Tom Barrow had wanted to be a balloonist from the time he was five years old Ð it's just that he didn't discover that fact until well after he had graduated college, married and set up shop as an architect in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Tom Barrow had wanted to be a balloonist from the time he was five years old Ð it's just that he didn't discover that fact until well after he had graduated college, married and set up shop as an architect in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
"It was 1974 and Debbie and I had decided to drive to Albuquerque for something called the International Balloon Championships. I don't think I had seen a hot air balloon before then, and I certainly hadn't thought about one."
After that weekend Barrow would purchase his first balloon (a used Piccard) sight unseen and without ever having been up for a ride. Shortly thereafter Barrow and family relocated back to his home in Billings, Montana so the balloon was shipped there. "And there was this magical package sitting in the garage and I didn't even know how to unpack the thing, and I certainly didn't know the first thing about flying it, but there was this little treat, just sitting there."
Eventually Barrow did learn to fly Ð there were no balloons in Montana at that time and it caused quite a stirÉ "everything from UFO reports to lines of cars following us down the country roads."
Barrow followed the typical route from student to private then commercial pilot in 1976. At that time he also founded the Rocky Mountain Balloonport. One year later, after earning his repairman's certificate, the Balloonport became a certified repair station. Though offering commercial rides, Barrow had always eschewed commercial tethers. Demand was high but he explained to callers that he just didn't do that type of work. Until one day...
"I was sitting at my desk with the premium for my balloon insurance due. I was wondering how I would pay the premium and how I could justify that amount of money for something that basically provided me with just grins and giggles. Then the phone rang. It was the guy from the local mall wanting me to stand the balloon up out front of his store. I explained to him I didn't do that kind of work. Then he said he would pay me $500.
"I had the invoice in one hand and the telephone in the other and suddenly there was a connection made!"
Barrow had begun his ballooning life as a Piccard pilot and dealer. In 1980, thanks to his strong engineering background, he helped Piccard with one of his final certifications. After General Balloon Corporation (Piccard) went out of business, Barrow became a Cameron dealer, selling Camerons to many of the clients he had earlier sold Piccards.
Barrow was also operating a "low volume, but high class" balloon ride business in Montana when he got a call from Buddy Bombard. "So I went to France in 1983 and just had to pinch myself. Here's a five-year old kid at heart, with a passion for ballooning and a love of architecture and this guy wants to pay me to fly balloons over these beautiful French chateaus, some of the most beautiful architecture in the world and the only down side was I had to eat that horribly rich food and drink that wonderful wine."
During this time Barrow's wife Debbie was general manager of the Arizona Balloonport in Phoenix. "I spent summers in France or Switzerland and winters flying in Arizona. It was a wonderful life but the trans-Atlantic commuting was beginning to wear me down."
While working for Bombard, Barrow and another pilot had begun experimenting with alterations to the deflation ports on their fleet of Thunder & Colt 180 balloons. "We just weren't happy with the deflation speed for the type of client we were flying." These alterations caught the attention of one Per Lindstrand and in 1984-85 Barrow moved is family, now including a wife and two children, to Oswestry where he would become Director of Special Projects for Thunder & Colt Balloons, Ltd.
During his tenure at T&C Barrow would serve as Project Director and Launchmaster for the Virgin Atlantic Flyer - first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean. His work with T&C caught the eye of Richard Branson who hired Barrow as the Lighter-Than-air Technical Advisor to Virgin Group, "and I had no idea what that meant," says Barrow, "and neither did Richard Branson."
His first assignment was to accompany Branson on a trip to Amman, Jordan where he wound up teaching King Hussein and Queen Nora how to fly a balloon. "Suddenly it was like deja-vu as we did a series of flights over this beautiful desert and over the capital city of Amman and below me was this ancient, architecture and I was being paid to fly kings and queens."
Barrow would go on to assist in the establishment of a balloon ride operation in Egypt, even helping to write that nation's LTA rules and regulations. "We taught them what we wanted them to know about the rules of ballooning and they wrote their regulations based on that." Barrow holds the first ballooning license issued by the Egyptian government.
Later Branson's attention turned to airships and Barrow was sent to research "anyone building airships to those who had little more than a drawing on a cocktail napkin." The result was Virgin Lightships under a contract to Jim Thiele. Barrow was named Managing Director of Virgin Lightships and moved the family to San Diego.
In 1990 Barrow's father became ill from a longtime battle with diabetes. At the same time plans were to move Virgin Lightships to Florida. Barrow decided to bow out of Virgin at that time and returned to Billings with the idea that he would help take care of his Dad. Unfortunately not long after their return Barrow himself became very ill and was diagnosed with brain cancer. Barrow would undergo surgery and radiation therapy and spent the better part of a year recovering from the cancer.
Just prior to his illness and shortly after his leaving Virgin, Barrow was recruited to assist with the Earthwinds first launch attempt in Akron, Ohio. Despite his illness, Barrow would go on to serve as launch master for the following two launch attempts from Reno, ending with the attempt where the anchor balloon was ripped after striking a mountain top just twenty minutes into the flight.
His association with Earthwinds would lead Barrow to his present position as Senior Engineer at Aerostar. Unfortunately his cancer has returned and he now faces another battle with that nemesis. However, Barrow credits ballooning with sculpting his unique philosophy on life which he feels certain will see him through this new challenge.
"I like the idea of going where the wind takes you. While flying a balloon you have a silent partnership with the wind and in allowing yourself to willingly go downwind feels real natural to me and I've kind of lived my whole life that way. And I look upon that as a benefit because if you are just going downwind Ð if you truly have no destination, you instantly gain three advantages... you can't get lost, you can't be late and you can never go the wrong direction."
Tom Barrow has left an indelible footprint on ballooning and for that the winds have always welcomed him with softness. We pray they continue to do so...
Important Dates:
1974 Ð bought first balloon
1976 Ð earned commercial certificate
1977 Ð earned repairman certificate
1979-83 Ð founded/organized Rocky Mountain Balloon Race, Billings, Montana
1982 Ð Assistant Launchmaster for Anderson/Ida's Jules Verne II
1983 Ð Hired by Buddy Bombard
1984 Ð Joins T&C as Special Project Director
1987 Ð Launchmaster for Virgin Atlantic Flyer
1988 Ð Joins Virgin Group as LTA consultant
1990 Ð Launchmaster for first three Earthwinds attempts
1993 Ð joins Aerostar as Senior Engineer
