Welcome to JUNE! (2016)

[hotairballoonist]

Here in Florida June represents the beginning of Hurricane season.  We have been lucky the last few years and hope this year is a mild one as well.  Never the less it is also when our mornings become flyable at close to 95% of the time.  Barring a tropical storm or hurricane it is not uncommon for us to fly 28 or 29 times a month from now till October.  We want to remind everyone PLEASE FLY SAFE!  Be smart and when you get that funny feeling in the pit of your stomach LISTEN TO IT!  When you are flying and you need to get down please choose a safe spot.  Sometimes the urge to “Get Down” overrides our instinct for safety.  If you do land in a very public place (you know what we mean) stay around and do some PR.  Do not let the neighbors and the news guy write the story about your balloon crash or emergency landing.  Be smart about what you say.  Tell them something like this, “The landing was planned and executed precisely as expected”.  “It was unforeseen that the winds would change and not allow us to continue onto another location”.  “The location was chosen because it was a safe location to make a landing and we did exactly that, landed safely”.  Let’s all work together this year to, first fly safe and secondly put a good face on our activities and not let the press sensationalize us.

 

 

 

The End of the Registered Guest.  Recently we have had several people registering as a guest on the site, whom are not in the balloon world or related balloon business at all.  As a Registered Guest they have privileges on the site that could be used for undesired activities.  We have already dealt with several spam attacks and other unwanted incursions to the site.  It is our intent for the site to continue to be of service to the balloon world.  We also want the site to be a great resource for the general public who are looking for balloon related services.  It is our desire at this time to have only balloon related content.  At this point we have decided to limit the membership “Registered Guest” to only a 30 day trial.  This is more than enough time for a genuine balloonist to try out the site and decide to become a member.  If you are a balloonist and you wish to help promote this site please become a General Member of the site.  A General Membership is only $20 a year.  If you are a balloonist and you purchase a General Membership by the end of June we will give you your choice of a set of HAB stickers for your vehicles or a customized Checklist for your ground crew.  If you have a registered guest membership you will be receiving an invoice in the next few weeks asking you to pay a $2 per month fee to continue your membership on the site.  If you are involved with the balloon world in any way we would like to thank you in advance for your support. BTW, a General Membership will give you more privileges than a Registered Guest Membership.

 

 

 

GoPro and Ballooning There is a wonderful power point slide show available in the Download section of HotAirBalloonist.com about using a GoPro on your balloon flights.  We have been using them for almost two years now with tremendous success.  We actually paid for three complete GoPro setups in our first month of using them.  We have created a step by step slide show on everything we do, from the equipment you need to the inflight use and even the storage of the files and the system for recalling a video from 8 weeks ago for the passenger who now wants to purchase the video of his flight.  Everything you want to know and even the option to sell them online!  When you have a chance Log in and go to the downloads section of the site.  Currently “GoPro and Ballooning” is the featured download on the site.  The download is FREE so have a look.  As always if you have questions, comments or suggestions let us know.

 

 

 

Get your Compass!  Very soon the BFA Hot Air Balloon Summer Camps will be firing up!  (Yes I know)  As in past years we will be providing them with Name badges and sighting compasses.  Currently our stock is good but as the competition season gets into full swing we may run low so order yours ASAP.  If you have not seen them or were now aware that we had them please visit the online store where you will find two versions of the sighting compass (Plastic & Aluminum) available for purchase.

 

 

 

Articles and Photos.  As you travel around to the festivals this summer don’t forget the rest of us who don’t get to go play as much.  Remember we have an entire section for articles about ballooning.  Create a diary of the event and then upload it for everyone to read.  Share your adventure about your favorite festival or competition.  We also have an entire photo gallery you can upload photos to!  Log in and share with us your summer adventures!

 

 

 

Hey BALLOON EVENTS!  How would you like to post your scores?  Believe it or not you can post your scores on HotAirBalloonist.com with an easy copy and paste.  Then all your pilots can see the results the moment you post them.  We have a section on the site for Blogs; you can create your custom blog for your event and then post the scores from each task for everyone to see.  Best of all there is an RSS feed for your blog so others can sign up and be notified as soon as you post your scores.  Post as many tasks as you want.  If you are interested in this bulletin board style of posting give us a call and we can walk you thru the process.  You can also promote your event this way as well.

 

 

 

As always we wish you all the best and please fly safe.  If there is anything we can help with please let us know.

 

 

 

Jeff A Thompson

Info@HotAirBalloonist.com

407-421-9322

June 16 Newsletter.docx