Hot Air Balloon

Date

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Flight Training Magazine

| February 28, 2025

Commercial hot air balloon pilot

David Adler, a commercial hot air balloon pilot and instructor from Yuma, Arizona, got hooked on ballooning after winning a ride in a raffle at 14 years old. A self-proclaimed social butterfly, Adler now has more than 1,300 flight hours and enjoys sharing his passion for ballooning with family, friends, balloonist students, and paying customers every day.

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Pilot Magazine

| February 1, 2025

Special Shapes

It’s just before sunrise in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and already the sky is dotted with the red beacons and twinkling flames of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s “Dawn Patrol,” a group of specially equipped nighttime balloon operators who have helped other balloonists get an early indication of wind speed and directions at different altitudes since 1978.

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Pilot Magazine

| December 28, 2022

The aeronauts

We’re floating over the Coconino National Forest, the red rocks of Sedona burning a deep orange in the morning sun.

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Pilot Magazine

| October 1, 2022

Up, up, and away

It has been 50 years since balloonist Sid Cutter helped lead the resurrection of hot air ballooning by establishing a balloon festival in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico (see “History of Hot Air Ballooning,”).

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Advocacy

| November 10, 2021

FAA proposes second class medical for balloon pilots

A proposed FAA rule would require balloonists operating for hire be held to the same standards as commercial pilots by obtaining a second class medical, and would expand BasicMed requirements to include those not acting as pilot in command.

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Pilot Magazine

| June 1, 2021

Light the fire

Driving anywhere at 4:30 a.m. is a surreal experience. It’s still dark; the roads are quiet; and everything seems deserted. You get the sense that all you survey is temporarily yours, until sunlight floods the scene and regular folks venture out.

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Pilot Magazine

| October 1, 2019

Pilots: Inflated Adventures

By Sheila Harris

Kiman Kingsley sprays crops, farms some 2,000 acres, instructs at his family crop-dusting school, and oversees publicity events hosted by Hangar Kafe, the restaurant he constructed adjacent to his Missouri airstrip near historic Route 66. But in 1999, he found a new aviation passion: ballooning.

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Slideshow

| November 2, 2017

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta wows crowds

The largest gathering of hot air balloons in the world created a stately spectacle over Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 7 through 15. The forty-sixth Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta drew more than 600 balloons and their crews from the United States and 21 other countries, including Brazil, Taiwan, Australia, and Norway, for launches from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park, a grass expanse the size of 54 football fields.

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Article

| October 19, 2017

Balloon association develops commercial safety standards

The FAA “applauded” a commercial hot air balloon safety program that was in the making for over a year in the wake of a deadly crash that killed 16 in Lockhart, Texas. The new two-part “Envelope of Safety” accreditation program was introduced Oct. 13 and will be supervised by the Balloon Federation of America (BFA) to assure passengers aboard commercial balloons that pilots would adhere to higher standards of safety.

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Article

| October 19, 2016

Hot air ballooning could be a hot ticket

Aviation enthusiasts considering their flying options might be interested to learn that hot air ballooning could be their ticket to the sky. At the world’s largest lighter-than-air event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, experienced balloonist Colin Graham was peppered with questions from a curious crowd that gathered around the basket of his specially shaped Bud E. Beaver balloon like moths to a candle. “What’s it like to fly?” “Do you need a license?” “Why haven’t you launched yet?”

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Article

| October 13, 2016

Hundreds of thousands celebrate Balloon Fiesta

Hot air balloon pilot Colin Graham lifted off in his colorful Wandering Endeavor at sunrise, and climbed gracefully into the blue New Mexico sky as hundreds of voices from a gathering crowd below cheered him aloft. Moments later he returned like a boomerang to nearly the exact same spot at Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta Park, during a mass ascension.

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Hot Air Balloon

| February 12, 2015

A proposal to remember

When everything seemed to be going wrong, the perfect moment emerged for a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot to propose to his girlfriend—in a hot air balloon with snow falling all around in Southern California.

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Hot Air Balloon

| February 5, 2015

Balloonists claim trans-Pacific records

Two balloonists who flew a helium-filled craft across the Pacific Ocean have staked their claim to new distance and endurance records.

