hotairballoonist

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

I hope you are well. Well, here we are at the end of what has to be a year for the record books. My 2020 started off with a Hemorrhagic stroke and spent 5 days in a coma and nearly a month in the hospital. The stroke has ended a 45 year career of flying balloons and removed my ability to earn a living for my family. Toss in the Covid-19 issue and this whole year has been a mess for nearly everyone! With my current medical issues the Covid-19 pandemic has had the Thompson Compound locked down. My Doctors have warned that if I contract the virus it could be a very bad thing. A huge Thank you goes out to my mother and father, who made the trip to the hospital nearly every day for a month! 2020 also saw our elected officials pass a 1.3 trillion stimulus package yet only a small portion of it goes to actual Americans. Do the math! 1.3 trillion, divided by 325 million American’s equals $4,000.00 per American, yet we will be lucky to get even half of that. Never mind the debit created for our kids to pay back. I have also been banned from Facebook. I am not entirely sure why, but I do have suspicions. Each time I try to log in I get the following message. We Received Your Information If we still find that you're not old enough to be on Facebook, your account will remain disabled. This is because your account doesn't follow our Terms of Service. We're always looking out for the security of people on Facebook, so until then you can't use your account. So either my account has been hacked or I have been intentionally blocked. I am sure you have heard the rumors that Facebook, Twitter, Google and other information sources have been censoring the information you receive. I am now a believer in the censorship of these big media platforms. 2020, The balloon world lost a true pioneer in Don Piccard. I will be writing an article about my first encounter with him in 1977 at the Albuquerque event. Yes 2020 will be a year that will be talked about long after most of us are gone. Since I can no longer fly I have been busy writing articles for the HotAirBalloonist.com website. I have also been selling off equipment and soon will have some nice Classic Limited Stretch baskets available for purchase. I have several sets of Zone 5 double burners too. There are many items still available in the Equipment 4Sale section on the HAB site. Remember anyone can post items for sale on HAB! I have also sent a very nice presentation to Shawn Gano the developer of the HotAir.app. http://www.hotairballoonist.com/Video/ShawnHOTAIR.mp4 Many of you may already know that the program Motion X is no longer available. I personally used the program very heavily for pre-flight planning. Here in the Central Florida area we deal with some very large swamps. Areas where if you get out over them and cannot get to the other side you will have a very wet, uncomfortable and potentially dangerous hike out and a helicopter will be required to get your equipment back. So the measuring tool on that app was a fantastic help. You could take your PiBal readings and then move your launch and landing circles around to find the best fit for direction and speed prior to your flight. This would give you a huge advantage pre-flight, to help you be sure you could make your landing target. Shawn has agreed to build a pre-Flight planning tool into the HotAir.app when he has the time to do so. There are some other issues he is currently working on but do not be surprised if a new tool is available in the next update. My father Jim Thompson has been hard at work creating biographies for the Hall of Fame “Notable Balloonist Biographical Information” category. There are hundreds of biographies you can read about balloonists all over the country. You may be surprised with some of the fantastic history of the people who make up our sport. This section of the Hotairballoonist.com site is open to the public and you do not need to log in to view the biographies so we encourage you to take a look around the category! There are also many files on the Members Side of the site. Log in and look around that part of the site when you have time. There is a Password Recovery system on the site if you have forgotten your password. If all else fails send me an email at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com and I will help you reset the password to anything you like. Finding new stuff is also easy to do on the site. We have a video tutorial on how to sort files in any of the hundreds of categories. Have a look at the “What’s New” video tutorial. I have posted a short article in the “Tips & Tricks” category under the “Better Inflations” sub-cat. The article is called Where did your Eyelashes go? I would love to hear comments from pilots about this article. You may post replies on the site and only logged in members will see your comments. Yes you must be logged in to view this topic. We have some banner advertising spots available so if you have products you would like to advertise to balloonists we would love to have you advertise them on the HAB site. Here is a link where you can go to select a banner advertising program for your products. Do you need flying area maps? Do you need your website refreshed or an entirely new site? I am available. Classic Online Services is my web development site. Have a look! Last thought for this year. I will not be flying commercially any longer. As hard as that is for me to do, I will not be out of ballooning. I will be spending more time on the HotAirBalloonist.com site trying my best to share ideas, experiences, tips & tricks and anything I can to help promote the sport. As I have said on more than one occasion, with 7,000 hours and nearly a half century of HAB adventures I have much to share. All I ask is that YOU help me by supporting the HotAirBalloonist.com site. Start your 2021 off with a paid membership and participate! Share your experiences, ask questions and help me promote our world. We have hundreds of articles and hundreds of files and dozens and dozens of video tutorials to help you get more out of the site, so dive in! I sincerely hope that each one of you have a wonderful & safe year. I hope yours is a prosperous 2021. Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson

