The secret side of hot air ballooning
IF THERE WAS SUCH A THING AS A state sport, New Mexico would likely choose hot air ballooning. The Land of Enchantment offers a unique combination of mountains, desert, high prairie and vibrant geology with stable and predictable airflow patterns that make the state one of the best places on Earth to pilot a hot air balloon. New Mexico is also home to the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The nine-day extravaganza is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to New Mexico every year and has the distinction of being the most photographed event in the world.
Last October, during the Balloon Fiesta, the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum unveiled a permanent exhibit honoring the legacy of the man recognized as the Father of the Modern-Day Hot Air Balloon, Ed Yost. The youngest of his two sons, Greg, was on hand to honor his late father.
It was October 22, 1960, when Ed Yost took the first-ever flight in a hot air balloon fueled by propane. The hour-and-35-minute flight over Bruning, Nebraska set the stage for the same fueling practices pilots use today. One month later, Yost flew again near Rapid City, South Dakota with an improved balloon, further solidifying his invention.
In 1963, Yost successfully piloted his balloon, later named "Channel Champ," across the English Channel. "Channel Champ" is known as the first modern-day hot air balloon. In 1976, Yost set 13 world aviation records for distance traveled in a balloon and the amount of time spent in the air as he attempted to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. That attempt failed due to weather as the balloon was directed southward but he covered more than enough distance to have reached Europe. Yost built the Double Eagle
II, the balloon that New Mexico’s Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman successfully flew from North America to Europe in 1978. The transatlantic flight was a feat that landed Yost and the three pilots in the international news and on magazine covers all over the world.
Yost, however, had more of a connection to New Mexico than chasing the ideal conditions for hot air ballooning.
The inventor suffered from ragweed allergies and, after discovering the Rockies, drove south until he found property he liked.
“That’s how he came to Taos,” explained Greg. The world-recognized inventor who glossed National Geographic and Life magazine covers fell in love with the small community of Taos and the surrounding area. “He loved it here,” said Greg, “the mountains, the river and stream — he found a place with good highway frontage which made it easy to keep the snow clear.” Today, Greg divides his time between his home in Texas and his home on his father’s original property in Taos County.
Ed Yost dedicated most of his life to his inventive work and his due diligence is the reason we can attend the Taos Mountain Balloon Rally and watch pilots fly balloons fueled with bottled propane making it possible for them to fly safer and longer. Intrigued with what life was like growing up with a father who was inventing a way for humans to fly in a hot air balloon, I spoke with Greg to learn more.
“Dad was always on a project, always working on a balloon. It was actual work, not a hobby,” he explained of his father who for years worked as an engineer for the high-altitude research division of General Mills. “It was just part of life,” commented the affable and rather understated son of the Father of the Modern-Day Hot Air Balloon. “We had our own interests. I loved boats, cars and motorcycles and my brother was in a rock and roll band. Dad supported us in whatever we wanted to do — he didn’t want to force us or take over our interests with his own.”
Greg explained how his father had gone against the proverbial family grain decades before. “My great-grandfather was a farmer and his son, my grandfather, didn’t want to do that. He went into road construction instead. Then my dad came along and didn’t want to go into road construction.” The freedom to choose to follow one’s interests is not always common in families — especially when each generation has established success in a particular line of work. As if part of their DNA, Greg and his older brother forged their paths. With degrees in math, physics and geography, Greg began a career hand-drawing maps of places like the Everglades and acquisitions for land titles. This eventually led him to the oil and gas industry and a home in Texas. His brother, Dale, ventured into advertising which took him to Indonesia; today, he lives in Singapore.
To say the boys did not at least partially follow in their father’s footsteps would be inaccurate. “We both became pilots,” commented Greg. “I was a private and commercial pilot but never owned my own balloon and Dale was a pilot with his own balloon. It was never a career for us — we did it for fun, for the sport.”
Greg and his brother flew in the same balloon that crossed the English Channel and saw first-hand how one of the world’s greatest inventors, their father, always pushed the envelope. “He always looked for a better way of doing anything and everything.” At one point, the inventor created a way to gauge fuel on tanks that didn’t have gauges by testing theories based on the reserve tank in his 1958 Volkswagen.
With world-recognized achievements and a legacy that set the stage for today’s hot air balloon enthusiasts, the inventor remained inspired and humble.
“Is there anything your father couldn’t do?” I asked Greg. After considering my question, he responded. “Dad wouldn’t drink orange juice. When he was a kid, his mother forced him to drink it with cod liver oil. He built the modern-day hot air balloon but you couldn’t get him to drink a glass of orange juice.”
Ed Yost died in 2007 at the age of 87. On any given day, we can see his legacy flying over New Mexico.