Balloon Life,
March 2000
backtothehomebase.Thedamageto
growing crops iseasyto imagine.
“The operatordidn’t appearto under-
stand,”saysFerguson,“he hadgone up
and come down. He seemed to think it was
no great deal.” It was a big deal however,
such a big deal that it resulted in Ferguson
takingcourtactionagainsttheballoon
operator. Ferguson is at pains to point out
that the balloonistofferedcompensation
but, as that offer was ‘a free balloon flight,’
Ferguson felt that inthe circumstances it
wasinappropriate.Thefarmerwonthe
lawsuit,butthedecisionhasbeenap-
pealed and is likely drag through the courts
for some considerable time.
EnterDonnaLunn. Sheis adairyfarmer
and a neighbor of Ferguson’s. She is also a
Director of the Ontario Federation of Agri-
culture.Herentryintothedisputebegan
wh ens heaccid entall ym etBarry
McGonigle. Appropriatelythey met in the
air. Not in a balloon however, they were on
thesame airlineflight. Striking up a conver-
sation they got on to the subject of balloons
causingdamagetofarmoperations.The
two agreedthere hadto be a better way of
co-existing than that which was prevailing.
Theyagreedtostrikea committee,Lunn
presiding,tolookintotheproblemsthat
balloonscause farmers, andthe problems
farmers cause balloonists.
Balloonflyingisa highly regulated
affair, Balloons have to obey the Aviation
Act, that means filing aflight plan and that
the pilots have to be licensed. McGonigle
pointsoutthatthereareonly52active
balloon licenses inCanada,but the sport
is increasing in popularity. Ballooning is,
of course, very dependent on the weather.
Hotairintheballoonwillcontrolthe
elevationofthecraft.Forsteeringone
mustuse the available winds at different
attitudes.Seldomdoballoonsflyback
home, soaballoonflight willendaway
fromthetake-offpointandwillrequire
the services of a pick-upcrew.
“Notmanyofourmembersare af-
fected by balloons,” says Lunn, “but those
that are, are affected a lot.” The problem
iscompoundedintheareabecausethe
city of London is a hotbedof ballooning.
Anannualballoonfestivalmayseeas
many as 50take offs ina single day. All
those take offs have to end with a landing.
Astheprevailingwindsgenerallypush
theballoons southandeast,many of the
landings occurin the area where Ferguson
Coming Down
to Earth
The winds have welcomed you with softness
The sun has held you its warm hands
Youhave flown so high and so well that God
has joined you in your laughter
and set you gently back into the loving arms of
Mother Earth.
-traditional balloonist’s prayer
BalloonLife,March2000
and Lunn farm and the law of averages
saysthat some of these landingswillbe on
private farm property.
In fact the landing which so annoyed
Fergusonwas thethirdinthree years. “This
was the first one I actually caught. Nor-
mally they land and run before the land
owner can arrive onthe scene, thenthere is
no way of assigningresponsibility.”
In the Hollywood movie version of
Eighty Days Around the World,Phileas
Fogg uses a balloon in one segment of his
quest. The basket was small, just room for
FoggandhiscompanionPasse-partout.
Times have changed. Now some balloons
cancarry24passengers. A balloonmay
be as high as a seven storybuilding. The
basket as big as a pick up truck box. When
something that big comesdown it makes
an impact.
Thereareattendantproblems.Bal-
loons attract onlookers, a landing balloon
will draw people “as a fire truck attracts a
dog,”saysLunn.Thoseonlookers,un-
aware,or more likelyuncaring, they are
trespassing can add to the damage. “On a
clearedhayfield, or wheat stubble, there
is little problem, with a standing crop it is
a different matter, argues Lunn.
“Our pilots never landina standing
crop,” says McGonigle. Lunn is less cer-
tainbutismorecharitable,“Although
pilots are supposed to be trained to recog-
nizecrops,youcan’talwaystellfrom
abovewhatisgrowing,orindeedwhat
that particular farmer is doing. Maybe the
farmer is conducting a chemical test, or a
field may have just been sprayed, should
balloons be landing there? should the pas-
sengers be walking across newly sprayed
land ? Things like that can never be seen
fromthe air.”
Concernssuchasthese,andthefact
thatfarmerswhosepropertyislandedon
becomeliableforanyinjurywhichmay
occur to the balloonist and the passengers,
prompted the Federation to attempt to find
a resolution.Lunnherself wasnotjusta
disinterested participant: “we had aballoon
landon one of our fields, it was a cut hay
field, sothatwasfine. Theyhadn’t asked
permission, but the pick upcrew drove in
askediftheycouldgettheballoon.We
agreed. They didn’t damage anything and it
was quite exciting, I went out to see it, but
thenas the passengers were walking back
through our yard, I got to wondering about
liability. If someone fell over a hay rake or
got kicked by an animalwho’s responsible?
