February 2000
likeAlbuquerque withgrass. That’s
what Charlie Sundquist, Balloon Federa-
tion of America president, calls flyingin
Boise. “Boise is as gooda place to flyin
thiscountryas any where,” he said. “We
havethesamecondition sasAlbuquer-
que,but youdon’thavethedirtandthe
dust.”
Pilots can usually rely on box winds
toprovidesteerageeachmorning.An d
Boiseismoreshelteredthanthehig h
desert of New Mexico, so gentle landings
are the norm. “Ihaven’t done a high-win d
landing inBoise in20 years,” saidScott
Spencer, one of Boise’s first balloonists.
Pilotssaythereare30to40active
balloonists in Idaho, and almost all are in
the Boise area. On a nice weekend morn-
ing,it’scommontoseenearlya do zen
balloons inthe sky.
“Forthosewhoflyinthemidwest
and east, they wouldnot beginto under-
standthelightandvariablewindswe
havehere,” saidCurtPengelly,another
ballooning pioneer from Boise. “We can
flyinanycompassdirectionyouwould
like to.”
SpencercallsBoisetheballo onin g
cap italofthenorthwest.“Theflyingis
outstanding,”hesaid.“Welauncho n
grass and we land on grass and we always
havetheabilitytomoveataltitudebut
alwayshavetheabilityforanice,soft
landing.”
Buthe attributestheeaseofflying
therenotjusttotheterrain,bu ttothe
people of Boise, in cluding the residents,
mayor and friendly FAA personnel. “We
have a great relationship with the FAA,”
Spencer said.Balloonsroutinelyareal-
lowedto flywithin the 5-mile bou ndary
of ClassCAirspace.“Thefirstoneoff
talks tothem,” Spencer said.
Spencer’scompanyhascontracts
18 corporate balloons, hawkingev-
erything from a casino, soft drinks, juice,
cereal, and chips. Computer chips, that is,
not potato.
The statemadefamousbyitspota-
toes has no spud-shapedballoon and po-
tatoesdon’t have muchincommonwith
ballooning there. Most ofthe potatoes are
growninth eeasternpartofthestate,
where balloonsseldom fly.
ButafamousaviatrixfromIdah o
was perhap s the first female balloonist in
thenorthwest.GladysBuroker, an avia-
tionlegend , learnedtofly an open cock-
pit biplane in 1932. Herballo oning career
began in the late 1960s in Coeur d’Alen e.
“You had to know what the wind was
goingtodo,”she said. “The fieldI flew
fromwasclose toalake.I learnedreal
quickthatifIflewov erthelake,the
coolerairwouldtakemerightbackto
where I started. A lot of people thought I
wasprettygood.”
Buroker, now85, recalls the reactio n
from the people who saw her fly. “Every-
body was reallyfascinated,” she said. “I
flewforseveraly ears,butitgottobe
where it was hardtoget a grou nd crew.”
Pengellybeganflyingballoonsin
Boise in 1972, and said ballo ons are more
popular than ev er, there. “Boise is grow-
ing all the time forpilots,”he said.“You’re
probablyapproaching40p ilotsinthe
city.”
Pilots used toliketaking off from a
fairgrounds on the west side of town, but
hundreds ofnew homes have beenbuilt
inwhatwasprimelandingarea.More
than350,000peopleliveintheBoise
area.
“It used to be farms, but it’s becom-
ingmore builtupallthe time,” hesaid.
“Therearealotoffive-and10-acre
ranchettesandeverybodyownseither
Nearly all flights around Boise are in
the morning. Hot summers usually brin g
stiffwindsuntilaftersunset.Evenin g
flights are possible in the winter, but most
Idaho pilots don’t fly much afterOctober.
February and March are typically windy.
Despite allthe activity inBoise,no
local balloon clubs exist in the state. “Just
abouteverybodythatfliesinBoisebe-
longs to the No rthwest Ballooning Asso-
ciation,” based in Oregon, Sundquist said.
The club holds periodic meetings and an
annualsemin arinBoise.There’sbeen
talk of starting a local club, but really n o
reason for it,pilotssay.
“We are a self-policinggroupof in-
dividuals,” Pen gellysaid. “If somebod y
is creating problems, we talk to them an d
take careof it. But wereally don ’thave
anyred zonesin this partof theworld.”
Sundquist,thestate’sonlydesig-
natedexaminer for balloons, testsabout
seven to 10 students a year, but says man y
ofthemarefromoutsideIdaho.“The
number of pilots has been in creasing, I’d
say, but it’s gone up and down,” he said.
“Right now it’sat an all time high.”
Someballoonistshavemovedto
Boisebecauseofitsbo omingeconomy
and great flying, he said. “But all of those
wideopenfieldsweenjoyedarenow
growinghouses,” he said.
Numerouscommercialpilotsoffer
balloon rides from $125 to $150 per per-
son,butnofull-timeoperatorsexistin
Boise, Spencer said.
