Virgin Skyride

On Monday, May 4, 1998, an international team consisting of 40 representatives from France, Germany, England and the United States descended on Birch Run, Michigan to inflate the first of its kind captive balloon in the United States, the Virgin Skyride.

Preparation of the inflation area began at 8:00 a.m. Once ready, the 2000 pound envelope was brought onto the inflation site. With the help of 20 people, the envelope was stretched out over the protective tarp. The net was then distributed over the envelope, and after five hours, the balloon was ready for inflation. Arrival of two helium tube trucks carrying 300,000 cubic feet of helium at four in the afternoon signaled the beginning of the inflation process. With 400-40 pound sand bags attached to the net acting as ballast, the balloon slowly began to take shape, and at 11:00 p.m. the inflation was complete, and the balloon was ready to be attached to the gondola. At this point, 40 people were stationed around the balloon and sandbags were removed until equilibrium was reached. At this point, the balloon was "lifted" by the crew and walked over to the landing platform, and attached to the gondola. By 3:00 a.m., the balloon was secure and an exhausted crew were able to get some needed rest.

"After two years in the making, we are real happy to see the fruits of our labor coming to life," Larry Knight, one of the attraction's owners, told Balloon Life.

"This is absolutely fantastic," said Craig Elliott, another partner.

The project is managed and operated by Virgin Skyrides Michigan, LLP, a partnership between Virgin Aerostations, Inc. and Michigan Balloon Corporation. Michigan Balloon Corporation is an established balloon operations company providing commercial hot air balloon operations and passenger charter flights in the United States. Part of the Virgin leisure, retail and travel Group of Companies, Virgin Aerostations is an established company in the United Kingdom with global sales and operations of tethered ride balloons.

For more information contact Craig Elliott or Larry Knight at 517-624-8055, Fax 517-624-4710,

FAI News

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale has ratified the gas/hot air balloon duration record set by Breitling Orbitor 2 last winter. The Breitling team launched from Château d'Oex, Switzerland on January 28 and landed in Sitkwin Minhla, Myanmar February 7, 1998. Pilot Berated Piccard, Switzerland, and co-pilot Andy Elson, England, set the absolute duration record for Free Balloons, Class A, and sub-class AM (gas/hot air balloons) sizes AM-14 and 15, with a flight time of 233 hours and 55 minutes. The previous absolute and AM class records were held by Steve Fossett at 146 hours and 44 minutes on his around the world attempt in 1997.

In a separate announcement the FAI has received an altitude claim for hot air balloons in size category AX-8. Josef Starkbaum, Austria, made a flight near Taublitz Bei Murau, Austria on July 21 to an altitude of 15,300 meters (50184 feet). Starkbaum set the current record of 13,670 meters in June 1983.

Head Balloons

Head Balloons, Inc., Helen, Georgia, announces the availability of the new Head's Heads Up - M57RF Instruments.

Head's Heads Up Instruments consists of two packages.

The instrument package, which easily mounts to an upright in the basket, consists of an LCD screen with digital readouts for altitude and temperature, as well as an analog readout for the variometer. The temperature indicator is wireless.

The second package is an envelope sensor that mounts in the top of the balloon. It uses a dependable FM radio connection to link the envelope sensor to the instrument in the basket. With tens of thousands of digital codes available, your temperature radio code is as unique as your Head Balloon.

The altimeter, variometer and temperature indicator may be customized by the user to display readings in either metric or American units. There are also other user customized features. The unit has a barograph function to recall details of your most recent flights, as well as the number of total flights and total hours.

Head's Heads Up M57RF mounts directly to your uprights, so that you can easily see them without having to have one of your passengers move out of the way.

The Head's Heads Up M57RF is available as an upgrade to our standard instruments - the M55. It can be viewed on our home page at: http://members.xoom.com/headballoons/

For more information contact Head Balloons, Inc., P.O. Box 28, Helen, GA 30545 or call 706-865-3874 or 800-HEADBALLOONS, email: headballoons@juno.com.

The Balloon Works

The Balloon Works, Statesville, North Carolina, has announced the FireFly Big Click, '98 Kids' Ballooning Photo Contest. The contest is for ages 18 and under who are interested in photographing hot air balloons and related subjects.

