Balloon Federation of America

The BFA Board of Directors in a conference call December 17 accepted the vote of the membership regarding the future of competition ballooning, and took steps to move forward in accordance with members' stated wishes.

The official results of the vote were: 840 for Option A, 685 for Option B, with 21 ballots spoiled. Out of 3,902 ballots mailed, 1,546 were returned. Ballots will be retained by the BFA until the next annual general membership meeting.

Allen Yost moved to officially dissolve the Competition Division of the BFA. After much discussion, the final wording passed unanimously by the Board was as follows:

"In accordance with the vote of the BFA membership certified on this date, the BFA Board of Directors hereby dissolves the BFA Competition Division effective 12:00 noon Central Standard Time December 31, 1998 and accordingly rescinds its charter, its bylaws and removes from office all Directors, Officials, Representatives and/or Agents and directs the return of all assets including, but not limited too, tangible and intangible, to include all moneys in all accounts real or otherwise, escrow accounts, trust accounts, business accounts or any other accounts, monitory funds, monitory negotiable instruments held by any Representatives and/or Agent of the BFA Competition Division, all records of the BFA Competition Division since 1986, past contracts and present contracts, equipment of any sort, office equipment, computers, supplies and fixtures in the possession of the BFA Competition Division Board of Directors or any member or designated Representative of the BFA Competition Division, be returned to the President of the Balloon Federation of America, or his designated Representative, no later than 14 days beginning on December 17, 1998; whereby the deadline is 12:00 Noon Central Standard Time on December 31, 1998. The BFA Competition Division is prohibited to make any monitory disbursements or sell any assets after 00:01AM Eastern Standard Time December 18, 1998 without the specific approval of the Treasurer of the Balloon Federation of America."

The Board then passed a Resolution of Appreciation for the former Competition Division.

BFA President Charlie Sundquist then appointed Dan Sherrill chairman of the new Competition Committee.

All Regional BFA Directors will recommend up to three members from their division to Dan by December 30, 1998. At Large members will also recommend three members, including Observers. Sherrill will select the first Competition Committee from this list, subject to final approval by the BFA Board no later than January 6. The Committee will be made up of representatives from each region. Ultimately, they will stand for election on a rotating basis. The BFA Treasurer will serve as treasurer of the Competition Committee as a non-voting member.

The BFA is currently in conversation with the Champaign County Balloon National Championships, to finalize the contract for the 1999 U.S. Nationals.

Max Mitchell, Chair of CCNBC board has told Balloon Life that the Rantoul community is very interested in continuing to work with the BFA and host the world class balloon championship.

The Board tentatively adopted a balanced 1999 budget, as amended from the budget sent to Board members December 1. The budget will be revised at the next board meeting, after the new Competition Committee submits its budget to the Board.

The Board voted to hold its next meeting February 5-7, 1999, in Kansas City.

In late December BFA board member Allen Yost submitted his resignation as a Director of the BFA. Allen had recently been reelected to represent the Great Lakes Region of the BFA. Following precedent set last year the President, will board approval, will appoint an interim Director for the region. The members in the Great Lakes Region will vote on a new director during the next regular election to be held this coming summer.

FAA Ticket Program

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to begins its new, administrative ticketing program (see Balloon Life, July 1998, FAA Compliance/Enforcement Program, for more details) in June. The original concept drew vehement protest from nearly every segment of aviation.

Administrator Jane Garvey, in making the announcement December 23, said, "streamlined administrative action process addresses the concerns expressed by aviation interests..."

Various aviation organizations, including the BFA, lobbied the Administrator for changes to the program. While the final details of the "ticketing program" are not yet known, one major change has been made.

Pilots will now have a seven day response period. In the original draft of the program a FAA Inspector could issue a "ticket" on the spot and there was no appeal process.

Lynn Harris, BFA Director who has been in contact with FAA personnel, is currently researching the new FAA ticket program and plans to release additional information as it becomes available.

Aerostar International

Martin Harms has been promoted to Customer Service Manager at Aerostar International. Formally the production supervisor for hot air balloons, Harms brings an impressive resume of ballooning experience to the job.

