Up, up and away
While piloting his aircraft, Gary Hughes looks below at the minuscule buildings and cars. He checks his altitude and watches for incoming airplanes.
Unlike most other pilots flying through Butler County on this Friday evening, Hughes needs more time to react for flight adjustments. The Saxonburg resident's brightly colored flying machine is a hot air balloon.
"Plan ahead," Hughes said. "Figure what you do takes about 20 seconds to take effect."
For this flight, Hughes took off from a site near his mother's house in Renfrew.
His four-person crew quickly helps him unpack the balloon — also called the envelope — along with the basket and other components. The 70-foot envelope is removed from a small nylon bag that it had been squashed into.
"We'll stretch it out like a ribbon," said Kim Hughes, Gary's wife and crew member.The crew ties the bottom of the unfurled envelope to the basket, which was slid out of a trailer.While Hughes' 15-year-old daughter Ashley pulls the ropes at the top of the balloon, Hughes walks along, tugging at the material to ensure the correct side is up as the wind begins to fill it.Hughes uses fuel from a propane tank to give the balloon buoyancy. After a busy 30 minutes, the balloon lifts off. Quickly rising to 700 feet, it drifts to Route 8. From the air, a Pittsburgh landmark, the USX Tower, can be seen.Hughes' visibility from a hot air balloon is 25 miles.A few times each minute, Hughes pulls a cord to release more fuel. The loud "Whoosh!" is accompanied by a blast of heat.The basket moves each time an occupant takes a step. While not disturbing the flight, the movement is an eerie sensation. While there are things to grab onto inside the basket, the sides are waist-high, eliminating the option of leaning back.The crew follows the balloon from the ground in the chase vehicle — in this case an SUV pulling the trailer.After entering Jefferson Township, Hughes lowers the balloon into a valley. Just when it seems the descent will continue, the balloon stops to hover between tall trees. Hughes pulls off a top branch from one of them."Only balloonists have leaves from the tops of trees," he said.Hughes' wife calls him on the radio, asking where he is. He assures her an ascent over the railroad tracks is forthcoming.
Soon, Knoch High School is visible on the left. Drifting southward, the roofs along Saxonburg's Main Street fade in the distance. Hughes steers clear of farms with livestock, since animals are spooked by balloons that come too close.Nearing the end of the flight, Hughes sees a field along South Butler Road as a possible landing spot. However, Kim Hughes calls her husband on the radio in an attempt to sway his opinion."It's a little rough," she says about the ground.With ample fuel and daylight, Hughes reluctantly agrees to fly over one more road. Floating over Knoch Road and nearing Pittsburgh Street, he spots a more suitable field.As Hughes descends, his chase crew asks the apparent property owner if it's OK to land there. Unconvinced the initial approval is sufficient, Hughes has Ashley check with the man cutting grass on the edge of the field.With assurances given, it's time to land. The basket touches the ground.Checking with a GPS attached to the basket, Hughes determines he has traveled 8.4 miles during the 65-minute trip.The crew deflates the envelope and packs it away. Using a wheeled platform designed for pickup beds, the basket is slid into the trailer.With that work done, it's time for Hughes to reward his crew with ice cream. Ashley insists she's earned seven scoops.
