It was fun reading your stories about this endeavor, but I understand and think y’all are making the right decision in selling it. I think hot air ballooning sounds fun in theory, but like you say, having no control as to where you end up doesn’t seem enjoyable to me. Plus, finding a day with the right weather conditions seems like it would be a challenge in itself. Take the proceeds from the sale and get started on that runway of yours!
This might be in the last six pages. I love hot air balloons. Two of my friends bought one. The thing that sucks is going out at o dark thirty to help launch that thing. For a gee thanks. So for those thinking this would be great. Find your crew first. Get a bunch of gift cards to hand out. Because your friends may do it twice but then they'll be magically busy when you want to go for
Oh, I've been working on the runway. I do need to keep working on it, though. To be honest, finding crew has never been that much of a problem for us. One suggestion we were given was to create a Facebook group (which we did) announcing when and where we were going to be flying the balloon. The concept of finding your crew ahead of time isn't very practical - lots of people will say they'll do something, and then you just have to see who will actually do it. That said, the gift cards to hand out is a good idea to keep people interested.
Just showed up: https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/2002-lindstrand-77a-hot-air-ballon.130916/
Do the folks in ABQ actually offer a balloon to rent? We had planned on renting a balloon to do our ratings in. What we found was that nobody would rent one to us locally, and when we talked to the folks in ABQ it was expensive enough that it was actually cheaper to buy a balloon and set it on fire when done. But, I could be mis-remembering some of the details, like we might've been comparing it to a less expensive Firefly.
There is ballooning (and some years a festival) out near Millwood, Va. And we've seen them launch up near FDK on some nights when we've gone to a ballgame up there.
Airborne Heat is the school that was recommended to me. They offer full service training. They provide balloon, instructor, crew, everything. It's not cheap. $400ish/hr. It is convenient. They are a Part 141 balloon school!