We just wanted to send out a quick note. Things are hard all over with the current situation here in the US and across the world. We wanted to take a moment to say our condolences and thoughts go out to those who have lost a loved one this year. We also wish to ponder, and honestly think about all we are thankful for at this time. Even in tough times, my father always used to say there is someone out there in a worse situation. I have always remembered those words. It is this time of year when those words are especially poignant. Please have a safe and wonderful thanksgiving with those you love and think about all the other wonderful people in your life. Thank you for all you do for the balloon world to you! Jeff A Thompson & the HAB family

Need your help. We have gone down our list of almost 200 balloon events. Sadly we have only been able to identify about 60 events for the 2021 season. When you have a moment, please visit HotAirBalloonist.com. Have a look at either the North American Balloon events calendar or look on our member map for an event in your area. Here is a link to the video tutorial on how to view “Events Only” on the member map to make it easier to view the events we have listed. https://hotairballoonist.com/forum/index.php?/files/file/1227-events-on-the-member-map/ If you are involved in a balloon event please take a moment to watch the video then go to the member map and check to see if we have your event listed. If we are missing your event, please send us an email at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com and give us the website and any other details you believe we could use so we can have an up to date calendar for 2021. MAP FILES Do you have map files? We are compiling files from as many balloon events as we can. We already have many files for pilots in our Download Center. These files can be downloaded for use in several Navigation applications like HOTAIR, Hot Air Balloon Pilot (Android) Two Nav, Back Country and more. We have KML, KMZ, GPX files and more. If you have map files for your event, or flying area, we would like to have them available in our download center. Our goal is to have map files for all balloon events and eventually have maps for flying areas all around the country. This would allow out of town pilots to be able to fly in your area without creating issues for the local pilots. Keep in mind that these files can be protected by using our member permissions, so others cannot see or use them. If you have a map file for a specific flying area, we can also create an online club for your area. By creating an online club YOU can invite only your local pilots to be members in your club. This will make your files even more protected since you can choose exactly the members whom have access. There are two “Video Tutorials” about how to make a club for your area. Start a club (Part One) Start a club (Part Two) In addition to these fantastic features we can also incorporate the “FOLLOW FEATURE”. This means that anytime a change has been made to your map file or a new file is uploaded all the members who “Follow” that file will be sent an instant email notifying them that there is a new file available. This is a wonderful way to keep everyone in your area up to date with the Green Zones, Red Zones, Yellow and more. Here is another great “HOW TO” video tutorial about the use of map files. https://hotairballoonist.com/forum/index.php?/files/file/1197-hotairapp-map-files/ Map Files (more) Recently we had a request, that once we started to think about it made a bunch of sense. We were asked if we could separate the different maps for a flying area. So, we created separate files for maps. We created a PZ map with 3D Red Zones and Yellow zones on one map. We created Green Zones on another map. We created Targets in another map. We created a Marker map with colored pins that you could tap on and view information about that Red Zone and we created another overlay of pins for the Green Zones that include information like Landowner, Phone, Special instructions, Gate Codes and more. By doing this we were allowing the pilots and crews to select the specific map or overlay they wanted to view for the area. Now I will admit that when you download all these maps and turn them all on the map looks very cluttered, however, in most cases when you are flying your map is zoomed in to about a 25 square mile area. This unclutters the map greatly! We have also sent an email to Shawn Gano the developer of the HOTAIR.app and asked if we could incorporate colored pins into the KML overlay. Over the next few days we will be making either a video tutorial or a power point slide show about all of this. Safety Seminars We realize that with the Covid-19 issue we are all suffering from a change in our lives. We believe this is a great time to have a safety seminar. The question is HOW? I will be starting a topic in the “Walkie Talkie” forum inside the “Hot Topics” category. Feel free to log in and get involved with this important topic. Remember the “Hot Topics” category is a private Members Only category! You must be logged in to view and participate. If you are having a Safety Seminar sometime this winter, please send us the details about your seminar. Better yet use our Safety Seminar form for an easy way to send us information. Go to this link. We have created a simple form you can fill out in a very short time that will provide us with information we will use to post the event on the HAB calendar and on the Member Map. Support the site! As always we want to thank our paid members who keep this site alive. Members have many useful features on the site and we are adding more all the time. One of the greatest features is that YOU the member can participate. YOU can create new topics, add an item for sale, advertise your services, participate in a chat room and so much more. BUT we need both new members and current member’s to create a paid account. We currently have more than 50 video tutorials about how to use the site. One of them is about getting a membership. In less than two minutes you can purchase a membership online. Check out this Video Tutorial. Thank you all for your support and participation. Please be safe this year for the holidays and remember we all have many things to be thankful for. Jeff A Thompson.

