Winter is one of my favorite times of the year to fly.  Landing spots are more plentiful, there are no mosquitos and you can fly for hours because you use less fuel in the winter.

 

This morning I flew with Private Pilot John Bullock from Genoa City.  John needed to complete his Biennial Flight Review.  Every two years pilots are required by FAA regulation to fly with a Certified Flight Instructor for one hour to maintain their flight certificate.

 

John flies an Aerostar S51-A 62,000 cu. ft. balloon called Bubbles.  It’s an awesome little balloon built for two people.  It has a great orange goldfish on the side of the baby blue and with envelope.  It is a favorite of kids around the area and today was my first time flying with John.  John has been flying for 3 years and is a very good pilot.  

 

We launched from the Burlington Municipal Airport at 7:20A and flew to the Southeast.  The winds were very light out of the west on the surface and out of the north at about 18 mph at 500’ to 1000’.  The surface temperature at launch was 0 degrees at launch, but 23 degrees F at 1000’.

 

Our goal was to fly southeast about 8 miles and fly over my subdivision and land at the school about 1.25 miles from my house.  John did a great job of steering the balloon and landed at about 1.2 hours from launch time at the Wheatland Center School.

 

John did a great job this morning and passed his flight review with flying colors (no pun intended).

 

What a wonderful way to start the day.