IN LIKE A LION,,,, (March 2017)

[hotairballoonist]

Have you been to a seminar?

We encourage everyone who is part of a balloon team to take the time to go to a continuing education seminar at least once per year.  Many of you who live in colder climates have friends and families who share the camaraderie of ballooning and don’t see those friends over the winter months.  The safety seminars are a great way to not only learn and expand your knowledge of many aspects of the world of ballooning but a great time to see old friends and find out about their seasonal plans.  Plus it’s a great way to hear some new stories and relive a few old ones.  I was a presenter this year at the Iowa Balloonists association seminar this year and boy do I have a story.  You can find it on HotAirBalloonist.com/forum on the Current Events page.  “It’s just a trip to Iowa”

2017 HALL OF FAME.

Becky from the balloon museum asks if I would include this in our next newsletter. I told her of course I would.  Becky and I have been ballooning together since 75.

From Becky Wigeland and the National Balloon Museum:

 

 

 

Sunday, July 30^th, 2017 the National Balloon Museum will be inducting three Ballooning Pioneers into the US Ballooning Hall of Fame.

The Pioneers are David Levin, Steve Fossett, and Professor T.S.C. Lowe of the Civil War Balloon Corp.

Kevin Knapp, who is famous for his portrayal of Professor Lowe will be at the museum Saturday and Sunday telling his story.

The Museum will be open 9:00-4:00 during the Classic week. Sunday from 12:00-4:00 will be Open House and Free admission.

The Hall of fame Inductions will be from 1:00-3:00. The Public is welcome. Come and learn about the importance of ballooning in the Civil War.

 

 

 

Can you hear me now?

I had an interesting call the other day from a interpreter service for a deaf person.  They wanted to go for a balloon ride.  Since we have printed and laminated pre-flight briefing cards I did not see much of a problem.  I thought to myself, I may want to make a set for landing in the balloon, but other than that I saw no real problem with the request.  Then they said that they wanted an interpreter.  My response was that I was unsure even how to go about getting one.  The response I received back was “You are required to by law”  Of course any time you hear that it will get your attention.  My response was “I will look into it and see what I can do”.  So the first thing I did was post something on the reflector to see if anyone out there had experience.  I received many responses but not much help.  The best response was from a pilot who will remain notorious who said.  “SPEAK UP, I CANT HEAR YOU” Thanks Bubba C.  Anyway here is what I found out.

Aircraft are exempted.  Apparently the airlines had a great lobbyist in Washington at the time.

The law says that it must be readily achievable. 

Quote from the law.

Readily achievable means easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense.  In determining whether an action is readily achievable factors to be considered include –

(1) The nature and cost of the action needed under this part;

(2) The overall financial resources of the site or sites involved in the action; the number of per-sons employed at the site; the effect on expenses and resources; legitimate safety requirements that are necessary for safe operation, including crime prevention measures; or the impact other-wise of the action upon the operation of the site;

https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleIII_2010/titleIII_2010_regulations.pdf

Here are some of the problems I have. 

·         Time of day, 5:30am to 8:30am

·         If the interpreter stays on the ground while we fly then we are paying for someone to do nothing for an hour while we fly.

·         If we take them in the balloon we have to find an interpreter who is willing to fly in a balloon.

·         If we fly them in the balloon we will have to pay for that seat in the balloon.

·         The cost of the interpreter is more than we will make on the flight and the next 3 flights plus the additional cost of flying the interpreter.

·         You may deduct the cost from taxes after the first $250.00, so @ $65 per hour X 4hrs I get to deduct a whole $10.00.

·         If the weather is bad we will be charged for the interpreter since their cancellation time frame is long before we will know if the weather is going to be good.  We get our weather information about 12 hours before flight time and we have to cancel 25 hours in advance.  So there is no way for us to cancel the service by the time we find out if the weather is going to be good or bad.  There are also days when we go out to fly and the weather that morning becomes un-flyable due to increased winds and or fog and poor visibilities.

