August1999
(ISSN 0887-6061) is
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MAGAZINE
August 1999
Editor-In-Chief
Publisher
Tom Hamilton
Contributing Editors
Ron Behrmann, George Denniston,
Greg Livadas, Mike Rose, Peter Stekel
Columnists
Don Piccard
Staff Photographer
Ron Behrmann
Stephen & Jeanie Blucher
Steve Early
Jon Radowski
Jim Trusty
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This past June the Forbes family invited all the pilots who had attemptedtobe the
firstaround-the-worldbyballoonforaparty.TheNineteenthRassemblementde
BalloonsattheForbesChateauinNormandywasarareopportunityforthemany
participants to share their unique stories.Balloon Life spoke with Brian Jones from the
successful Breitling Orbiter 3 flight. Partof our conversationbegins onpage 14.
The eventwasstartedin1975bythelate MalcolmForbestocelebratethe first
museum dedicated to ballooning, located in a former stable on the chateau grounds. The
event has honored many of the major accomplishments in aeronautics with the presen-
tationof the Balleroy Cup. This year the honor wenttothe Breitlingteam.
A new award, the Malcolm Forbes Cup, was presentedtoRichardBranson for his
entrepreneurialdrive and love of ballooning.
Forbes magazine alsounveileda new shape during the weekend—Forbes Global
balloon. Whenwearrivedearlyfor theopeningreceptiononFridayeveningyoung
Malcolm Forbes, ten year old son of Tim Forbes, was teasing the guests that a new shape
would be unveiled duringthe weekend. The identifyof which he wouldnot reveal.
This promptedone guest to ask if he wasa balloonistin training.
“No, I am a CEO intraining,” reportedthe young heir.
The Capitalist spirit liveson.
Training is an important part of safely flying a balloon. At least every two years the
Federal Aviation Administration requires pilots to receive recurrent training—biennial
flightreview.Thetaskincludesatleastonehourofflightandonehour ofground
training.
Training helps to refresh the skills that a pilot has learned or to add new ones. One
additional way to assist in not over looking important items in flying is to use checklists.
Checklists are an easy-to-use, personal tool, that can be tailored to your level of skill,
knowledge, and ability. Theyhelp youtocontrol and manage risk by identifyingeven
subtle riskfactors.
The Federal Aviation Administration, in conjunction with several outside sources,
has developedaPersonal Minimums Checklistfor pilots to use. The checklist specifi-
cally gets the pilottoconsiderPilot,Aircraft, EnVironment, andExternalPressures.
Usedlike anaircraft preflight or inflight checklist, the PAVE checklist helpsyou
identify potential problems before they lead toan accident. Use it at home as you start
planning a flight and again just before youmake your final decision tofly.
Be wary if you have an item that’s marginal in anysingle riskfactor category. But
if youhave items in more than one category, you maybe headedfor trouble.
The month our SpecialReportreviews checklists andpresentsthis new program
fromthe FAA. Our reportbegins onpage 24