It’s been a while.. I have been busy with Dr. appointments, scans, blood tests and more. I have been getting my exercise doing projects around the house, working on vehicles and accomplishing things I have wanted to do for a long time. My rehab has been going very nicely and I wish to say thank you to so many who have been checking in with me regularly for updates. There have been a few issues with my recovery but I am still one of the very lucky ones to survive the stroke. Daily I am able to do more and more and normal is slowly slipping its way back into my life. Emails Our email system suffered a glitch and was down. We have a mass mailer installed on our server. With over 1000 members on the site, when we send out a newsletter our server sends out hundreds of emails in a matter of seconds. The mass mailer also stays busy with the Follow Feature on the site sending out email notifications for calendar events, club newsletters, user posts and replies and more. We are glad to say the mass mailer system has been fixed and is working well. Video Tutorials We have been upgrading our Video Tutorials. We originally created many tutorials using Flash. The Flash software system has been outdated by most browsers. We have been adding NEW video tutorials made with the MP4 format. The MP4 format allows them to play on almost any device. Stop in and have a look at some of the new videos. If you have features of the site or something you need more information about send us a note at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com and we will create a Video Tutorial for you. Remember we are posting new videos all the time. There is a section on the main page that shows the latest (NEW) video tutorials. Have a look! Speaking of Video Tutorials We have a couple of new video tutorials that are worth the few minutes to watch. “Starting a topic” This video shows you how you can start a topic on HotAirBalloonist.com. “HotAir.app map files” This video shows how easy it is to download map files for use with the HotAir.app. Lastly and most important is “The Follow Feature” This feature is one of the best on the entire site. The follow feature allows YOU the member to choose exactly what you want to know about. Taylor the amount of email interaction by the specific topic or event you want to know about. Turn OFF the items you no longer want to follow. If you take the time to watch any of these videos, please watch “The Follow Feature” The Twitter Promote. We have some new software on the site now. We allow members to promote their posts on our twitter account. Say for example you post an item for sale in our Equipment 4Sale section. With one click you can post that item on the HotAirBalloonist.com twitter account. First thing we would like you to do is follow the #HABalloonist on twitter and next if you have an item for sale or you post a topic in any category hit the Twitter Promote button up near the Follow Button. Don’t forget to follow your post too! MAPS One of the items we have talked about in the past has been Map Files. We have an entire section of our Download Center dedicated just for flying maps. If you have map files for your flying area and you would like to submit them so that others can share them please send them to us. We will take any files you may have. GPX, KMZ, KML and more. We can also keep your file private using membership levels and even creating a private club for your area. With a private club, YOU choose who can have access to your files. YES there is a video tutorial on the Club Feature on HAB. As always, thanks for taking the time to read and… Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Be Safe, Have Fun and Stay Healthy. Jeff A Thompson

Normal is creeping in… My recovery has been going extremely well. I had an MRI on my brain two weeks ago. The results were good. I am still showing residual blood on the brain but it is slowly being absorbed. Two days after the online visit with my primary we get a call from the imaging hospital asking me to come back for another MRI. Apparently they had spotted something they wanted another look at. My wife has looked at the results from the second MRI, she said there was nothing alarming in the results but we have another tele-visit appointment with my primary to get his opinion. I am still on a boat load of meds and take my vitals three times a day; however, I have been making great progress. Working out in the shop and doing all sorts of projects around the house, yard work and web work has not only kept me busy but added to the speed of my recovery. I have lost a bunch of weight. When I had my stroke in February I was in size 44 jeans. I have gone down a size nearly every six weeks since coming home. I am now wearing 38’ jeans and doing so comfortably. I have had no headaches in