·         If we do not take them in the balloon this also causes some concerns if the weather gets unpredictable while we are flying.  Because we are at the mercy of Mother Nature not being able to communicate if the weather turns bad is a serious safety issue.  This makes choosing the weather conditions even more critical.

·         The close proximity of passengers in a balloon makes visual communication difficult at best.  Imagine 4 people in a phone booth trying to sign.

 

 

 

On a follow up call with the passengers I told them that the cancellation policy of the interpreter service was long before I would know if the weather was going to be good and there would be no way to cancel the service by the time I knew if we were going to fly.  This seemed to be a reasonable answer to the question and they agreed.  I promised that we would have plenty of printed materials and an iPad and paper and pencil on board for communication.  I will be writing an article with all the information involved.  This article will be posted on the HotAirBalloonist.com/forum website on the “Current News” page.

Post your event!

We have a calendar for balloon events on the HotAirBalloonis.com site.  If you are involved in a balloon event or know someone who is we want to talk to you/them.  Our calendar not only allows you to post your event but you can also place your entire schedule, applications, website, email, contact person, phone and MORE about your event.  The best part is all of this is user controlled.   One of the most fantastic features of HotAirBalloonist.com is that YOU the member can post all of this stuff on your own.  YOU the member can also go back and alter, add, delete anything you have posted!  So give us a call or send us an email.  We will set up a time where we can allow you to log into OUR computer screen and we will walk you around the site and SHOW YOU HOW to use it right from the comfort of your own computer. 

CHECKLISTS

Once again the use of checklists has been talked about by the FAA and some presenters at the safety seminars.  Checklists are a good thing.  There are several types of checklists you may have or use.  A Pilot Checklist for Pre-Flight.  A Pilot Checklist for landing.  What about a pre-flight checklist for crew or passengers.  How about a checklist for landing for passengers.  YES HAB has checklists available in the store.  These are customizable to your own list.  They are printed on 80 mil PVC cards.  The same card stock that credit cards are printed on.  They are weather proof, water proof, scratch resistant and more.  You can order them with a bull nose clip for your lapel or you can order them with a suitcase style strap to attach to a tank or hang over the mirror in your chase vehicle.  They can be ordered easily online and we produce them in house so the turnaround time just hours.  Go to the store on HotAirBalloonist.com and click on the “Pilots Flight Bag” product category and have a look at the sample checklists.  Then order your own.

Welcome New Sponsor’s,

HotAirBalloonist.com is happy to welcome two new banner sponsors to the site.  Our first new sponsor is “Desired Dreams” They make homemade items for the home.  The make Bath Bombs, Candles, Wax Melts and Shower Bombs.  These items will make your home smell fantastic and they even have a line of Bath Bombs for MEN!  Check them out by clicking on their banner on the site when you see it. 

Our next new sponsor on the site is Windsond.   I have talked about this at a couple of safety seminars.  Windsond makes reusable wind sensors.  You attach them to a helium balloon and let them go and they relay back to your computer real time information about wind speeds, direction and altitude and more.  Easier and more accurate than the old theodolite and RE-USEABLE.  When you have a chance, please click on their banner or do a web search for Windsond and check them out.

Ride Operators have you created your listing yet?  Why not?  It only takes a few moments and you can have a customized topic all about your rides.  Remember we have operators listed all over the country by state.  Go to the rides page and click on IOWA.  Then click on Tecvisions Balloon Rides.  This is a topic that Tim Cloyd just created for himself.  Feel free to send him a note and ask how hard it was.  We want everyone to be listed so the general public can find you instead of going to a ticket seller.  Please if you have not created a topic about your operation take the time to contact us and let us help you do so.  You are receiving this email because you are a member on the site so you most likely already have the permissions to create a topic for yourself.  PLEASE DO!

 

 

 

All the best to everyone.  Thank you to the IBA for having me at their seminar. 

Please fly safe.

Jeff A Thompson.

See you next month.

 

 

 

March2017.docx