Martin has extensive experience in all facets of the sport of ballooning. His 22 + years experience includes crewing, flying commercially for a major beer company, flying passenger rides in the Phoenix, Arizona area, working full time in a repair station and for a while, operated his own business specializing in wicker repair.

"The roll of the Customer Service Manager will be expanding." Says Mark West, President of Aerostar. "Not only will Martin be handling all aspects of the customer service position, but also he will be responsible for handling some of the engineering of modifications to systems as necessary," adds West.

Harms will continue his roll as Repair Station Manager, scheduling annual inspections and repair work for Aerostar. "Aerostar has always been a customer service oriented manufacture. We realize the value of keeping our current and future customers satisfied with their systems. They are our past, our present and our future." Comments Harms.

Debbie Barrow, former Customer Service Manager, resigned her position earlier this fall to spend more time at home with her family and to start a new home based culinary business. Gary Healy will be moving into the Hot Air Balloon Production Supervisor position from the position of Engineering Technician.

In a second announcement Aerostar extends warranty of AeroLite Material. We knew that the AeroLite fabric had great potential when it was introduced in 1994. How great, we just didn't know until now," Mark West told Balloon Life. "Extensive field and laboratory tests have shown that the AeroLite fabric, despite its slender weight of 1.3 ounce per yard, has outperformed our wildest expectations."

This had lead us to increase the pro-rated warranty on AeroLite material from 250 hours/ 5 years to 350 hours/ 7 years on all fabric installed in balloons below the upper equator band. AeroLite material installed above the equator band will continue to be warranted on a pro-rated basis to 250 hours/ 7 years.

AeroLite material was originally developed for the middle 1/3 of a balloon to help decrease the weight of the envelope allowing owners to fly cooler or carry more weight. Another advantage to AeroLite material is that it is easy to handle taking allot of the work out of the milking and packing process. The increased warranty is retroactive to all balloons with AeroLite fabric currently installed.

For More Information Contact: Allen Schlenker, National Sales Manager Hot Air Balloons, P.O. Box 5057, Sioux Falls, SD 57110. Phone: 605-331-3500 Fax: 605-331-3520.

Type Certificate For Sale

Galaxy Balloons, Statesville, North Carolina, has announced their intent to sell Type Certificate A18WE. The certificate for sale was originally used to produce all Piccard Balloons and was acquired from Don Piccard by Galaxy Balloons.

Elenor Conn in making the announcement said, "We have been approached recently by several parties who are interested in purchasing the Piccard Balloons Type Certificate. These people either want to manufacture Piccard balloons or parts for the approximately 400 balloons built by Don Piccard Balloons or General Balloon Corp. which leased the TC.

"Galaxy Balloons Inc. purchased two Type Certificates from Don Piccard, A10NM and A18WE. All of the Piccard balloons were built under the authority of the latter. All Galaxy balloons were built under the authority of the former. Galaxy Balloons Inc. did not produce any Piccard balloons nor manufacture any Piccard parts.

"In response to these requests, we have decided to sell Type Certificate A18WE and all engineering drawings that Don Piccard supplied at the time of purchase. Interested parties should respond by e-mail: firefly@abts.net or by calling 704-878-9147. Please ask for Elenor or Sidney Conn.

Tommy Lift

Tommy Gate Company, a division of Woodbine Manufacturing Company and manufacturer of the TommyLift® hydraulic lift gate, has added several new features to its liftgates.

Tommy Gate has changed the type and location of its grease zerks. New threaded arm pin grease zerks with the ball located on the collar, inside the uprights, have been added. These new zerks are stronger and cannot be blown out by grease gun pressure. In addition, this new placement of the zerks protects them and provides a cleaner, smoother appearance of the liftgate.

Also new kicker springs for the pickup and service/utility body liftgates have been added. Previously standard on flatbed and van applications, the new springs help the gate descend more smoothly and consistently.

For more information contact Tommy Gate Company, Bus Brown Dr, Woodbine, IA 51579, phone 800-543-8428, email: info@tommygate.com, Internet: http://www.tommygate.com/

Whopper Down Under

The Buger King "Whopper" Hot Air Balloon made its debut "Down Under" at the world famous Sydney Harbor November 5, 1998. The Whopper Australian Tour was part of a worldwide promotion for Burger King celebrating the opening of the Company's 10,000th store in Penrith, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney.