BalloonLife,April 1999

6

PREFLIGHT

Continued on page 8

Junior Balloon Academy
Scott Spencer of the Boise RiverFes-
tivalandTinaReeves,BalloonFedera-
tion of America Jr. Balloonist Chairman,
announced thatsome Jr. Balloonists will
gettheopportunitytoearnatriptothe
Boise Jr. BalloonAcademyJune24-28.
The Academy will be held in conjunction
with the award winning Boise River Fes-
tival.
Jr. Balloonists willbe able to earn a
sponsored trip to the Academy by answer-
ingthefollowingessayquestionin300
words or less:
“Whatimpacthasballooningmade
on your life and how will you pass it on to
otherstogettheminvolvedinballoon-
ing?”
TinaReevestoldBalloon Life that
theobjective oftheAcademyforJunior
Balloonists is to promote the importance
of education, safety, obtaininggoals and
achieving thevalueof an alcohol and drug
freelifestylewhilekeepingtheyoung-
sters interestedin obtaininghigher goals
inlife. “We want our children to go on to
be safe crew members, pilots or whatever
their goals in general aviation turnout to
be.”
The Academyispart of the Balloon
FederationofAmerica’sJr.Balloonist
program for kids age 7 to17. To signup
andbecomeaJr.Balloonistandhave
themen tert hecon tes tmailtheJr.
Balloonist’s name, address,and agealong
with$10,payabletoBFA,toBFAJr.
BalloonistProgram,POBox400,Indi-
anola,IA 50125.EachJr.Balloonistre-
ceives a crew logbook, BFA pin, Jr. Bal-
loonist membership card and a subscrip-
tiontoThe Jr. Flyer.
Thenthe Jr.Balloonist needstoput
their thinking cap on and write their essay
andmailittoTina Reeves,7600Wells
Fargo TrailNW,Albuquerque, NM 87120.
Entriesmustbe postmarkedbyMay10,
1999.
Lighter ThanAir America andBal-
loon Lifeare sponsorsof thisAcademy.
For more information contact Tina at the
add ressab ov eo re-mai lh erat :
skyangel@nmol.com.

Minimum Altitude Petition
OnMarch 4the BalloonFederation
ofAmericafiledapetitionedwiththe
Federal Aviation Administration to lower
theminimumsafealtitudesforballoons
as specifiedin 14CFR 91.119.
Lynn Harris, Government Relations
LiaisonfortheBFA,toldBalloon Life
that the petition requests a new paragraph
be addedto paragraph91.119:
(e) Balloons. Balloons maybe oper-
ated at less than the minimums prescribed
inparagraph (b) and (c) of thissection if
the operation is conducted without hazard
topersonsor property onthe surface.
During the 105th Congress, 1st Ses-
sion, 1997, Senator Pete Domenici, (NM)
attached a bill to theDepartment of Trans-
portation Appropriations Bill which reads:
Regulations on theoperation oflighter
thanair vehicles.“Theconfereesrecog-
nize theincreasingpopularityof hotair
ballooningasaspectatorandaviation
sport.Currently,hotairballoons,also
known as lighter than air (LTA) vehicles,
are restricted by14 CFR 91.119, the fed-
eral aviation regulation on minimum safe
altitude requirement which normallyap-
plies to fixed wingaircraft. Understand-
ingthe vast difference between LTA and
fixedwingaircraft,theconfereesques-
tionthefeasibilityof requiringpilotsof
hot air balloonstocomplywith14CFR
91.119. The FAA currently exempts heli-
coptersfromthisprovision, andusually
waivesthis regulation for hot air balloon
rallies. The conferees encourage the FAA
toexaminethissafetyconcernforbal-
loonist and reportback to the House and
Senate Committees on Appropriations on
thefeasibilityof exemptinghotairbal-
loonsfromthisprovision.”
Harris toldBalloon Lifethat the peti-
tionwillhaveanapproximate120day
comment period. If you support this peti-
tion to add thenewparagraph (e)to 91.119
please write your comments to:
Office of Chief Council
Asst. Chief Council, Donald Byrnes
Rules & Regulations Division (AGC
200) Docket# 29480
800 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington DC 20591
It is important that you put the Docket
#29480 on your correspondence.
Ifyoudonotsupportthispetition,
youhavethesameopportunitytocom-
ment to the same address using the same
Docket #.
Correspondencecan bein singlecopy.
In the past the FAArequired comments to
be intriplicate.
This is the secondtime thatthe Bal-
loon Federation of Americahas petitioned
the FAA to lower the minimum safe alti-
tudes for ballooning. The original petition
was submitted in 1986. In 1991 the FAA
deniedthepetitionwithalengthycom-
ment. The FAA’s denial can be found on-
line at theBalloon Life home page: http:/
/balloonlife.com/webarch/petition.htm.

BFA Lawsuit
In this space last monthBalloon Life
reportedthattheBalloonFederationof
America had filed suit against Paul Smith
ofAlbuquerque,NewMexicoseeking
returnsoffundsheheldintrustfor the
former competitiondivision.Inaddition
toseekingreturnofthefundsthesuit
accused Mr. Smith of “breach of fiduciary
duty.” The BFA later amended the suit to
dropthe breach of dutycharge.
David Lowe, former chair of the dis-
banded competition division, on behalf of
the former division board,issued a state-
mentonMarch26statinginpart,“The
CD deeplyregrets that the BFA has seen
fittosuePaulSmith.Theintentwas
certainly nottojeopardize Paul Smithin
anywaynor place himin anadversarial
positionwiththeBFApersonally.We
believed then and continue to believenow
that our actions inthisregardwere noth-
ingmore thanasking for our rights under
theBFAbylawsandwefeltwewere
seeking some level of personal protection
from a biased and uninformed BFABoard.
“Allof the above isunpleasanthis-
tory. The members of the 1997-1998CD
Boardhave better thingsto dothancon-
tinuethissilliness.Therefore,asof this
date,PaulSmithhasbeeninstructedto

BalloonLife,April1999

8

releasethemoneyin hisClient Trust
Account to the BFA.”
The almost $20,000 held in the ac-
count have been returned to the BFAand
the lawsuit has been withdrawn.

