Ballooning Enthusiasts High on Sport

They scrape treetops, drift across cityscapes, descend into open fields and sometimes into back yards.

For those in the open baskets, hot air balloons offer a bit of silence, a rare view of the world and a taste of adventure, all in a flight that lasts two or three hours.

For Doug Hatfield of Kansas City, Mo., ballooning is “like the closest thing to a religious experience that you’ll probably ever have.”

“One flight and you’re hooked for life,” says Ron Hayworth of Wichita, Kan., who has been ballooning since 1982. “It’s that addicting.”

“It’s the purest form of flight,” says Nick Stroup, a retired Topeka police officer.

Hatfield, Hayworth and Stroup are presidents of Kansas’ three ballooning clubs. They agree that the sport, once the domain of novels and aeronautical daredevils, is increasing in popularity as a weekend pastime.

“The sport is growing a little bit every year,” Hayworth said. “It’s not as expensive as everyone tends to think.”

According to a spokesman for Sail-A-Way Inc. of Topeka, a balloon costs anywhere from $15,000 to $80,000, with the pricier models custom made.

The sport is becoming popular even for people who are content to follow balloons from the ground, rather than fly them.

The Kansas balloon clubs--in Wichita, Topeka and the Kansas City area--have more members who are part of a balloon’s “chase crew” than pilots. The chase crew follows a balloon and hopes to be waiting wherever it lands. The three clubs have about 200 members combined.

“They do it just because they like to be around balloons,” Hayworth said. “It’s an exciting sport to be around. Some of them take the chase very seriously.”

“They’re the ones who do all the work and don’t get enough of the credit,” Stroup added.

Mishaps have been few in Kansas, but the balloonists sometimes land in tight spots: front lawns, back yards, parks, busy streets, side streets, interstates and fast-food parking lots, just to name a few.

“You have no idea where you’re going to land,” said Hatfield, who once landed on the wrong side of a river, and his chase crew had to throw him a rope to pull the inflated balloon over the water. “We’re at the mercy of the winds.”

Liftoff occurs when the air in the balloon is warmed by a propane heater. The air inside the balloon must be hotter than the air outside. Flights during winter are longer because it requires less heat to lift the balloon off the ground. A typical afternoon of ballooning requires about 15 gallons, or $15, of propane.

Balloonists usually have two instruments--one that measures the balloon’s altitude, another that measures the temperature of the top of the balloon. Some carry citizen band radios to keep in touch with the chase crew.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires balloon pilots to undergo 10 hours of training before soloing. A commercial balloon pilot, such as Hatfield, requires 35 hours of training to be certified.

Hatfield, a balloonist for nine years, is owner of Balloon Port of Kansas City and owns two advertising balloons. Between flights, he is a bank guard. For him, the best part of the sport is the people he meets, the onlookers and the veteran balloonists he flies with.

“For me it’s the freedom of flight,” says Hayworth, Wichita parks superintendent. “It’s very calm and very peaceful. It’s the closest thing to floating you’ll ever experience. You’re in an open basket, and you can hear nature, smell nature.”

“It’s a crowd pleaser,” Stroup says. “Whenever we fly, there’s a crowd.”