several weeks and the Dizzy Days are becoming fewer as well. I still miss flying each day but I am no longer waking up before dawn in a panic, wondering what balloon and how many passengers and who is today’s ground crew. (That was my normal for several weeks after getting home). I was able to make a FLIGHT. https://www.thompsonaire.com/video/July4thFlight.mp4 Thank you to one of our wonderful local pilots (Kenny Shuemate) who asked me if I wanted to go for a flight. He said he had a 140 with almost no hours on it and wondered if I wanted to go out for a flight. I was nearly in tears while talking to him on the phone. He said bring anyone you want! I know, many of you taking a balloon flight is a normal thing and for some of you lucky pilots out there it is nearly a daily occurrence. For me, I fully believed it would just be a memory and I would never get to fly again. When Kenny made the invitation I had been feeling pretty good for a few weeks so I took him up on his offer. I invited both my mother and father to join in and one of my old ground team had heard about it on Facebook and offered to come out and be our ground crew. Kenny said you may inflate if you want. I jumped right in and poor Kenny never got to touch the burner the entire flight. For me every second was a thrill but one of the highlights I will never forget is my father looking at me and saying “You sure have not lost your touch” Thank you Kenny Shuemate! TWITTER, I know there are some of you out there that do the Twitter thing. We have now installed a Twitter Promotion software on the HotAirBalloonist.com website. When you start a topic on the site you will have the option to also post that same topic to Twitter. Remember this is for logged in members of the site. But next time you start a topic on the site in ANY category, up at the top of your post where the “Follow” button is you will see the Twitter promote button. For those of you who want to follow us on Twitter just go to #HABalloonist on Twitter. Ballooning in the NEWS There are three locations on the HotAirBalloonist.com website where we have installed internet scrubbers. The scrubbers scour the internet looking for stories that have anything to do with ballooning. There is one on our front (Forums) page. On the right “Side Bar” section of the page. You would be embarrassed how many times the word Emergency appears on that news feed. There is also an entire page of news items. Under the Navigation heading “Current News” The page of news is called Ballooning in the News. This is an entire page of news items and the scrubber on this page has a slightly different set of searching parameters so you may find balloon news here that you would not find on the front “Forums” page. The third and final scrubber is located on the “Articles and News” page. This scrubber is located on the right “Side Bar” and this scrubber has yet another set of parameters that looks for news primarily about balloon events. During these difficult times many events are being canceled or postponed. This scrubber is a great one for news about balloon events all over the country. START A CLUB Remember there are no additional fees to start a balloon club on HotAirBalloonist.com You can start a club for the pilots who fly in your area and have your own Topics area, Download Center, Calendar, Photo Gallery, Member Map and even your own Chat room if you wish. Only your members can have access to your club area. You can even create your own newsletter to send out to your club members with a single click of a mouse. Our email server is super powerful. We send out nearly 1,000 emails in less than a minute! Of course if you need any help I am happy to assist getting you set up. WebWork Seems now that I am not flying full time I have time for other things. If you have a website that needs work or even rebuilt let me know. If your site is a balloon ride site I know a guy J who knows quite a bit about ballooning and can make a great site for you! All kidding aside, if you need any assistance on your site I am more than happy to become your web guy. Here are a few sites you can look at that I have set up. Appliancerepairoffourcorners.com, JodisSkiSchool.com, ThompsonAire.com, Ginathompsonphotography.com, HotAirBalloonist.com, DesiredDreamsBathBombs.com, WrappedUSA.com, Avaschickenchronicles.com just to name a few. I would love to help you with your needs. As my father would say, “It keeps you out of the bars”. Thank you all who take the time to read my newsletters. Please be safe, have fun and stay healthy. Thank you for all you do for the world of ballooning. OH!!! I almost forgot! We have more of our famous Balloon Masks in stock. Our supplier has told us that this may be the last of that fabric available so if you want one get it right away! Jeff A Thompson.

