Meet your Pilot

My fascination with ballooning began when I was very young. My family would attend balloon festivals in my hometown of Boise, Idaho. As a teenager, I met Charlie Sundquist of Idaho Hot Airlines. I began to crew for Charlie and his wife Marty, and was introduced to the wonders of ballooning and how amazing this community of pilots and crew is! I moved to Orlando and, as fate would have it, a local pilot landed in my neighborhood. I introduced myself and started crewing for that pilot, allowing me to make contacts in this community. I purchased my first balloon and started lessons. I was able to achieve my commercial license. I developed a new method for balloon pilots to obtain wind data at their launch site that allows pilots to make a safer GO / NO-GO decision. This article was published in the BFA magazine. I love to share my ballooning knowledge with people by attending festivals and teaching workshops at local schools and events. We have four additional pilots that also fly for us that are also commercially rated.