listing complete with photos, emails, links and Contact information. Listings are by state and Ride operators are also listed on the Member Map for easy searching in any part of the country. Map Files Do you want to make your own map files? We have a Video Tutorial on how to make them! We are also looking for flying area files from all over the country. We are adding them to our download center for pilots to use when traveling. Do you have a balloon event and need maps or have maps you want to upload so your pilots can download them with ease. Let us know. Our download center is a great way to make files available for your pilots to use. Info@HotAirBalloonist.com My Recovery. Just a short note for those who are interested. My recovery is going well. I am still going to doctor’s appointments nearly every week and there are a few issues that will be working on but for the most part I have made almost a FULL recovery from my stroke. I still want to say thanks to all whom have wished me well and the support and prayers have made a tremendous difference for me and my family. Thank you is not enough. I am looking forward to my 1 year anniversary. It will mark a huge milestone for me since a very large percentage of people do not make that milestone. PLEASE if you are reading this, stay healthy and take care of yourself. My stroke came on with no warning. It has been one of the toughest things I have gone thru and a horrible experience for my wife and mother and father as well as the rest of our family. Be safe and stay healthy. Jeff A Thompson