Some of you are getting this newsletter for the first time. We hope you enjoy our email. Our newsletter is designed to help you get more out of your membership to the HotAirBalloonist.com site and keep you informed what we are working on. Each newsletter also includes explanations on how parts of the HotAirBalloonist.com site works and to inform you about sections of the site you may not even know exists. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read our information. UPDATE As many of you know I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in late February. We just had our first follow up with the neurologist to get the results of my MRI and CT scan. They are still showing some blood on the brain but it is clearing. I have had some issues with dizziness and some light headed-ness. I have lost about 40 pounds and gone from a 44 waist to a 40 and still shrinking. We have already made adjustments to my blood pressure meds and are now making another adjustment. I have been very active on the web with building and maintaining my 18 URL’s and the 12 sites I currently manage. I have also been working about the house, doing yard work and making face masks. So far I have not found any physical limitations from the stroke. My mental abilities are also in good shape so overall I am one incredibly lucky man. Equipment 4Sale I am sure we mentioned this in the last newsletter but it is worth mentioning again. Our Equipment 4Sale section is now open to anyone who has equipment for sale. Take a bunch of photos of your equipment then find the proper category and start a topic. You can include all the text you wish as well as your location, contact information and price. You can upload up to 20MB’s of photos. Best of all when you are finished you can check the “Notify me of Replies” button and if anyone posts a reply the HAB system will send you an instant email with the content of the post. As always if you need any help let me know. Info@HotAirBalloonist.com and I will help in any way I can. THE EXCHANGE This section of the site was created for groups of pilots and ground teams in a specific area. The Exchange acts like a community bill board for ballooning in your area. Each exchange has four specific categories. “Pilot Forum” “Crew Forum” “Landowner Relations” & “Passenger Exchange” The Exchange is a great way for you to post stuff for other balloonists in your area. There are so many fantastic benefits to the Exchange it is hard to cover in a newsletter but briefly. You can look for crew, fill empty spots in your balloon, find new launch and landing spots or even share landowner complaints. It is literally a community bill board for your area. It is not viewable by the public and the “Follow” feature can be used so that everyone in your area gets notified of any new posts instantly by email. You will also have a written record of anything you have posted so no one can say they did not know! Remember The Exchange is a private (Members Only) area of the HotAirBalloonist.com site. Video Tutorials. We have continually been creating and uploading new videos in the Download Center under the category “Video Tutorials” WE have been eliminating many of the old (Flash) formatted files and upgrading them to the (MP4) format that can be viewed on almost any device. The new files are extremely helpful in learning how to use the site! Have a look at some of them today. The site is completely virus free and you can download any of the files safely! Face Masks We still have some Washable, Reusable and comfortable to wear masks in our store. We are almost out of the Balloon Print and will let everyone know if we get more in. There are still some other prints as well as solid colors available. Things here in Florida are getting worse so face masks are going to be standard practice for a while. Have a look in the store if you are interested. Humor As we could all use a little joke now and then. We have cleaned up the Balloon Humor category on the Main “Forums” page. There are a few good ones in there if you care to take the time to have a read. Remember this forum (as many others) is a private members only area of the site. You must be logged in to view and read. Feel free to add some of your own jokes for the rest of us! THANK YOU. At this point I am unable to fly. After over 7,000 flights and 45 years involved in ballooning I am simply heartbroken. One of our local pilots here called up the other day and said he had a brand new balloon that I could take out and fly if I wished. He would go along and let me preform in any capacity I wanted. I was in tears by the end of the phone call. It is exactly that type of gesture that reaffirms my belief that Balloonist’s are some of the best people on the planet. Thank you Thank you Thank you! If you have not read my BLOG here is the link. All for now. Jeff A Thompson

I just wanted to send a quick note to all the HAB members, Update on my health I have nearly made a full recovery from my homoerotic stroke in late February. I have a few tests left to complete but the only remaining symptoms are some dizziness and loss of strength. The dizziness happens mostly when I stand from sitting or if I bend over to work on something then stand back up. The strength is coming back as I do more and more around the house and doing some yard work. Again I must say, I am fully aware that I am an extremely fortunate to have come thru this nearly unscathed! I have since learned that only 26% survive and 60% of the ones who do survive have permanent issues or disabilities. I thank all of my Balloon Family for their continued support. Face Masks Since my return from the “Extended Vacation” (in the hospital). I have stayed very busy making face masks out in the shop. We looked at a dozen different designs and chose this version. They are light weight, comfortable, washable and you can insert additional filter material inside should you wish. We were selling them about as fast as I could make them. One balloon ride operation purchased 100 of them to sell to their passengers who show up to fly without a mask. WELL,,, My wife stumbled on 100% cotton (all of our masks are 100% cotton) Hot Air Balloon Print. We sold nearly 100 of them on the very first day we put them up on the site! Since then we have sold another 100 of