May 2000
Nationals Pole Grab
AerostarInternational,SiouxFalls,
SouthDakota, will besponsoringa pole
grabonAugust12,2000in conjunction
withthe BalloonFederationof America,
ChampaignCountyBalloonChampion-
ships and the U.S. National HotAir Bal-
loonChampionships.Theprizewillbe
$5,000cash.
The $5,000 prize will be placed in an
envelope atop one of three poles that will
be positionedon the target field. Adding
anelementofluckandchallenge tothe
flight,pilotswillonlybe abletoinspect
the location of the poles prior to the event
andwillnotbetoldwhichofthethree
poleswillactuallyhavetheprize.The
othertwopoleswillhaveconsolation
prizes.
“Aerostar isproudof our affiliation
with the BFA and hopes that all pilots and
their crews will be excited, motivated and
rewardedbytheirparticipationinthis
event.” AllenSchlenker,NationalSales
Manager for hot air Balloonsat Aerostar
toldBalloon Life.
Earlierthis year, Aerostarannounced
abonus program for pilots flying Aerostar
balloonsduringthe nationals.Anypilot
crownedthe BFA National
Champion flying acomplete Aerostar
system,willwinabrandnewAerostar
balloon valued at more than$21,000.
For more information contact: Allen
Schlenker,NationalSalesManagerHot
Air Balloons, Aerostar International, PO
Box 5057, Sioux Falls, SD 57117, Phone:
605-331-3500,Fax:605-331-3520,e-
mail:allen@aerostar.com
TheFederal Aviation Administration
hasreleasedadraftpolicyallowingthe
Internettobeusedfordisseminationof
aviationweatherandnoticestoairmen
(NOTAMs).
Aircraft Owners and PilotsAssocia-
tionhasencouragedtheFAAtorelease
release, AOPA stated that it sees this as an
important step in efficient and inexpen-
sive information dissemination. The draft
represents a fundamental policy shift at
the FAA, which had previously been very
resistant to using the Internet, citing secu-
rity and liability concerns. This is espe-
cially exciting because of the potential to
widely disseminate NOTAMs that cur-
rently are distributed only locally (L-
NOTAMs), and many other possible ap-
plications as well.
The FédérationAéronautique Inter-
nationale,Lausanne, Switzerland, has rati-
fiedthegasairship(BA-4toBA-10)
world speed record attempt of James Dex-
ter andMichaelKendrickofthe United
Kingdom. Thedual flewtheirBlimp Corp.
A6 0+atHalfpenn yGreenAirfield,
Staffordshire, UK, on January 19, 2000 at
a speed of 92.8 km/h. The old record was
held by Paul Woessner, USA,at 77.5 km/h.
In a separate announcement, the FAI
saidthatin1999theorganizationwas
involved in producingsixtelevision pro-
gramshighlighting World and European
Championships inair sports.
The World Hot AirBalloon Champi-
onship,heldinBadWaltersdorff,Aus-
tria,was among thevenues featured. Other
airsports included paragliding,hang glid-
ing, gliding, aerobatics, and parachuting.
Thehighlightsofthesechampionships
weredistributed worldwide. In theUnited
Statestheprogrammingwascarriedon
th eOut d oo rLifeCh ann elan d
Speedvision.
Surveys conductedfor the FAI indi-
cated that almost three million viewers in
the14to39yearagegroupsawthese
programs. The FAI has increased to eight
the number of air sportsprograms it will
produce in 2000. The FAI’s objective is to
promote air sportsby creating areal TV
audience which they hope will climaxin
June2001,whenthesecondWorldAir
FormoreinformationontheFAI
visit their web site at: www.fai.org.
Tom Barrow: On April 20 Tom Bar-
rowpassedawayinSiouxFalls,South
Dakota after a long illness. Tom had been
workingfor Aerostar International as an
engineer. He was featured inBalloon Life
Balloonmeister column September,1997.
Barrowbecame interestedinballooning
intheearly1970s.Hewasinvolvedin
manylong-distanceflightattemptsin-
cludingMaxie AndersonandDonIda’s
Jules Verne II.
JohnWallis:Inmid-MarchJohn
Wallis passed away in Kula, Hawaii after
a long illness. Johnhadbeena avidbal-
loonistinthenorthwest,teachingmany
peoplethroughouttheregiontofly.He
operated a balloon repair facility inCali-
forniaandwasanAerostardistributor
before going to work for Thunder & Colt
US.
