September 1999
But withthe FAA it seems to be that it is
what you got that determines howyou can
use it. If I don’t put a data plate or an “N”
number ona niceAX-3, Iwon’tneeda
license or an inspectionto go out and fly.
Bymyreading of FAR 103, I don’t even
have to have special hightechexpensive
lightstoflyitforanextrahalfhourat
dawn ordusk. It just has to bevisible three
milesaway.
Now,youcan’tflyanUltraLight
Vehicleover thecongestedareasof any
village, town or the like. But asnear as I
canread the regulation, you can flyright
next to it. Just not OVER it. And you don’t
havethat500 higher than any objectwithin
500 feethorizontallyeither. Of course if
you have allthe training, exams and cer-
tificatesandareinthesameidentical
machinethathasbeentested,analyzed
andapproved,registeredandnumbered
and there is a junk car hidden ina ravine
490 feet away from you across the prairie,
you are asillegal as a goatina bar.
TheFAAcouldn’treexaminetheir
position on mechanics training because it
would costtoo muchmoney. Theysum-
marilycutoffcommentonchanging91
(minimum safe altitudes) becauseit would
cost too much money. Couldn’t they save
a whale of a lot more taxpayer’s money if
theyjustwithdrewfrommessingwith
balloonsentirely?Therewouldstillbe
plentyoffederallawsaboutmerchant-
abilityandconsumer product safetythat
couldprotectJohnQ.Public.Lookat
power boats.
Theydon’tregulate“UltraLight
Vehicles” because they are not “Aircraft,”
but they ensure the public safety byhav-
ingthemadheretothesamevisibility
standardsasairplanes,etc.Thatmakes
sense. But where is the danger to persons
and property on the ground from a weight-
less, zero air speed, with no moving parts
wickerbasket? The onlydangertoper-
sons or property is the stuff on the ground
isdangerousandlethaltowhatis
floatingalong.WouldthatSamuelAr-
cherKinghadonlythoughttogetan
injunction against that Edison weirdo and
madehim put his damn wires underground
where theybelong.That’sthe onlydan-
ger. Littledid herealizethat when he gave
up an inch of his traditional air space that
thoseinfernalforceswouldspreadtheir
fatal webs across the wholebeautiful land.
Balloonsarenotthe VanNuysair-
planessmashinginto innocent ice cream
parlorsnorthewhirlingenergybombs
rainingdown onNYCfrom the Pan Am
building. They aren’t even the speedboats
onthe St. Croixriverthatslice through
alcoholsaturatedfleshwithoutevena
drivers license. Hot air balloons have been
around now the better part of the last half
of this century and what injury to persons
orpropertyonthegroundhavethey
caused? What does the record show? Pre-
cious little. Sowhy the tempest?
“CropDamage?”Thatinthefinest
sense is purely a matter of measure. Let the
operatorpayforanydamageasacivil
matter,notacriminalone.Doyoujail
golfers for kicking up adivot?Do you arrest
a Cessna 150 pilotfor landingon anordi-
nary airfield?(EVERYtime aCessna lands
on a grass strip hedoes some damage to the
grass.Itisjustaquestionofdegreeand
finances,notregulationsandviolations.)
Whyisaninnocentballoonsodifferent?
Because it is different. It is weird. It is not a
mighty warbird and doesn’t blowthehero’s
silk scarf in the air. The FAA has tradition-
ally been staffed by airplane men and their
cavalier attitude towards any lighter-than-
air has been well established.Even Admiral
Rosendahl got the shaft from Rickenbaker
because he was LTA.
Let’ssavesometaxpayer’smoney
and get the FAA outof ballooningas far
out as they have vicariously gotten out of
UltraLights.Lettheballoonsdowhat
they do best: operate out of the navigable
air space for the most part. With Ed Yost’s
gotadevicethatcaneconomicallyand
safely dowhat we couldn’t do (at least as
civilians with our own pocketbooks) with
gasballoons.Dolderinsistedthatthey
hadn’t worked before and wouldn’t work
thistime,thatitwasn’teven“Balloon-
ing.”Yes,hewasright.Itwasn’tthe
ballooning he knew: the grand launch, the
stately float (for hours) andthe dramatic
arrival of the landing. It was the balloon-
ing that I knew: smashing trough the pine
barrensofNewJerseyandfeelingthe
interfacebetweendreamsandreality.It
ain’t what you got. It is what you do with
it.And Iwasdoing somethingdifferent.
That’swhy Dolder’sgas balloonsbarely
maintaintheirstatusquoandhotairis
BALLOONING.
It wasgreat while it lasted, but now
they are catching on. They wrote regula-
tions for helicopters and if they hadeven
thoughtaboutballoonstheymighthave
includedthem.Buttheydidn’t,sonow
they have to tilt our windmills because we
arethereandtheirregulationsare there,
appropriate or not.
IftheBFAandNAMBAwantto
expandoursport,letthemnurturethe
Ultra Lights. Mentor a new generation of
balloonists out on the open spaces. Bring
backthethrillofpureballooningplea-
sure. Hell for leather spectator sport. And
thenobtainthesamerightsforallbal-
loons that Ultra Light Balloons have now.
I don’twanttoballoonoverManhattan
anymorethanIwouldwanttohavea
yacht race in New York harbor while the
QEII was trying to berth. Why should we
(the people) spend money to regulate that
whichneedsnoregulation?Justthink
what would happen to the boat business if
the FAA took over.
Balloonshavebeatenthelastgreat
challenge in the air. Nowlet’s beat the last
great challenge onthe ground.. Hey, I do
thinkdifferent,butthat’show Igotthe
job. Sic itur adastra.