them. Currently it takes me about 8-10 minutes to make one mask. Production is backed up! If you have purchased a mask on the HAB site and have not received a shipping email notice, do not fret, you will receive an email in the next few days letting you know we have shipped your order. We did not anticipate the demand but, we promise you will be pleased with your product. Equipment 4Sale Once again I would like all of you whom are looking for equipment or have balloon equipment for sale to have a look at the Equipment 4Sale section on HotAirBalloonist.com. We have posted about 40 new items as well as created three new categories. The categories make it easy for you to find exactly what you are looking for. These specific categories also make it easy for you to post your equipment in the correct category for others to find. Remember, if you are a member you can check the “Notify me of Replies” button at the bottom of your equipment listing. If you check the “Notify me of Replies” button when anyone posts a reply to your advertisement the system will send you an instant email! (Super handy feature). But remember you need to be logged in when you create your advertisement to be able to follow the post. The entire Equipment 4Sale section is also open to the public. You do not need to be a member on the site to advertise your equipment! Posting equipment for sale is FREE to anyone. You can tell us all about your equipment and add all the contact information and your location. You can also post up to 20 MB of photos! That is 100 photos if they are less than 200 KB each. There is a Video Tutorial about posting stuff for sale. So have a look today and post anything you no longer need for others to see. Please your membership helps us keep this site going. If you are not a paid member please consider becoming a paid member today. A general membership is only $20 for an entire year! Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World. Jeff A Thompson

OK, those of you whom know me personally may have just laughed out loud, however, I am truly humbled & eternally grateful from the support I have received from the balloon community. Thank you everyone for your support, prayers, kind words and amazing encouragement as I continue to get my life as close to normal as I can. I have gone nearly two weeks now with almost no headaches. My physical abilities are getting much better and the strength is slowly coming back. I still feel like I am on a pontoon boat in the ocean. Sometimes the ocean is calm and sometimes I am in rough seas. I have gone out for a short drive on my own the other day but only a short trip around the block. The rest of the time my wife Gina is my chauffer. I have a neurologist appointment on next Tuesday (the brain jokes have already started). My vitals have been real good the last month. We have had to make an adjustment in my blood pressure meds since I have lost more than 30 pounds. Overall I am doing quite well. I thank everyone for their continued support and words of encouragement. Equipment 4 Sale We have made a few changes to the Equipment 4 Sale section on the HotAirBalloonist.com site. Here is a quick list of the features. We have 22 different categories of equipment so you can find exactly what you want quickly. Anyone can post equipment. You do not need to be a member. You can add as much text, contact information and up to 20 MB of photos! Anyone can post a reply to any equipment. (Ask question’s make offers and more). Members can follow their post and get instant email notifications of replies. Members can edit or change their listing. Anyone can see the equipment listings. If you have any balloon equipment for sale give the Equipment 4Sale section of the site a try. Remember we are more than happy to help you and you DO NOT need to be a member to use the Equipment 4Sale section of the site. New Articles and Blogs. Since my stroke and with the pandemic I have had some extra time to devote to the HotAirBalloonist.com site. I have posted some items in the Current News area of the site. The Current News section has several great pages within it. When you mouse over or click on Current News on the primary navigation bar. There are several links that pop up on the top menu bar. “The Covid Convo” This link will take you to a sub-category inside the Hot Topics forum on the front page. There are many topics inside “The Covid Convo” category. Feel free to log in and express your ideas. “Ballooning in the News” This page has a headline scrubber that scours the internet looking for any news items about ballooning. You can find out about stuff before it hits the TV news or even the Reflector. You will also find out about balloon related stories that you may have otherwise never known. Articles and News page. This page has Articles written by our members and another News Scrubber that may find items the first scrubber does not. This page also has a very helpful section on the right column that has Balloon Festival News, Upcoming events, Status updates and recently posted topics and more. You can gain a bunch of information on one single page. Here is an article I just posted. The Blogs page. Members can start their own blog on this page. Create a blog about how you are handling balloon flights and the Covid-19. Start a blog about your favorite balloon adventure or event. Tell us a story. Here is a blog I recently posted about my stroke and commercial passenger flying. As always the site is for YOU! The site was set up and made for all things ballooning. Remember the Members side of the site contains even more stuff to see and do. Share your knowledge. Start a club, Create a photo gallery, Look for equipment, Post an event on the calendar, Stick a pin in the member map, Look at the files in the Download Center. Watch some of the many “How To” video tutorials, Spend some time looking over the HUNDREDS of Notable Balloonists Biographies in the Hall of Fame category. You may learn some history about pioneers you did not know. Hang out in one of the chat rooms. Most of all,,, TELL YOUR FRIENDS! The site works best when YOU are involved. Send us a note if you want to see a new feature added to the site or if you need help using something on the site. All the best to you all and…. Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson.

