May 2024

[hotairballoonist]

	Hi Classic Pilot, Hey everyone!  Are you looking forward to your upcoming events?  From Telluride to Carson City, Helen to Sikeston, Coshocton to Battle Creek and Indianola the summer flying season is rushing at us in a hurry.  Are you ready?  While this is an exciting time for all of us who fly in festivals and competition we also want to remind everyone to please be safe.  Fly within your comfort level and NOT because others are flying. Just because balloons around you are inflating does not mean you must do so. The safety of your crew, passengers, and spectators is most important. Remember YOU are the PIC of your aircraft and everyone out there is most likely taking video on their phones!  Most of all treasure your flights, friends and the amazing fellowship that ballooning has to offer everyone.  Take the time to invite everyone you come in contact with into the fun and adventure of ballooning.  Each of you are AMAZING and the ambassador(s) for all of us!   How’s your rig? Some of you have flown very little yet this year.  Many will be hitting the road for the first time.  Take the time to check over your equipment.  From trailers to bearings, lights to hitch latches, a little time invested in checking things over real good is time that may be saved sitting on the side of the road somewhere.  Also remember things like your inflator fan, and strikers, flints, radios, gloves, and more.  I remember years ago a crew person who was stung horribly by wasps who had made a nest in a glove bag mounted on the inside of a trailer door.  Unless you look over EVERYTHING real good you just don’t know what nasty little surprises are waiting for you and the worst time..  There is simply nothing better than a road trip to a balloon festival that goes off without a hitch.  We hope you have an entire summer like that!   Gots STufF? Do you need Balloon Cups?  Do you need a new Envelope Bag?  How about an HAB or LTA sticker for your rig?  There are many great items available on the Balloons-andBeyond.com site.  In fact we have 4 balloon cup versions available right now!  Many of them have balloons that you may know on them.  Take the time and have a look.  Get a couple of sleeves or more for your summer adventures.  Each cup has the Balloonist Prayer on them so they make great after flight champagne ceremony cups.  Plastic and dishwasher safe they even make a great souvenir for your passengers and crew.  Go to and have a look!  Click here to see one of the cups.  Click here to order cups.   The Aviation Ranch. I have been to balloon heaven and it is in Georgia!  If any of you are traveling up and down interstate 75 and are passing through Georgia it is worth a stop for an afternoon or even an evening to see the Aviation Ranch.  What an amazing place!  Tom and Jessica Warren have been working (their butts off) for two years now to create a place for ballooning and Balloonist to fly, relax, share stories around a campfire and so much more.  They have done so much already and have plans to do even more in the future.  To learn even more about this place check out the website Aviation-Ranch.com.  Even the website has much to offer!  Get an Aviation-Ranch hat or a Koozie in the store.  There are slide shows and videos about some of the projects they have done.  There are competition videos for those who wish to learn more about flying competition.  SOON they will have cabins and sleeping accommodations for extended visits.  They have an amazing launch and landing area on the property and so much more.  Hats off to the Warrens and all the other pilots and crew who are part of this project!  Truly amazing!   Visit https://aviation-ranch.com for more information and to see the ranch!   Members needed! Please help support the HotAirBalloonist.com site with a membership to the site.  A general membership is only $20 a year and allows you so many advantages.  Members SEE the private side of the site that the general public does not see.  Members can interact and create articles, photo galleries and even your own balloon club within the site.  Members can see hundreds of files and many dozens of video tutorials and best of all members can download ALL the files for FREE!  Once you are a member you can download ten times the value of your membership in tutorials and files in the download center.  Plus you are helping to support and keep running the only interactive balloonist platform on the web.  We have created a short 2 minute video that shows you how to check if you have a paid membership on the site.  It also shows you how to recover and reset your password if you have forgotten it.  Take a moment and view My Membership  https://hotairballoonist.com/Video/mymembership.mp4 Thank you all, for everything you do for the Balloon World.