Balloon rides highlight Eyes to Skies
As the sun rises over the horizon, Gary Cass' hot-air balloon rises in the sky - with me in it.
The bright orange "gentle giant," as his wife, Judy, calls it, floats north with a few other balloons toward a crowd that's eagerly waiting at Lisle's Community Park, home to the Eyes to the Skies festival known for its balloon launches.
Halfway through our ride on Friday, we approach a pond. Cass can't resist.
"I think we'll be able to do a little splash and dash," he says.
The balloon, which promotes the International Manufacturing Technology Show at McCormick Place in September, skims the surface of the water and lifts back up, filling the pond with a colorful reflection.
Upon landing successfully Cass is greeted with applause and by Judy, who has accessorized with a hot-air balloon necklace and earrings and waits in their enormous balloon van.
I can't stop smiling from the smooth and beautiful ride; for them it is just another day in the life of a balloonist.
The couple from Yuma, Ariz., has been flying balloons for the past 33 years. Even after attending hundreds of competitions and festivals across the world, they remain enthusiastic about what they do.
Cass spoke to me more after the ride about the basics of ballooning and his own experiences as a pilot.
Q. What made you want to start flying?A. Traveling in the summer, we'd pass through Indianola, Iowa, and the U.S. Nationals were held there for 18 years. I'd see 50 balloons over here in the sky, 20 over there, but I didn't understand anything about it. I thought it was an old-people sport. About the third year we saw balloons, we stopped and watched a launch and learned more about the competition, got some brochures. And in 1978, we bought a balloon.Q. Are balloons expensive?A. Not any more expensive than a bass boat or a really nice car. Modern day good stuff, like this balloon, probably costs $28,000 to $30,000 for a complete system. You need a vehicle to haul it, maybe a trailer or your family SUV. You need a van, you need some radios, propane, champagne. Champagne used to be the most expensive part. Now it's the cheapest. Some of the propane is $2 (or) $3 a gallon and so you go on a nice hour and a half flight and it might cost you $75.Q. How far can you go with one propane tank?A. Well, these are 15-gallon tanks and if the balloon is in good shape, with a pilot and two passengers - for a balloon like this - we could fly it for an hour and a half with no problem, maybe two hours.Q. How tall is your balloon? A. This is 77,000 cubic foot. You can put 77,000 basketballs in it. And it's pretty much an average sport balloon size. It's about 70 feet tall. There're bigger balloons that obviously would be taller, the volume would be more. This is pretty handy for ease and packing up. It weighs about 250 pounds.Q. How long does it take to inflate the balloon?A. The average sport balloon, with two or three people, you can inflate it in 15 minutes, no problem.Q. In your 33 years of flying, where is the best place you've ever flown?A. There's a lot of them, really. The end of July we do an event in New Jersey. It's a pretty big balloon event, a music festival, and 40 minutes from Manhattan. We've gone to Japan, Canada, Mexico - there's a lot of fun places.Q. If someone wants to become a balloonist, what do they have to do?A. You have to take ground school and then you have to fly with a licensed commercial pilot. You have to know the Federal Aviation (Administration's) restrictions. To get a private license it's a little easier; a commercial license needs 35 hours. Obtaining a private is really very simple.Balloon factsHere are some details pilot Gary Cass shared about hot-air ballooning:bull; The best winds to fly in are 10 mph or less, so balloonists typically fly in the early morning or evening when the wind is calm.bull; Balloonists have a tradition of serving a glass of champagne and saying a prayer with first-time riders who land safely, a custom that originated in France.bull; The first aircraft in the world was a hot-air balloon.bull; Although people typically associate races with speed, a hot-air balloon race is about accuracy - flying over specific points on the ground and hitting a landing mark.bull; The world's largest hot-air balloon festival is in Albuquerque, N.M. It draws up to 700 balloonists from around the world, though the number has been closer to 500 in recent years because of the economy.bull; The sport of ballooning is on the decline; there are only about 3,000 registered balloonists in the United States.False15002000Balloonist Gary Cass and first-time rider Scot Cilella head into the wild blue yonder.Jessica Cilella/| Daily HeraldFalse