Up Up and Away

Dorothy and Justin Bain were planning a trip to check out an antique vehicle last year. On the way, Justin got a phone call “from the supposed seller of the car, who said he couldn’t make it, but we could go take a look,” recalled Dorothy. “As we pull up to the property, we see a hot air balloon. We get out, and a woman comes over, and asks, ‘Do you want to come see what it’s like?’”

“It was lovely,” Dorothy continued, “I got excited, and said sure.” Before she knew it, they were “up at 1,000 feet soaring over everything. It was so quiet, the only thing you could hear was occasional firing of the propane tank.” They sailed over farmland, horses, cattle, and startled a herd of deer. As they were landing, they spotted the chase vehicle.

The woman who had invited them to ride was holding up sign that read, “Will you marry me?” It was only then that Dorothy realized that Justin had set up the whole ruse. “As we were landing he pulled out the ring.”

Hot air ballooning has become popular for celebrating engagements and other landmark occasions, attracting flying enthusiasts, neophytes, couples, families and people checking off their “bucket lists.”

According to Greg Livadas, owner of High Hopes Balloon Company in Rochester, New York, the first man off the earth was in a balloon. The launch took place in France in 1783. More than a century before the Wright brothers, the Montgolfier brothers owned a paper company and were curious about why smoke rose in the fireplace, inflating a chemise and carrying it upward. So, they built a large paper balloon, lit a fire under it, and the balloon rose. “Not knowing whether it was possible to breathe off the earth, they sent up a rooster, a sheep and a duck to test the atmosphere” prior to launching a human, Livadas said. The event was witnessed by Benjamin Franklin.

Fast forward to the 20th century. Modern balloons were developed by Raven Industries, Inc. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1962, under a Navy contract. They developed the design for an airborne heater run from a propane tank, which kept the balloon inflated longer, and gave the pilot the ability to move the craft up and down.
Commercial balloon rides are usually an hour and cost a couple of hundred dollars, unless you are at a balloon festival where pilots sometimes offer free rides. The Adirondack Balloon Festival and the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta are two of the most popular.

Livadas joined a chase team in high school, eventually becoming licensed to fly passengers. (Balloons, like other aircraft, are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.)

Fair weather is a must, as the balloon is steered by the wind. Livadas gauges where a balloon will go by checking which way trees and flags are blowing. He makes sure to fly over open space, as he never knows for sure where the balloon will land, thus the need for the chase teams who both fold up and help launch the aircraft. He steers clear of flying over water, and before landing looks for “a place that is safe, that won’t do any damage to the crops, animals or the balloon, and where the equipment can be packed up and taken away–although balloons have landed on boats, in cemeteries, in nudist camps, on the side of the road…you name it,” said Livadas. He’ll cap the ride with a bottle of champagne for the property owner.

Because of the need to stand in the basket, disabled people usually cannot ride. However, a. initiative by balloonist Crystal Stout has changed that. “Captain Crystal” is committed to helping “other-abled” folks to enjoy the thrill of a balloon ride. “We are similar to a chair lift with a five-point harness. Everyone is invited to ride; however, those who are mobility challenged (wheelchair, walker, amputee) can transfer or sit on the seat next to the pilot and ride up to 25’ on a tethered hot air balloon ride.”
Pat Murphy, the founder of Reach for the Stars Hot Air Balloon Foundation, expanded his volunteer work at a summer camp for children with cancer when he took his hot air balloon to the camp. Conscious that the basket would not accommodate children using wheelchairs, he was determined to develop a wheelchair-accessible basket. The new basket was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2000 and provides tethered and untethered flights at events from Temecula, California, to Ohio to closer southwestern states.

Meantime, the Bains are happily married and expecting their first child. Dorothy maintains that Justin’s proposal was completely in character. “He’s a very creative guy. The fact that he chose something different was typical.”

Sources: dreamcatcherballoon.org, balloonfiesta.com, adirondackballoonfest.org, bfa.net and reach4thestars.org.