Recently I went to a meet in Britain without a balloon, but I did have a crew that included a young woman whom I was training to be a pilot. In the UK a trainee pilot can do the majority of their qualifying flying (minimum 16 hours) with any qualified pilot, and only needs to do a minimum of four flights with an instructor. My balloon had not yet returned from an overseas trip. Fortunately a good friend turned up with his balloon and no crew, so we agreed to join forces. My first priority was to get my trainee in the basket. With no particular takers for the remaining basket space, I readily accepted the offer of a flight.
So this left my poor PuT (pilot under training) with two qualified pilots in the basket. It was agreed that my friend would do the inflation, before handing over to the PuT for take-off and the flight. I reckoned that, as it was his balloon, he should be P1 (pilot in command), but we did not discuss this. During the course of the flight he got the PuT to try flying level and judging rates of descent. Then they went through a number of practice approaches. She was a little ground shy, and had yet to get the feel of how the balloon would react to burns of different length.
Different pilots have different training styles. In this case we both tended to set the PuT tasks and then give any input necessary if things start going wrong, or give tips on things to aim for. I will usually let the PuT fly the balloon the whole time, even if things become a little tight. If they do, I will fly the balloon `through them' to get down safely, but they still get the feel for what they should be doinga bit like following through the controls on a powered aircraft. It was difficult for me to stand back entirely, and every now and then I gave additional explanatory comments to those being given by the other pilot. I tried not to counter his comments, or unduly confuse the trainee.
We took off, cleared the village, and then performed a couple of practice approaches. Then the P1, who was doing the navigation, and I had a discussion. We decided that a climb was in order to get away from a nearby military airbase, even though radio contact was made with them and they weren't worried by our presence.
The winds were very light, with a fair bit of terrain-induced steerage at low level. Having cleared the airspace, a couple of approaches were made to a suitable stubble field. By this time we had been flying for over an hour and a half and the final fuel tank was reading, so I decided that we ought not to miss the ideal field which we hadbut I didn't communicate this to the P1. It was agreed that I would handle the ripline during the landing, and the PuT did a good approach towards a landing. Once it was obvious that we would get into the field without any problems, I turned off one of the pilot lights to the double burner (the PuT had forgotten these at an earlier touchdown). Then at a height of about 10-15 feet as we were descending nicely to a touchdown, I flicked off the other pilot light, partly so that the PuT couldn't put in another burn that wasn't needed, and also to show that it wasn't needed. The PuT was a little taken aback by the silence, but we had a gentle touchdown with just the slightest bounce.
After the flight the other pilot asked who was to log P1. Legally there can only be one P1but I reckon that he was in command as he was instructing for the flight, though I could claim second in command as I had some input to the operation of the flight. Having accepted that he was P1, I should, on reflection, have informed him of what I was going to do during the final approach.
I have also been doing some flying recently with another qualified pilot who has, for health reasons, done little flying in the last couple of years. With these flights, we tend to discuss the options available for landings and I navigate, while she flies. On a day with very little wind we also discussed the plan for trying to find some movement to get us to an area suitable for landing. We have found that two heads may often be better than one, though it is still important to know at any given moment, who is P1.
When I was a trainee, on one of my training flights I discussed a possible landing field with my P1, but he rejected it as there were some riding stables nearby. The next thing I knew he was pulling the ripline in order that we could descend into the field! He must have had a change of mind! Fortunately, having just discussed the possibility I quickly realized what was going on, but there had been a distinct breakdown in communication!
I once attended a talk by an aviation psychologist. Of the accident tales he related there were a number where the second officer recognized that something was going wrong but either assumed that the captain would also have seen it, or the second officer was `in awe' of the senior pilot and didn't like to point things out. Amazingly they would actually let the Captain fly the aircraft into the ground without saying anything.
From our ballooning viewpoint, it is far better to have powerlines or other hazards pointed out by another pilot, even if we are already aware of them, rather than learn about them the hard way. So don't be put off, even if you're lucky enough to get a flight with one of your `ballooning heroes.'
In short, if you are going to fly with another balloon pilot, unless you're just going along to sightsee, you ought to agree beforehand who will be P1. If this is to change during the course of the flight, you should verbally hand over control. You should also advise each other of your intentions, as you may not be working to the same end: for example, he may have spotted an obstacle in what you think is a perfect landing field. It all boils down to having good communication between you at all times.