In Jim Desch’s 23 years as a hot air balloon pilot, he’s experienced everything from lightning storms to collisions with trees, all while maintaining a perfect safety record.
“Balloon pilots have to be lucky; I’ll be the first to admit it,” Desch said with a smile. “We can’t steer the balloon, so we just go where the wind takes us.”
Desch founded Balloon Flying Service of Oregon in Salem in 1989. Every year between May and October, he takes passengers on balloon tours of the Willamette Valley area.
A one-hour balloon ride costs $200 for an adult and includes breakfast, Desch’s narrative on the scenery, a certificate of ascension.
The balloon takes off shortly after dawn, when the wind is calest. Desch
depends on a volunteer crew of five, and sometimes even the passengers, to fill the balloon with cold air and then heat the air to make the balloon lift off the ground. When it’s fully inflated, the hot air balloon measures 66 feet across and 77 feet tall — the equivalent of a seven-story building.
Desch can make the balloon rise or fall by controlling the amount of heat he adds to it. He controls the air by using turning vents to spin the air and keep it warm.
However, the wind determines which route the balloon takes.
When possible, he lowers the basket down to graze the surface of the Willamette River. The crew follows the balloon in a car and meets the passengers at the landing site.
“I tell the crew where I think we’ll land. But they don’t listen to me, which is a good thing because most of the time I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Desch said.
Desch has landed balloons in parks, mall parking lots and even small city streets. He or his crew always ask for permission before the balloon lands, except in emergency situations.
“Once we had to land in the Ankeny Hill Game Refuge because the wind came up and I was low on fuel,” Desch said. “We landed in the middle of a field, right between two dikes of loose dirt. You couldn’t even walk in that stuff, you’d step in it and sink in up to your shins. Getting the balloon out would have taken hours.”
Despite legal and safety issues surrounding the emergency landing in the park, Desch was spared any consequences. A sympathetic park ranger even arranged for another ranger to carry the balloon out with a tractor.
Before discovering hot air balloons, Desch flew hydroplanes and owned a family tombstone business. His first balloon ride was a last-minute Valentine’s Day gift to his wife Shirley while they were at a tombstone convention in San Diego.
“I saw a card at the hotel concierge desk that said ‘romantic hot air balloon flights over lovely Napa Valley.’ And I thought ‘Bingo, that’s going to save my bacon,’” Desch said.
The pilot on that first ride told Desch that he had ‘the look’ of a balloon pilot and that a balloon of his own would cost $10,000. Desch and his wife bought their first hot air balloon two years later. The price of a used balloon, pilot training and travel added up to $9,600.
“So our first pilot was a little off, but not by much,” Desch said.
Unfortunately, their first balloon failed its Federal Aviation Administration inspection. They bought a new balloon, this one large enough to carry four passengers. Shirley Desch decided that if they were going to continue flying, it made sense to have other people pay for the flights.
Their second balloon came in June 1989. It was two months late because a movie
studio was using it in the film “Mannequin.”
“I had my commercial license by then,” Desch said. “We bought the truck, painted the name on the sign, started flying and we’ve been doing it ever since.”
Desch estimates that about half of his passengers receive balloon rides as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, retirement and similar occasions.
He’s carried people from diverse backgrounds, including a group of Chinese businessmen who didn’t speak English. He once carried a family of six in his basket designed for four — “it was a little tight”— but fortunately they were all unusually small.
Desch said some passengers spend the first five or 10 minutes of a flight clinging to the basket, but almost all of them eventually relax and enjoy the scenery.
Desch, who is afraid of heights himself, said that balloon rides are not frightening.
There is normally no rocking or swinging motion in a balloon. In fact, Desch added, “Six out of 10 people don’t even notice we’re off the ground.”
He can only remember two people who panicked and asked to go back down. He returned the balloon to the ground and let them out.
Balloon Flying Service of Oregon offers private flights designed for couples, which cost more but carry only the couple and Desch. Every year, a few men use these romantic flights to ask a critical question. They’ve been successful, with one exception.
“We had one guy who proposed to his girlfriend and she said, ‘We need to talk.’ That wasn’t a yes. Other than that, they’ve all said yes,” crew chief Jan Cline said.
Desch, an ordained minister, has performed 12 weddings in the air. Sometimes Cline and another crew member dress up and ride along to act as witnesses.
Desch’s company makes between 150 and 200 flights every year. For Desch, taking people on hot air balloon rides is a dream job. He enjoys working with his wife and having a captive audience in the basket.
“I get four people a day. I can tell them anything I want to, and they’ll believe me,” he said. “It’s such a different experience for people compared to anything else they’ve done.”
For most people, the hour-long ride is a chance to experience scenic views of the Willamette Valley and the peaceful quiet that is unique to a hot air balloon ride.
“I like watching the reaction of the people that go on the ride and seeing how they truly enjoy it,” longtime crew member Alan Tocchini said. “I would bet you that none of the people who take a balloon ride are going to forget about it.”
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Away we go
Daily Emerald
March 9, 2010
Courtesy of Balloon Flying Service of Oregon
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