It’s fun to fly in different places and it’s fun to fly with other balloons. The conditions under which we balloonists get together to fly vary from small, unsponsored local rallies with no money consideration, to large, organized gatherings where balloons are brought to a place for the purpose of attracting spectators and money.
In our 25+ years of ballooning, my partner and I have organized many balloon events, and regularly produce 5 or 6 each year. We organized the first “Great Reno Balloon Race” wherein each pilot was paid $350 to carry 1 passenger in each of 2 flights, was provided a high-class hotel room, elegant parties, and each pilot was awarded a prize. At the other end of the scale is a small event we do each year on the Fourth of July from a downtown park in the town where we fly regularly; no one, including us as organizer, is paid anything, no one makes any money from or on the balloons, and we all have a wonderful time.
We don’t have any hard and fast rules about amount of payment (or in-kind remuneration ) a pilot should receive. We do believe that if the overall organization charges any kind of fee, or intends to make money from the balloons, then the balloonists should be remunerated. Some examples of charges that should result in payment to balloonists are: spectator entrance fee, parking fee, sponsor fee, fee for or commission on concessionaire sales, sale of balloon logo t-shirts, pins, etc.
Just because we fly balloons for fun doesn’t mean we should allow ourselves to be ripped-off. If the organizer makes money, the balloonists who make it possible should be paid. It costs about $150/hour to fly an average sport balloon under average conditions. It costs money to go to a rally: driving costs, motels, meals, and for those who balloon commercially it usually means lost business revenues. For those of you who are so rich you don’t care, please remember there are many balloonists who can’t afford to participate in rallies unless they get some kind of financial or in-kind help.
The question of liability insurance seems to come up on a regular basis. When event promoters or organizers ask us about insurance we tell them that the balloonists buy insurance to cover themselves; if the promoter (municipality, service club, commercial entity, whatever) wants to be insured, they should buy their own insurance. We will not ask a balloonist to add anyone as additional insured to their policy; the promoter should not “coat tail” on the balloonists’ policies. If a promoter of a commercial event, where balloonists are remunerated in some way, asks for proof of insurance, we’ll ask the pilots to provide a certificate of insurance.
Some organizers ask balloonists to sign “hold harmless” agreements. This is a reasonable request if the agreement is reasonable. We once organized a large meet for a promoter who asked pilots to sign a hold harmless agreement that had an unacceptable provision that might have voided the pilots’ insurance, or exposed them to excessive liability. Several pilots refused to sign. After talking to Tom Davies we had the agreement changed and everybody signed.
Organizers who are not balloonists sometimes make absurd demands. I spoke with a pilot friend who described an event where, for a paltry appearance fee and the slim possibility of winning some “prize money”, pilots were required to make a morning flight, an evening flight, and a glow flight. At any body’s rates that’s at least $1000 worth of work (about $1500 worth around here), and that’s just one day of a 3-day event. The pilot said he and his crew were exhausted at the end of the day and it was not fun. It’s unlikely there was enough recompense, even when you consider motels, propane, meals, etc., plus prize money, to equal the value provided by the balloonists. The pilots should have been paid more, or asked to do less. Balance is required.
Of course, no balloonist is forced to participate in any event, however, some events look better on paper than in reality, and some organizers ask for more once the pilots are there. Some balloonists are afraid that if they don’t participate in certain events they will never be invited to those and others again. Like it or not, sometimes there is status to be gained within the ballooning community for flying in certain events.
Unfortunately, there always seem to be enough balloonists around who are willing to fly in questionable events which results in the perpetuation of rip-off rallies.
Not everybody gets invited to every event. Conversely, event organizers don’t always get all the pilots they want to participate in their events.
When we organize an event we try to put together something that is fun for balloon pilots and crews, allows them the pleasure of flying with other carefully chosen pilots, provides an opportunity to socialize with ballooning friends, doesn’t cost them too much money, isn’t a rip-off, and the recompense is commensurate with the sponsor’s status. We aim to please event sponsors by providing socially acceptable, safe pilots at a reasonable cost.