AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 18

PROFICIENT PILOT

True confessions
Up, up, and away in a beautiful balloon
IN 1959 I APPLIED to the Federal Aviation Agency, predecessor to today’s Federal Aviation Administration, for a lighter-than-air rating limited to hot-air balloons. The rating was issued and has been on my pilot certificate ever since. True Confession No. 1: Until recently I had never been in a balloon. I had never even been near one. Such a statement obviously raises eyebrows but is true. I had been reviewing the requirements for various ratings and discovered a quirk in the regulations, one that I could not resist putting to the test. The next day found me waltzing into the local General Aviation District Office (GADO) and asking politely for a balloon rating. The inspector behind the counter was flummoxed. “How,” he wanted to know, “can you expect to qualify for a balloon rating when your application indicates that you have no experience in one?” Being the smart ass that I was, I triumphantly pulled out the regulation showing that any commercial fixed-wing pilot wanting a balloon rating could

BY BARRY SCHIFF

I even thought about cancelling the flight, but the fear of losing a significant deposit overrode my fear of heights.
have one simply for the asking. Unable to accept at face value what clearly was shown in black and white, the inspector retired to a glass cubicle and called the FAA’s regional counsel for an official interpretation of that regulation. I couldn’t hear the conversation, but I could see the inspector listening intently, shaking his head in disbelief, and finally hanging up. “Looks like you’re right, kid. Stand by while I have a balloon rating added to your certificate.” My new balloon rating became the talk of the airport and an easy way to win a bet. It wasn’t long before other pilots began applying for their balloon ratings. Our GADO became deluged with requests until an urgent order soon was handed down from FAA headquarters: “No more balloon ratings shall be issued to pilots without balloon experience” (or something to that effect). Fortunately, those of us who beat the deadline were “grandfathered” and allowed to retain our ratings. I always felt guilty about “being” a balloon pilot for more than 50 years without having been in a balloon. The reason that I had never flown a balloon is because…

BARRY SCHIFF

has written more than 1,600 magazine articles and currently is writing his fourteenth book.

True Confession No. 2: I have a fear of heights (acrophobia); there was no way that I would be willing to stand in basket suspended in midair and peer over its edge. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Based on my own informal survey taken over many years, it seems that a relatively large percentage of pilots suffer from a fear of heights. It’s an interesting fear in the sense that we are not affected by it when we fly. This might be because we cannot easily fall, be pushed out, or give in to an impulsive urge to jump. Stand on the edge of a building, though, and that fear can become debilitating. Given my own fear of heights (other than when flying), I had always suspected that I would be riddled with nervous anxiety during a balloon flight because I perceived that it would be so easy to fall, to be pushed out, or to yield to an impulsive urge to jump. Fast forward to the recent AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, California, where there was an opportunity to purchase dual instruction in a hot-air balloon. Having felt somewhat fraudulent for brandishing a hot-air balloon rating throughout my career without ever having been in one, I decided it was time to log a balloon flight, acrophobia or no. I confess to sleeplessness the night before my scheduled flight. As the sun appeared from behind the horizon and gave warmth to the Coachella Valley, my instructor, Dave Lynch, explained the process of laying out and preparing the envelope for flight. He demonstrated how a fan is used to blow ambient air into the envelope, known as a cold inflation. Hot air from the balloon’s burner is then used to complete the inflation. The 77,000-cubicfoot Firefly envelope gradually lifted from its horizontal position and began to rise from the desert floor like a slowly awakening beast. We clambered into the basket, where Dave handed me a pair of gloves and taught me how to use the burner. Before I had time to worry about my fear of heights, the gentle giant was slowly floating into the calm sky. More blasts of hot air had us climbing to and then leveling off at a hundred or so feet agl. An occasional two- to threesecond blast of the burner kept us there. Fear of heights? I experienced none. I felt only inner peace and a sense of rapture. There also was a realization that it had been a monumental mistake to have deprived myself of such joy for so many years. AOPA
WEB

www.barryschiff.com

18 | AOPA PILOT December 2012


http://www.barryschiff.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012
Contents
President’s Position
Visual Approach
Letters
Waypoints
Proficient Pilot
Foundation Focus
License to Learn
Pilot Counsel
Fly Well
An aerial perspective
AOPA Sweepstakes
Youth
Milestones
AOPA Action
Test Pilot
micro.
Jet In a Box
Force From Above
Safety Pilot Landmark Accident: Not So Easy
Desert Delight
Gone West
Ownership
Proficiency
Technique
Avionics
Never Again
Membership
Member Products
State and Local Action
AOPA Foundation
AOPA Insurance Services
Fly by Wire
Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - President’s Position
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Visual Approach
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Letters
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Waypoints
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Proficient Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Foundation Focus
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - License to Learn
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Pilot Counsel
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Fly Well
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - An aerial perspective
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Sweepstakes
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Youth
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Milestones
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Test Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - micro.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Jet In a Box
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Force From Above
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Safety Pilot Landmark Accident: Not So Easy
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Desert Delight
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Gone West
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Ownership
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Proficiency
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Technique
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 87
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Avionics
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 89
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 91
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 93
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Never Again
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 95
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - I1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - I2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Membership
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 99
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Member Products
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - State and Local Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 103
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Foundation
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 105
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - AOPA Insurance Services
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 107
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Fly by Wire
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 109
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - Cover4
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