All Flying Colours - Pilot Portfolio

Check out some of my exciting adventures with Hot Air Balloons below. If you have any questions or would like to know more please send me a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible!

In February I was invited back to Mondovi to attend the Virgin Balloon Flights Winter Flying event. Almost all of the current UK Commercial Pilots and Examiners were in attendance and we had a full week of fun flying while taking our yearly pilot tests. We take yearly flight proficiency tests to ensure we are providing the best and safest flights for passengers. I passed my test which allowed me to fly up to 12 passenger balloons and was then offered to fly for Virgin in the UK for their 2023 season
I started in March shadowing another Pilot called Ben who flies in the Lake District. We had a really busy start to the year as the weather in the North allowed us to get many more flights in than the other pilots in the rest of the UK. After a number of flights in the Lakes, I transferred to my own patch in Durham and have been really enjoying flying in the North East. The above picture is from our launch site at Fishburn Airfield taking off alongside fabulous aircraft

I was invited to attend a commercial pilot training event at Mondovi in Northern Italy in Summer 2022. The training was being taught by the Chief Pilot of Virgin Balloons, an Ex-CAA Balloon Inspector and some very knowledgeable Italian Pilots, all with thousands of hours of experience to learn from. This was a great chance for me to fly the bigger commercial Balloons, getting more familiar with how they fly compared to the smaller private ones.

I journeyed out to Canada during the Fall to experience the different flying conditions they have there. In Canada the winds can be much stronger with windshear and fast currents at much lower altitudes than the UK. The fields are much larger which are normally full of expensive crops, so finding good landing locations is much more challenging. Dealing with these more tricky conditions really helped me to improve my flying skills.

Flying Fun!

Check out some of my favourite picture and the stories behind them. Click on an image and discover the story behind it

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