Working as a mechanic for Allegheny Power, Hughes, 52, flies the balloon to indulge a passion.He obtained a pilot's license in 1989.Along with two other men, Hughes in the late 1980s decided he wanted to pilot a balloon. Each man rotated as pilot. One of the pilots moved away while the other sold his share of the balloon.Hughes, a commercial balloon pilot, has flown about 750 hours.Hot air balloons are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Private pilots, whose minimum age is 16, are licensed after passing written, oral and flight exams as well as completing 10 hours of training.To receive a commercial license, a pilot must be 18, have at least 35 hours of training, 20 of which are in balloons.While most flights are between 500 and 1,200 feet, private pilots are required to have one ascent at 2,000 feet. Commercial pilots must have taken the balloon up to 3,000 feet.Ginny Whipple, a Beaver County hot air ballon pilot who does most of her flying through Butler County, received a pilot's license in 1993.Whipple, now 57, has logged in almost 700 hours in the air since then. She also is a commercial pilot.While on her 1984 honeymoon in Albuquerque, N.M., Whipple went on her first hot air balloon ride."I was hooked instantly," she said.After Whipple expressed her enthusiasm for flying, the pilot told her people with hot air balloons are always looking for crew members. In lieu of payment, crews typically are rewarded with free flights.Once Whipple and her husband, Roy, returned to Western Pennsylvania, she sought a pilot for which to work.During the next six years, Whipple served with three different crews. She eventually decided to become a pilot and own a balloon."An occasional free ride wasn't enough," she said.But buying a balloon isn't a cheap proposition. While Whipple bought a used balloon for less, she said a new balloon costs as much as a car."It's like any other adult toy, you're going to spend $20,000 to $25,000," she said.Storing the balloon during the off-season, November through April, is less of an issue for pilots.The essential point is to keep the balloon dry."You won't want the envelope to get damp," Whipple said.Mold and mildew can grow on the nylon or polyester material, rotting the fabric.
Hughes constantly checks weather conditions to determine when and where he can fly."I drive myself crazy looking at the weather," he said.Once airborne, he looks for fires, flags and clotheslines to verify how the winds are shifting.Some flights are faster than others, depending on the wind."Last season, it took 30 minutes to go from Butler Airport to the Route 8 Dairy Queen," Hughes said.Most flights last between 45 minutes and an hour. Hughes' longest flight was a two-part trip beginning in Saxonburg, stopping in Renfrew and landing in Portersville.The best times to fly are right after dawn or before dusk due to winds and thermal conditions."That's when the winds are nice and calm," Whipple said.In addition to Butler County Airport, Hughes uses several places to start a flight, including the Mars VFW and Culmerville Airport in Allegheny County.While a pilot can choose a liftoff site, a landing zone is much harder to ascertain.Pilots often seek property owners' permission to land. Most people are receptive to a descending balloon."To land in a neighborhood is 99 percent they're going to love having you there," Hughes said.Whipple agreed."We meet a lot of nice people," she said about riders and surprised land owners whose yards become landing spots.
Both Whipple and Hughes fly at various events in different states throughout the season.Although Whipple lives in New Sewickley Township, her main takeoff points, Zelienople Airport and a large yard in Forward Township, are in Butler County.While her touch downs haven't angered property owners, they can be surprised.One man apparently was taking a shower when he saw Whipple's balloon descend. He ran outside in the buff.Although the man quickly donned a towel he carried with him, the damage was done.Hughes also had a close encounter with a scantily clad person. Once he saw a woman come outside without a blouse."I told my wife it was a swimming suit," Hughes said.Mixing children and balloons is a treat for the pilots."Kids are fun to take," Whipple said.She said children riding in the balloon always say one of two things: "We're even higher than the birds" and "Mom, everybody has a swimming pool but us."Pilots can't take young children on balloons. Whipple said they should be tall enough to see over the basket. However, no one is too old to ride if that person is relatively healthy. Whipple's oldest rider was 104.Knowing other pilots comes in handy when trying to accommodate families.
When a woman wanted a ride for herself and her three daughters, Whipple called Hughes.The riders were split between the two balloons, which flew alongside each other."To fly close together is just a blast," Whipple said.Whipple, an employee of SEA International, doesn't want the pastime to become a full-fledged business."I don't want this to ever turn into a job," she said. "To me it's relaxing.""It's still my passion," she said.The name of her balloon is a play on words: Gin's Tonic Too.Hughes' passion for the hobby is evidenced by the name of his balloon: Amnesia II."My wife says I forget everything else when I go flying," he said.