Greg Szymanski, alsoof Boise, op-
eratestheonlyballoonrep air stationin
thestate.The balloonshe inspects h ave
an average of 50 hours a year on them but
apersistentpilotcouldget100to150
flights ayear.Not bad, considering nearly
all Idaho flights are in the morning. Most
February2000
from overuse, notdamage from flight, he
said. “It’s a beautiful state,” Szymanski
said. “As far as flying, it’s wonderful.”
Ballooning canbe just as great in
other parts of Idaho, but virtuallyimpos-
sibleinother places. Twice as large asthe
sixNewEnglandstatescombined, nearly
half of the state is forested, mostly with
pines. Some 2.5 million acres in central
Idahoarewilderness,with fewroads,
making it oneofthelargest primitive
areas in the lower 48 states.
Mostof Idaho’s1.3millionresidents
livealong the Snake River Valley, which
sags across the southern partof the state.
“Anywhere in the Snake River V alley is
good because it’s all agricultural,” said
balloonist Tom Gough.
If there’s any active balloonists fly-
ing in Idaho’s panhandle, they’re keep-
ingitquiet, although Coeur d’Alene used
to be home to Mark Semich, who built
Semco balloons there from 1968to 1973.
EveryFourthofJulyweekend,a
couple dozen balloons fly inDriggs, near
the Wyoming border, not far from Grand
Teton National Park and Yellowstone.
“It’s agreatfamilyvacation,” Gough
said. “You can be in Yellowstone in two
hours. The fishing is unbelievable.”
InAugust,about20pilotsflyin
Salmon, a town with about 5,000 people
at the junction of the Salmon and Lemhi
RiverV alleys. Pilotsand crew areinvited
to a half-day white water rafting expedi-
tion. The town is home to nearly two-
dozen rafting companies.
But the largest balloon festivalin
Idaho is in June, in, of course, Boise.
The balloons are one of the five sig-
nature eventsof the Boise River Festival,
the city’s largest annual event. Spencer,
who organizes the balloon portion, said
263 pilots are on a waiting list to attend.
“They comehereto haveagood
time,” Spencer said. “We don’t ask them
todo anything. When our pilotscome in,
they don’t have to worry about anything.
We take pride in a great deal of personal
service here.”
Sundquistagrees. “The hospitalityis
awfully good,” he said. “It’s first-rate.”
One arrivingpilot was asked if there
was anything he needed from the com-
mittee.He jokinglyrepliedhistruckcould
use an oil change. “We changed the oil in
his truck. We try to take care of every-
In it’s 10th year, the event typically
featured 60balloons,butSpencerex-
pects it to grow to about 100 eventually.
Flightsarescheduledeachmorning, from
Tuesday throughSunday,with a glow
Saturdayevening.Lastyear,140,000
people attended the glow, Spencer said.
The only competition of the event is
the longest distance in two hours for the
first flight. Cash prize is $1,000 and a
pewter trophy.
Crewgamesare alsoscheduled.“You
can have a crew of up to eight,” Spencer
said.“The balloon is connected to the
basket, and the pilot and crew are 50 feet
away.Theygo pullit out ofthe bag,
inflate it, hot inflate it, deflate it and put
it back into the bag.”
He says the fastest time was 2 min-
utes and 48 seconds on an AX-8. Many
old envelopes are used, and the quickest
None
Boise River Festival, last full week in June, 80 balloonsfly six morningflights,
from Tuesday through Su nday, glow Saturday evening. On e competitive distance
flight for a $1,000 prize, crew competition, black tie dinner. In vitational. Contact:
ScottSpencer, 111Broad wayAve. Suite 133, Boise,ID 83702.208-375-0512.
www.boiseriverfestival.org
Teton Valley Balloonfest, in Driggs, Fourth of July Weekend, 25 balloons, three
morning fun fligh ts. Contact: Tom Gough, 963 Elk River Way, Eagle, ID 8 3616.
208-939-8825. www.tetonvalleychamber.com
The Great Salmon Valley Balloonfest, inSalmo n, secon d weekend inAugust,
20balloonsininformal competitionatthree scheduledmorningflights,Friday
through Sunday, plus a Friday evening glow. Held in conjunction with the Lemhi
Cattleman’sAssociationBarbecue.Contact:TomGough,963ElkRiverWay,
Eagle, ID 83616. 208-939-8825. www.salmonbyway.com
are those where the burners are lit
as the fansare turned on. A $500prize is
paid to the crew and pilot, so that perhaps
paysfor some of the burnholes.
“Wegeta huge crowd towatchit,”
Spencer said. “It’squitea treat, plus the
crew really feel special.”
Anotheruniqueballooningevent
occurredinBoiseas1999changedto
2000.With45minutesleftin1 999, 60
balloons inflatedandglowedon Boise’s
CapitolBoulevard. Withoneminute re-
maining in the 1900s, one balloon glowed
for eachsecond until midnight. Viewers
of ABC, CNN an d other networkswere
able to catcha glimpse of the event, an d
Spencer hasreceivedcallsfrom around
the world wanting more information about it.
“That was the most live expo sure to
ballooning in history,”Spencer said. “We
really gave the sport of ballooning a posi-
tive exposure, but we’ll never do it again.”
Boise
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