Accomplish Your Goals in New Mexico: Launch or Pilot Hot Air Balloons
Have You Ever Wanted to Launch or Pilot Hot Air Balloons in New Mexico?
The Accomplish Your Goals in New Mexico series is for all of the New Mexican visionaries with dreams of doing something amazing. It’s also for those of you who are doing something amazing right now or have already achieved one or more amazing somethings, and are looking for another. If you have accomplished an amazing something that was particularly unique or interesting in New Mexico, please tell us how you did it in the comments!
In our first AYG entry, we told you how to achieve your dream to publish a book in New Mexico. In recognition of Book Month in October, we appreciated the process that New Mexican authors go through to get their work in print. Today, we’ll help you discover something worth writing in a book. This is how to accomplish your goal to launch or pilot hot air balloons at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, through New Mexico, and around the world.
When you launch hot air balloons, as a crew member or a balloon pilot, you are part of the magic in an incredible experience that you love. Not only can you participate in the excitement of festivals and competitions, but you can make a living from sharing the hot air balloon experience with others.
When it comes to the competition and showmanship of hot air balloons, there’s no limit to what you can do. You could go far beyond Albuquerque and take part in the biggest hot air balloon events in the US. Or travel the world to take part in international events, like the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.
Learning to Launch or Pilot Hot Air Balloons
It’s much more expensive and challenging to become a hot air balloon pilot than it is to become a crew member. Fortunately, you want to be a crew member before you become a pilot, anyway. You don’t want to start on your journey to become a hot air balloon pilot without having the same on-scene balloon expertise of the crew.
Join a Balloon Crew to Launch Hot Air Balloons
Whether your goal is to join the hot air balloon team to become part of the ballooning experience or to eventually become a hot air balloon pilot, you need to know how to get on the crew. Starting out as hot air balloon crew member allows you to become a hot air balloon expert before you step into the pilot’s spot in the basket. By the time you feel confident in your knowledge and skills as a crew member, you’ll know if you’re ready to invest in the time and expense of becoming a hot air balloon pilot.
This can also give you time to save up for your own hot air balloon and and prepare you for the balloon pilot training. As a member of the balloon crew, you’ll be essential to the success of the flight. You’ll manage proper balloon layout and inflation, follow and retrieve the balloon when it lands, communicate with landowners, and pack the balloon away. You must be without physical restrictions and have the appropriate equipment.
One way to get on a hot air balloon crew, if you don’t have much experience or training, is to volunteer with a private balloon pilot. A private hot air balloon pilot will often train a volunteer crew in the important procedures and tasks that they need to do in exchange for their volunteer service when she needs a crew. Beyond understanding the basics to be able to launch balloons and having some experience, there are not many requirements to meet to get a paid position as a professional crew member with a commercial balloon pilot.
Are You Ready to Become a Hot Air Balloon Pilot?
Once you’ve been involved in the team effort of launching a hot air balloon and you’re confident with what you’re doing, you might decide that you’re ready to buy your own balloon and become a pilot. Hopefully, you will have saved up while you were accumulating that experience, because this is going to be expensive.
You can’t rent a balloon like an airplane, though you can use one that’s provided by your hot air balloon flight school when you get certified. Eventually, you’re going to need to buy your own if you want to get any use out of your license to operate it. An inexpensive basic hot air balloon is at least $40,000. It is possible to purchase a used hot air balloon at a fraction of that cost, but you have to consider whether it will pass safety inspections and how many hours are left for it. Even then, you need at least $10,000 for a used hot air balloon.
You can earn your certification in a hot air balloon flight school, like Airborne Heat Ballooning THE Balloon Flight School in Albuquerque. You can also reach out to the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association for more information on hot air balloon education opportunities. Your training and education will cost between $1,300 and $6,500, depending on your experience, where you go, and whether you want to fly privately or commercially.
If you want to accomplish your goal to launch hot air balloons in New Mexico, the sky really is the limit! What unique, interesting, or challenging goals have you accomplished in New Mexico? How did you do it? Share your story in the comments, because we might have something to learn from you!
What goals are you trying to accomplish right now?