WE have just added another new feature. As you are aware we are trying to promote our Equipment 4 Sale category on HotAirBalloonist.com. Not only do we have 13 primary categories in the “Equipment 4 Sale category but we have many Sub-Categories that allow you to fine exactly what you are looking for quickly. Each ad has pricing, Photos, Equipment Location and the contact information you need to contact the seller. In addition you can post a reply directly on the site about the equipment and the HAB site will send an email to the seller! WELL, We have added a new feature to this fantastic area of the HotAirBalloonist.com site. We now have a Twitter Promote button. Once you have created your advertisement you can also promote it on the HotAirBalloonist.com twitter page with a mouse click. Up at the top of your equipment ad right next to the Follow button is the twitter promote button. Just click on the button and check the photos you want to include and send! Keep in mind that this entire process is FREE! There is a new video for you to watch about the Twitter Promote feature. Click here to watch the “How to make an ad” video. Click here to watch the “Twitter Promote” video

I hope everyone is doing well. I am continuing to recover from my stroke. Each day I gain more strength and try to stay busy. I am still suffering some equilibrium issues but overall I seem to be doing extremely well. I have so far done better than the doctors have expected. I am currently making washable / reusable protective masks. They are available in the store on HotAirBalloonist.com. We have already sold out of the Navy Blue but have added new prints you may like. They can be purchased online and we send them out in less than 24 hours. Get yours today, while supplies last. New Look and New Features. We know you hate to have to log in all the time so we have addressed the issue of logging in. All sites like Facebook, Amazon and others require users to log in, and we are no different. There are private areas of the site for members only. To help our members we have created a few different ways that may make logging in easier. Once you have logged in you can select (remember me) and next time you will not need to remember your user name or password. You can also use your Facebook or Twitter accounts to log into the site! Even better yet using your phone or tablet you can save any page on the site as a bookmark or save to home screen and our new tablet icon will appear. Then when you go to the site and log in ONCE and you will never have to log in again! Here is how you set it up. Go to any page and save the page to your device. Then use the new link to go to the site and logged in. Now just close the browser. Now click the icon on your tablet or phone and POOF you are back on the site and logged in! Pretty cool! Equipment 4 Sale I know many of you use the Facebook groups for posting equipment for sale. I have also looked at many of the balloon groups. The issue I keep having is where to look? There must be 50 different groups on Facebook and how do you find what you are looking for? If you need a tank you must look down the page past two dozen other posts to find the first one that has a propane tank and it’s not what you are looking for. SO, post your stuff on HotAirBalloonist.com There is NO COST to place an ad. You can create an advertisement with up to 20MB’s of photos, Contact information and more. The best part is you can post your item in a category that is relevant. Tanks go in the Tanks forum and baskets go in the basket forum and trucks… Well you get it. There is even a video tutorial on HOW TO DO IT. No reason not to! If you need help just send us an email and we will call you and walk you thru the process! BASKET CURTAINS I have posted a bunch of stuff on Facebook about the clear vinyl curtains we have been producing for large ride baskets. So far we have made curtain sets for 4 completely different baskets. We have posted the Cut Sheets (patterns) online along with a downloadable basket measuring sheet an even a “How To” PowerPoint presentation. All are FREE for download on the site. Have a look at them on the HAB site and if you need curtains for your basket feel free to contact us. Thank you goes out to everyone who has been so kind to me and my family as I have been recovering. I will continue to be as much of a benefit to the balloon community as I can. Your support the last few months has been extremely heartwarming. Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson

Do you do rides? The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 302, Pub.L. 115–254) is a United States federal law, enacted during the 115th United States Congress, which reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other programs till the end of fiscal year 2023. The bill was passed by Congress on October 3, 2018, and was signed by President Donald Trump on October 5, 2018. SEC. 318. APPLICABILITY OF MEDICAL CERTIFICATION STANDARDS TO OPERATORS OF AIR BALLOONS. (a) SHORTTITLE.