Two Birds (Sept 2018)

[hotairballoonist]

The more I think about this the more I become energized.  Please forgive me for sticking another note in your email box but we must act as a whole or we may be doomed.  I want to fly and not sit and talk about the good ole days when I did fly.

The following is what I have sent my two senators about the "Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Re-authorization Act of 2017."

You may use this if you wish.

Dear Senator Nelson,

While I appreciate the intent of the bill, the wording requiring the Air Balloon section (585) does nothing to promote safety and does have the real possibility to seriously harm the industry.  Please allow me to elaborate.

You cannot regulate pilot Judgement.  Your bill regulates the health of the pilot via a medical exam yet there has never been an accident with a balloon that has been attributed to a pilot health issue.  So what is it exactly you think you will fix with the medical requirement?  This new regulation will not fix or stop any incident that has ever happened in a balloon.

Do you understand why a Hot Air Balloon was exempt in the first place?  In the early days of ballooning (I was there and a pilot) a balloon was a small aircraft and generally only carried one or two passengers and was not considered a likely commercial aircraft.  In those days there was no consideration about a balloon that would carry a dozen or more people, it was just not even imagined.  But today there are balloons that carry 12, 14, even 18 to 20 or more passengers.  The balloon insurance companies have realized that those balloons do carry more risk and should require more stringent requirements on the pilots.  I as well have no issue with more regulation on the larger balloons.  They require a higher level of skill and vigilance to operate in a safe manor and some sort of medical exam may indeed be appropriate.  To just throw a general blanket of regulation over the entire industry would harm the world of ballooning in ways you can not envision.  There was a reason the industry was exempt in the first place and that has not changed.

If you are seriously interested in creating regulation that would make the industry safer you should address the FAR 91.119.  This regulates the altitude balloons can operate.  Let me quote one line from that regulation.

§ 91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

(a)Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.

Think about this statement.  On a hot air balloon the “POWER UNIT” is the burner on the balloon.  If the burner goes out the balloon is going to fall to the ground.  There is no glide slope like a plane.  There is not steering or altering the course of the aircraft.  There is no slowing the balloon down or banking left or right.  YOU ARE GOING TO FALL TO EARTH and the higher you are the faster you will fall.  So does it make sense to have a balloon at such a high altitude?  Lets put this in some different terms.   I have a pickup truck and a mile long hill.  You are at the bottom of the hill and I have tied you into a chair so you can not move.  Where do you want me to be when I put the truck into neutral and let it go?  If I am at the top of the hill you will get hit by a truck doing 50 MPH and surely be killed.  Or…  If the truck is near the bottom of the hill then you will be bruised and live.  A balloon down low is a safer aircraft then a balloon up high when you apply 91.119 (a).

So here is the amendment I would suggest you place in section (585) of the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2017.

Amend the section 585 to say this.

585.Applicability of medical certification standards to operators of air balloons

(a)Short title

This section may be cited a the Commercial Balloon Pilot Safety Act of 2018.

(b)In general

Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 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 (capable of carrying more than 12 passengers) to the same extent such regulations apply to a pilot flight crew member of other aircraft.

(c)Air balloon defined

In this section, the term air balloon 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).

ADD THIS SECTION

(d)

Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall revise section 91.119 section (1) to read as follows. (1) An Air Balloon or helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the Air Balloon or helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for an Air Balloon or helicopters by the FAA; and

 

The first part of 91.119 states

Sec. 91.119 — Minimum safe altitudes: General.

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

Since we navigate by wind layers at different altitude we use our ability to change altitude to navigate, Hence we are always in the process of landing from the time we lift off?  Where I fly here in Florida we have thousands of square miles of swamp and Forrest.  We are in the process of landing from the time we leave the earth and every altitude we fly at is used to carry us to our landing area.  So I believe you could interpret that first sentence as an exception for balloons.

I look forward to your input.

 

 Jeff A Thompson