Ourinsurancecompanysaiditwasour
responsibilityandwewouldneedextra
liabilitycoverage.”
The groupwhichsat down totackle
thisproblemstartedwiththeAviation
Act. Balloons andtheir pilots mustoper-
ate under the terms of that act. It requires
that balloonistsmustaskpermissionbe-
fore landing—not always easy to do. The
onlyexception to that is inthe case of an
emergency.Soifballoonistsarenotal-
lowedtolandwithoutpermissionthat
seemed a good place for the committee to
begin. They compiled a list of those farm-
erswho did notwant balloonstolandon
their property. A map was then produced
whichindicatedwhatwerecalled‘red
zones.’ “A red zone means NO landing,”
says Lunn. A suggestion that the granting
ofapilotslicensebedependentonthe
individual demonstrating an ability to rec-
ognizedifferentcropsfromtheairwas
considered unworkable. To deter general
sightseers, farmers were urged to post ‘no
trespassing’ signs.
The committee also heard from Emu
breeders. Thebirds were being frightened
by passing balloons flying low. The noise
sent the skittery birds into a frenzy. Emus
are not unique in this, dairy farmers have
voiced similar concerns. To solve this the
committee agreedthat noballoonwould
flyatless than500feetelevation.“That
maybeadifficultjudgement,”agrees
Lunn, “so wesuggest that any farmerwho
hasconcernsabouttheelevationofa
passingballoon,useavideocamerato
recordtheincidentandincludeinthe
picturesomeidentifiableobjectagainst
which the height of the craft can be mea-
sured.Farmerswereadvisedthateach
balloon must carry an identifying license
numberprominently displayed. That num-
ber means a balloon giving rise to a com-
plaint can be readily identified. Problems
will arise, but the balloonists have agreed
tocarryinsurance whichcompensatesa
property owner for any damage caused. If
the two sides cannot agree on the amount
of damagethe committeewillactasan
arbitrator.
DonnaLunnandBarryMcGonigle
bothagreethat,inthisthefirstyearof
operating under an agreement, the results
havebeenexcellent.TheAgricultural
Federation and the balloon operators came
together in a spirit of cooperation, looking
forsolutionsratherthanconfrontation.
Both sides are encouraged by the results.
As urban residents look to spend more
time on outdooractivities, adventuresports
are increasing in popularity. Farmers have
hadtodealwithAllTerrainVehicles,
snowmobilesandmountainbikers,the
balloonists are the just the latest invaders
of agricultural privacy. Fortunately these
new invadersareaskeentopursue their
business without problems as the farmers
are, sothere is hope for peaceful coexist-
ence.
Attheendof2000thetwoparties
will write a detailed report of their proto-
col, which will then be made available to
Canada’sagriculturalorganizationsas
well as toall commercial balloonopera-
tors. The Torontoyellow pagesnow list
morethanadozencompaniesoffering
balloonflights,sothe problemsarenot
goingtodisappear, in fact they are likely
toincrease.
Althoughthemembersofthecom-
mittee are pleased with their progress, the
problems have not all disappeared. Alex
Ferguson,hasacautionarytale.“Ifol-
lowedtheCommitteerecommendation
and produceda map showing my farm as
a ‘red zone’ I delivered those maps to the
operatorsandtotheorganizersofthe
London balloon festival, so you can imag-
ine my surprise when lastAugust I came
acrossaballoonistinoneofmyfields.
When I told him that hehad landed in a red
zone,he arguedandproducedthe mapI
hadd rawnu p.Imu sts tress,”s ay s
Ferguson, “he was not a localballoonist,
hecamefromToronto.Thatprobably
explains his inability toread a map.”
According to McGonigle, “there will
alwaysbetheoddpersonwhodoesn’t
understand the rules or just ignores them,
butgenerallyweaspilotsaretryingto
avoidproblems.Ithinkwearemaking
progress,mostlocalfarmershavenot
designated themselves as ‘red zones’ and
the complaintsare fewer andfewer.”
Editor’s note: Laws vary by jurisdic-
tion on landowner’s liability when people
trespass. In many cases States have pro-
tected landowner’s from liability. Check
the laws for your area regarding this. It
may alleviate one of the landowner’s big-
gest reservations for allowing use of their
property.
