Up and away
HOT AIR BALLOON PILOTS PLAN TO RESUME FLIGHTS
Looking for a change of scenery, or perhaps a new perspective? The idea of climbing into a basket and floating away in a balloon might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but hot air balloons have been around far longer than you might think. The first hot air balloon flight took place in 1783, while the first plane didn’t take off until 1903. While the Plainville Hot Air Balloon Festival has been canceled for 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic, two Connecticut hot air balloon businesses have plans to begin taking flight once again, after taking a hiatus due to the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Mick Murphy, the owner of Aer Blarney Balloons in Bethlehem, said he reopened in May. Murphy said he first took his first flight in a hot air balloon in 1984, and that he enjoyed it so much he began working with area pilots to learn how to fly one himself.
“It was nothing I ever expected to be, to be honest with you. I never expected to go for a flight, and it was really peaceful,” he said. “It was really fun being able to take off and see nature from above, to see all the trees and different things.”
Robert Zirpolo, owner of Berkshire Balloons in Plainville, said he has plans to resume flights in July. He took his first flight in 1980 while living in Maine.
According to Zirpolo, hot air balloons were more common in the western part of the country and in Europe during the 1980s. “I had this very slight interest in ballooning, but it wasn’t anything at the time you could pursue because back in 1980 balloons were few and far between,” he said.
After taking his first ride, however, Zirpolo was hooked. He began saving up money to buy his own balloon just as the pilot who gave him his first ride was teaching him how to fly.
“I was chasing a woman who was taking airplane flying lessons, and I thought, ‘ Hey, this is my in,’” Zirpolo said. “She didn’t think it was as exciting as I did, because she flew airplanes for a living. I saw something in it that she obviously didn’t.”
After catching the balloon bug in 1980, Zirpolo went on to relocate to Connecticut in 1982 with his own balloon business. The pilot has since worked in various avenues of the hot air balloon industry including training pilots, repairing and inspecting balloons and operating his own ride business.
“Ballooning is an incredible way to see the world, and to steal a word from a book, it can be described as ‘ a glimpse of the world through god’s eyes.’ I stole that quote, but it’s very accurate,” he said. “Flying in a balloon is not like flying in anything else because it’s very quiet. There’s obviously no big motor that needs to make a lot of noise, only the occasional blast from the burners. It’s a different form of aviation from anything else you’ve experienced.”
Flying in a hot air balloon is certainly different from flying in a plane, but the training process isn’t all that different.
“You have to go through formal training with a commercial pilot for a balloon and you have to complete a number of hours, complete a written exam, an oral exam and a flight exam with the FAA,” Murphy said. “Then you need to go through recurring training every couple of years where you go through a review of in- flight training and ground instruction.”
Zirpolo added that hot air balloon pilots also require a “boatload of common sense” when flying. “The person flying knows what the weather is, knows the wind is coming from a certain direction at a certain speed and that if he or she climbs up higher the wind might increase in speed and change direction. That’s something you learn by doing it.”
Murphy also noted that the balloons are sturdier than people expect them to be. “People haven’t seen a balloon up close, and they think it’s going to rock and sway when you take off. It’s a very gradual process. You become one with the wind and the basket doesn’t sway or rock, it’s a very stable platform and they’re pleasantly surprised.”
When asked if there’s a certain time of year that’s better for taking a hot air balloon ride, Murphy said each season has something to offer.
“Winter is really nice when there’s a fresh snowcap and all the leaves are down, because you can see all the different wildlife better. In the cooler temperatures the balloons are more efficient, they fly better. Then you get into the spring season and you get to watch the trees bloom and turn green,” Murphy said. “In the summer, you have the lush leaves and you get the different crops that you get to fly over and view. But most people really only think about ballooning when it comes to the fall to see the foliage from aloft.”
During their forty years of flying both Zirpolo and Murphy said they’ve witnessed plenty of proposals in their balloons. Zirpolo said when he helped a man propose a number of years ago, he advised him to sew together two queen- sized sheets and spray paint the question to his girlfriend so it could be seen while they were flying.
Zirpolo laughed as he explained that he had to point out the sign to the man’s girlfriend to prevent her from missing it. She was momentarily confused, because the man hadn’t signed his name at the bottom of the sign and thought Zirpolo was the one proposing to her.
“So, after that moment, every person I have instructed to paint a sign, I tell them: don’t forget to sign your name at the bottom. I’ve been doing that for probably 30 years, and we’ve never had a no.”
One of Murphy’s favorite parts about flying a hot air balloon is how it has connected him to people he otherwise might not have met. When an air balloon lands, the pilot isn’t always able to predict exactly where they will go, as the wind determines the direction of the flight. He said that he met one his favorite people after landing on a field she owned and that it led to a long friendship.
“You always land somewhere different, so you get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn’t have had the chance to come across before,” he said.
Zirpolo, who described the balloon as “an incredible smiling, laughing machine,” said that he enjoys seeing the reactions folks have when he first turns on the burner for take off.
“It’s an incredible roar of sound, and typically when people first hear it they start laughing,” Zirpolo said.