I once had to join a union. I had a job while in college, a job I really liked, but after a month or so of work I had to join the union or quit. Being a farm boy in the middle of the '60s farm worker boycotts, I didn't much like the idea, but I did like, and need, the job. It became evident in the union that how long you were on the job and how well you learned determined your position in the scheme of things. Apprentice, journeyman, master-the progression was clear.
Progress is not nearly so clearly defined in the sport of ballooning, especially when it comes to crewing. Pilots go through the certification process-student, private and commercial-with tests at each step along the way to check on proficiency. There is no licensing or certification of crew required by the FARs, so there are no such tests.
The Balloon Federation of America has an excellent Crew Achievement program to recognize accomplishments in crewing, though not necessarily skill. You can complete at least the first and second level required tasks without necessarily being skillful at them. To achieve levels three and four, the crew person must have some demonstrable skills.
Even those of us who have BFA Crew Achievement pins, patches and certificates don't always wear or display them, so one can't count on this as a means of determining skill. What is a pilot to do?
Why not just ask or listen? I was invited to fly with Jim Ryan in "Bigfoot", the Famous Footwear giant tennis shoe recently. Upon landing a person appeared out of nowhere and yelled, "throw me the dropline; I'm a pilot!" Jim wasn't ready to throw the dropline, and to do so would have been unsafe. The person on the ground later turned to be a balloon groupie that used to crew for some of the locals but apparently never came much closer to being a pilot than having been allowed to operate the blast valve a few times. To listen to him, he would have convinced most pilots that he was a proven crew member, and a high caliber one at that. Performance would likely have proved otherwise.
Okay, maybe listening doesn't always work, but it is better than nothing. The person who has little or no crew experience but has volunteered to help at a local rally will likely not exaggerate personal skill levels. The person who claims experience is the hard one.
If you claim experience, you should be able to prove it, either by a personal crewing log book, or by the ability to answer questions. Start by asking yourself a question: are you ready and able to answer questions about the duties of a crew member when flying a balloon? You should be able to answer questions about your crew experience in a truthful and accurate manner. If asked, can you describe where to stand to bring a balloon down in a particular spot without yanking on a dropline? A pilot can find out a lot about a crew person's skill level by asking tough, practical questions.
Of course many pilots are lucky enough to have a regular crew and know their work habits and skills as well as they know their own. Even so, crew members can't always go out for every flight, or pilots might have to travel to a distant rally or event where their own crew is not along. Now the ability to ask questions and determine a crew person's abilities is a skill the pilot needs. It helps if a pilot can ask for and see a crew log book.
Speaking of logbooks, does your pilot log the times you have crewed with the balloon? If you decide today to start a log, can you check the pilot's logbook to determine your own record? You should be able to.
I am not a lawyer, but as I read the FARs, a pilot is not required to log flight time not necessary to meet the requirements for a certificate or rating (FAR § 61.51). However, most pilots do log their flight time to meet competition and insurance requirements. If a pilot chooses to log a flight, certain information is then required to be included. Section 61.51 (b) (2) (vi) reads: "Each pilot shall enter the following information for each flight or lesson logged: ...(vi) Participating crew (lighter-than-air)." Because no crew is mandated by the FARs for balloons, I would assume anyone holding the throat open or working the crown line was participating. If your pilot is not logging crew, you might drop a subtle hint about the FARs section on logbooks, 61.51.
Those of us who take our crewing seriously want to be able to prove our crew outings, participation in tethers, crewing a gas balloon, and other things that make us good and skilled crew. The log book is the first step, and it is never to late to start a log, especially if the pilots you have crewed for have kept crew logs. I'm certainly not suggesting a federally mandated program to establish a person's crewing proficiency, and I do think the BFA Crew Achievement program is a good start. I am suggesting that crew people need to be recognized for their skill level. It's time to set the standards, and record progress towards them in a log book.