In The Air
Inthe Air Corporation, Indiana based
mailordercatalog thatoffersa widerange
of products and services for lighter-than-
air aviation enthusiasts, have introduced
their new on-line store, a place to browse
through and buy over 300 gift items and
accessories related to the oldest form of
aviation.
Hot air balloons, gas balloons, and
other graceful flyers from kites toZeppe-
linsare the theme of thisdelightfulselec-
tionof products. Aviation buffs can shop
from the comfort of their own computer,
withsecureon-lineorderingandfastship-
ping right to their door.
“Now, our productsare instantlyac-
cessibletoanyone, anywhere intheworld,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are
excited about being able toshowcase new
products as soon as they become avail-
able, and we hope customers enjoy our
convenienton-lineorderingsystem
through our secure servers and new, im-
proved database,”Tamara Hoffbauer told
Balloon Life.
The on-line store will offer a com-
pletelineofproduct, with new items added
on a regular basis. In additionto the stan-
dard product line, customers willbe able
to choose from many limited edition and
newly developed items that are not avail-
able through the annual print catalog.
In additiontoballoonrelated gifts,In
the Air offers custom made apparel for
balloon events or balloon teams, special
fundraisingpackagesforschools,
churches, non-profit groups and aviation
clubs, quality affordable pilot study aids
and equipment, and wholesale pricing for
corporate events, balloon rallies, and in-
ternational customers.
To requesta full color catalog callIn
the Air at 1-800-444-1629 or visit them
on theInternet at http://www.intheair-
online.com/.

KAIBF
The 1999 Kodak Albuquerque Inter-
nationalBalloonFiestahasselectedRain-
bow Ryders,Inc. hot air balloon com-
pany, Albuquerque, New Mexico as the

Official BalloonRide Concessionduring
this year’s event.
RainbowRyders,Inc., ownedbyScott
and Liz Appleman has been doing flights
for 16years. Other thanballoon rides,
yearround,RainbowRyders,Inc.has
severalcorporateballoonsincluding
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Isleta Gaming
Place, New Mexico Sportsand Wellness,
General Millsand Gateway Computers.
For more information contact Rain-
bowRydersat505-293-0000or by email:
morehotair@rainbowryders.com.

StratoSail
Global AerospaceCorporation an-
nounced it has been awarded a $68,000
NASAcontracttodevelopitsStratoSail™
balloontrajectorycontrolsystemcon-
cept. The focus is to develop a prelimi-
nary designof the StratoSail™trajectory
control systemwhich could beused to
maintain control of trajectories of future
missionsof NASA’s Ultra LongDuration
BalloonProject. Witha flightdurationof
about 100 days, these stratospheric bal-
loons are planned to circumnavigate the
globe several times at an altitude of more
than 35 kilometers (115,000 feet).
AStratoSail™trajectorycontrolsys-
tem has the potential of improving sci-
ence return, reducing launch and landing
operationsuncertainty,increasingthe
probabilityof payloadrecover and avoid-
ing undesirable geopolitical over flights.
Otherpossibleapplicationsincludeavoid-
ing uncooperative countries and danger-
ousweather systemson around-the-world
balloonflightattempts, flyingtwoormore
balloons in formation and making mea-
surementsbelowthe balloon onEarthand
planetary missions.
The innovation proposed by Global
Aerospace Corporation is to exploit the
difference in wind directions and veloci-
tieswith altitude inorder topassivelyand
continuouslygeneratelateralcontrol
forceson aballoon usingatether-de-
ployed aerodynamic surface, a wing or
sail, located well below the balloon. The
wing generates a lift forcethat can be
controlled to nudge the balloonsystem in
thedesireddirection. In thecase ofULDB
missions, the StratoSail™trajectory con-
trol device is located 10 to 15 kilometers
belowthe balloonatan altitudeof 20to 25
kilometers. Because theballoon is sur-
roundedbyairthatmaybetentimes

thinner than the air atthe wing’s altitude,
the wing can bemuch smaller than the
balloon.
Formore informationcontactGlobal
Aerospace Corporation at 626-303-9500
orthroughthecompany’s website at
http: www.gaerospace.com/.

NAA News
TheNational AeronauticAssocia-
tion announced its annual list of“The
Most MemorableRecordFlights,” se-
lected from more than 125aviationworld
records set by Americans.
“Humans have an innate desire to be
the best,” saidArtGreenfield,NAA’s
Director of Contest and Records.“No-
where is this more evident than in avia-
tion,andspecificallyinthesetenrecords.”
NAA’s selection for the “Top Ten”
recordflightsin1998includesSteve
Fossett’s14,235mile voyage lastAugust.
Fossettdeparted Mendoza, Argentina, on
August 7, and flew his Roziere balloon
Solo Spiriteastboundacross theSouthern
Hemisphere. His flight earned him a dis-
tance record before being brought down
by athunderstormoff the east coast of
Australia on August 16.
The National Aeronautique Associa-
tioncanbe contacted at 1815N FortMyer
Dr., Suite #700, Arlington, VA 22209,
phone 703-527-0226, or on the Internetat
http://www.naa-usa.org/.