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Hot Air Balloon

| January 26, 2015

Balloonists cross Pacific in bid for distance record

Two veteran balloonists were aloft above the Pacific Ocean in a bid to break the world’s distance record for a gas balloon flight.

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Slideshow

| January 21, 2015

Lake Havasu Balloon Festival mixes (hot) air and water

The fifth Havasu Balloon Festival and Fair brought 78 balloons to an Arizona island that can be accessed only by driving over the London Bridge (Yes, the one from England that since 1971 has connected Lake Havasu City with an island resort.); by boat; or by hot air balloon.

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Aircraft

| December 9, 2014

Cub's coronation

So probable is it that anyone you meet knows something about the little yellow airplane pilots call the J-3 Cub that the phenomenon helped persuade Pennsylvania’s legislature to bestow official recognition on the aircraft this year.

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Pilot Magazine

| November 5, 2014

Test Pilot

1. Popular film actor Steve McQueen (1930-1980) loved flying, and his last airplane was a Boeing/Stearman PT-17 bearing registration number N3188. What was special about the number 3188?

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AOPA Foundation

| October 9, 2014

AOPA Foundation names 2014 Giving Back grant recipients

The AOPA Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2014 Giving Back grants that recognize good works done through general aviation by nonprofit organizations.

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News release

| October 8, 2014

AOPA FOUNDATION NAMES ITS 2014 "GIVING BACK" GRANT RECIPIENTS

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Foundation has announced its 2014 “Giving Back” grants that recognize good works done through general aviation by non-profit organizations.

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Hot Air Balloon

| October 3, 2014

Test Pilot

1. Popular film actor Steve McQueen (1930-1980) loved flying, and his last airplane was a Boeing/Stearman PT-17 bearing registration number N3188. What was special about the number 3188?

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Pilot Training and Certification

| June 9, 2014

Attendees enjoy AOPA Learn To Fly Day events

Free flights and a static display were among the highlights of AOPA’s annual Learn To Fly Day.

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Hot Air Balloon

| December 24, 2013

Test Pilot

From reader Ralph Britton: Douglas DC–7Cs, Lockheed 1049G Constellations, and other aircraft were powered by Wright R-3350 turbocompound engines.

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Flying Club

| December 16, 2013

Litchfield Hills Aero Club makes ballooning affordable

The Litchfield Hills Aero Club was formed to attract more people into ballooning, and help them do it economically.

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AOPA

| November 26, 2013

AOPA Foundation grant funds Girls Inc. aviation program

Girls in Oak Ridge, Tenn., learn STEM via the SkyGirls aviation program that recently launched thanks to a grant from the AOPA Foundation.

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Pilot Training and Certification

| June 11, 2013

12-year-old ready to buy airplane

A lot can happen on a 10-minute first flight. According to 12-year-old Landon Howard, he grew wise beyond his years during a short flight in a Mooney over Frederick and Middletown, Md., June 8 during Learn to Fly Day at AOPA’s headquarters at Frederick Municipal Airport.

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ATC

| April 28, 2013

Dogfight: Tower or no tower

Uh, oh. Senior Editor Dave Hirschman takes on his boss—Editor in Chief Tom Haines—in this discussion on which is the better airport: one with an air traffic control tower or one without.

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Pilot Magazine

| April 5, 2013

Dogfight: Tower or no tower

Uh, oh. Senior Editor Dave Hirschman takes on his boss—Editor in Chief Tom Haines—in this discussion on which is the better airport: one with an air traffic control tower or one without.

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ATC

| April 1, 2013

Dogfight: Tower or no tower

Uh, oh. Senior Editor Dave Hirschman takes on his boss—Editor in Chief Tom Haines—in this discussion on which is the better airport: one with an air traffic control tower or one without.

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Hot Air Balloon

| March 25, 2013

Stability

The Weather Never Sleeps Stability How bubbles of air can upset the atmosphere BY JACK WILLIAMS (From Flight Training, November 1996.) Air stability is one of those theoretical-sounding subjects that pilots should learn for good, practical reasons. This knowledge helps you make sense of preflight weather forecasts and actual weather you encounter in flight.

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Pilot Magazine

| January 5, 2013

Test Pilot

From reader Ralph Britton: Douglas DC–7Cs, Lockheed 1049G Constellations, and other aircraft were powered by Wright R-3350 turbocompound engines.

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