—This section may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Balloon Pilot Safety Act of 2018’’. (b) INGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall revise section 61.3(c) of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (relating to second-class medical certificates), to apply to an operator of an air balloon to the same extent such regulations apply to a pilot flight crew-member of other aircraft. (c) AIRBALLOONDEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘air bal-loon’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘balloon’’ in section 1.1 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (or any corresponding similar regulation or ruling) My overview. So from what I have read, for a pilot currently, to do balloon rides, you now must have a Second Class Medical. High blood pressure if medicated is not an issue but diabetes even with medication is prohibited unless you receive a special exception. We posted an article in the "Walkie Talkie" forum for more information if you wish. EQUIPMENT FOR SALE We have redone our equipment for sale section. You may now post your equipment for sale with photos, all the information you want to post with your contact email, phone and anything else you want to add. This is totally FREE to anyone who has balloon stuff for sale. There is even a Video Tutorial on how to do it. If you have equipment for sale or know someone who has point them our way. Facebook and Twitter You now can log into the site using your Facebook credentials or using your twitter account. Just use the links at the top of the page and follow the prompts. FaceMasks We now have face masks in the store on HotAirBalloonist.com They are Washable and Reusable. We have a few colors in stock and they are shipped out to you the very day you place the order. Have a look and get a few if you need them. We have one operator who purchased 100 of them to sell to passengers who show up to fly without one. Great idea! Thank you all for what you do for the balloon world. Back to sewing. Jeff A Thompson

Hope everyone is well. Please take the proper precautions to stay safe. I know the numbers of Covid-19 cases go up and down about as fast as the stock market. I do not believe that it is because of our activities as much as it is our method. Wash your hands! Don’t touch your face! Wear a mask! Use a wipe or bleach water and a towel to wipe off any items you bring into your home. These are the precautions that will keep us ALL SAFE. Basket Partitions. We have just completed our first set of clear curtains for the large ride basket. Looks like several ballooners around the country have done the same. We heard a few very good tips from other pilots who use curtains. Be very careful to explain to the passengers that the curtains are not to be used when climbing in or out of the basket. They can also be a burden to pre-boarding your basket during a windy inflation. I remember when we first started to use the Go-Pro cameras on a telescopic arm for in flight photos. There was a learning curve at first and it was difficult, but before long it became a normal part of the routine. We will be building curtains for a double T basket next week. Equipment 4 SALE. We have made some changes on HotAirBalloonist.com for those of you who have equipment for sale. Balloons, Baskets, Burners, Envelopes, Trailers, Trucks, Radios and even equipment transport! We have categories for all things balloon related. Unlike other locations you may post your items for sale, our “Equipment4Sale” category has many Sub-Categories and forums so you can search and find exactly what you are looking for quickly. As a seller you can also post your equipment in the correct category where it will be found quickly and easily. There are also locations were you can post a reply or ask a question of the seller. This service is FREE for both the seller and the buyer. All we ask is that when you sell your equipment you remove your advertisement. We have an online video tutorial about how to add your equipment and how to remove your advertisement when it sells. As always, If you need help just send me a note. The Video Tutorial is very helpful, give it a watch. So what are your new procedures? We have an entire category on the HAB site dedicated to flying during the Covid-19 pandemic. We would love to have your input. There are many questions and if you have an idea, answer or opinion we would like to have you participate. Here is the link to the category. As always we welcome your participation and… Thank you for all you do for the balloon world. Jeff A Thompson

Every day things change. If you have a balloon event and there will be a change of dates or any alteration please let us know. We will update your information on our events calendar. We are saddened to hear that the National Balloon Classic will not happen this year but hope that next years event is the best ever. Balloon Clubs I have been promising a video on using the Balloon Club feature on the HAB site. They are up! Three "How To" videos on the Balloon Club feature on the site. Have a view and see the cool stuff you can do. If you are a balloon ride operator purchase a "Ride Operators" membership this month and we will toss in THREE free ground crew memberships so you can start a club for yourself and your team. The BFA and Covid-19 The Balloon Federation has posted a statement that all balloonists should read. The very first category on the site is the BFA category. Check out the forum BFA and you will see the first two topics are Covid-19 topics. I believe they are well worth the time to read and well written. The Recovery I am still progressing each day. As I learn more about what had happened, I realize each day I am a very lucky man. For me at least the "Stay at home" order has given me the time to do a bunch of stuff on the HAB site. I Still am somewhat weak physically but have no apparent impairments. I still get dizzy from time to time, but take each day as a new chance to do more good things. Thank you all for what you do for the balloon world. Stay safe. Jeff A Thompson