The subject matter is simple: Anything about ballooning. All winning photographs will be announced and displayed in The Balloon Works' tent during the Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, October 3-11.

Contest is limited to individuals who are 18 years of age and younger, all entries must be received by The Balloon Works no later than Tuesday, September 15, 1998, entries may be submitted as prints or slides, all entries become the property of The Balloon Works, and will be judged mainly on composition and subject matter.

For more information contact The Balloon Works, 810 Salisbury Road, Statesville, NC 28677 or call 704-878-9501.

Balloon Repair of East Texas

Balloon Repairs of East Texas (BRET) has announced that it is the newest authorized distributor of Eagle Lift Liftgates serving the hot air balloon community. Eagle Lift is the clear choice of professional pilots who want to reduce the stress and strain associated with ballooning operations while rewarding your crew for a job well done. Whether you fly for sport, operate a ride business or travel the country for a commercial sponsor, an Eagle Lift can be fitted to almost any model of truck, van or specialized chase vehicle. Safe, durable and built of only quality materials, Eagle Lifts are already in use with many of the top balloon operators in the country. Centrally located in Northeast Texas (Longview), BRET offers the full line of Eagle Lifts and accessories. Custom installation is also available.

Established in 1994, Balloon Repairs of East Texas is a full-service balloon repair station with three certified repairmen on staff. For more information about Eagle Lifts or any of the other products and services offered by BRET, call (903) 297-0003 or visit their web site at http://www.balloonrepair.com/.

Vanity e-mail

MailBank, Vancouver, British Columbia, is now offering Internet e-mail addresses for pilots and flying enthusiasts. Now you can get an Internet e-mail address that lets everyone know you're a pilot. If you name is Mike, for instance, and you are a balloonist, then Mike@Balloonist.com may be the perfect e-mail address for you. MailBank offers a wide variety of flying-related domain names.

A few of the offerings include: Balloonist.com; Aviator.org; and PrivatePilot.com.

In addition to flight-related domain names, MailBank also offers thousands of family names. If you've always wanted your name to be your e-mail address, now you can. For $4.95 per year and a one-time setup fee of $19.95, MailBank offers this unique service. Internet users can sign up and use their name, or a flying domain, as their e-mail address.

MailBank owns 12,000 domain names allowing them to cover 70 percent of the surnames in North America. This means almost anyone can have a personalized e-mail address that's easy for family, friends, and acquaintances to remember. In addition to the vanity e-mail account, MailBank throws in a free web site and matching URL set to the user's first name and last name plus the Top Level Domain - com, org, or net - resulting in a personal web like Mark.Smith.net The personal web site lets a user display up to five megabytes of their own web pages and graphics. More space can be obtained for a fee if needed.

In addition to family and aviation names, MailBank also offers a wide variety of topical, professional and special interest domain names such as Actresses.com, DogBreeders.com, NewsReporter.com and Paramedics.com. For more information, to check for a specific family name, or to find out if the perfect flight related domain is available, visit MailBank's web site at http://www.mailbank.com/ or e-mail: postmaster@mailbank.com.

Lost Aviation Art Found

The works of John MacGilchrista World War I balloon observer who translated his war-time experiences and love of aviation into a remarkable collection of imagesare a stunning blend of art and history. Recently a trunk full of his long-lost 1920s aviation artworks have been discovered in the basement of a house in Michigan.

The collection includes 33 limited-edition etchings and lithographs that MacGilchrist personally created between 1929 and 1931, during the peak of his artistic career.

His works depicted both the harrowing scenes from his tour of duty on the Western Front and the rapid rise of commercial aviation that followed the war.

When World War I began, MacGilchrist returned to Scotland and enlisted. His skills in math and map-making eventually landed him in the Balloon Section of the British Royal Flying Corps, where he distinguished himself as a balloon observer.

MacGilchrist not only survived his hazardous duties but also kept sketches and encoded notes about his adventures. After the war, he produced a series of images and, in later years, wrote a 500-page narrative of his experiences during the war. He died in 1977 at the age of 84.

For more information on aviation MacGilchrist artwork contact Larry Crittenden at 1-800-788-9274 or e-mail: goldleaf@nc.tds.net.