Welcome to Summer (july 2021)

[hotairballoonist]

 

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