The Colorado Balloon Club

BFA Covid-19 Update - June 1, 2020

Another month has passed and everyone is still trying to sort out what life is supposed to be like these days.  Businesses are opening in some areas and not in others. Covid cases are diminishing in some areas and going up in others.   So every one of you are still in a mode of deciding what is right for all of you and I also still believe that situations will get better and worse and better again.  Please be sensitive to your communities as to what is right and represent the ballooning community in a positive way.

That brings me to the other reason for writing.  A good friend of mine who is also very active in the glider community forwarded on a letter he had received from their soaring society.  They are experiencing high accident rates within their community that are being attributed to a lack of flying.  We all can relate to that lack of flying and we all need to be proactive in not letting our ballooning communities fall victim to that same currency trap.

We all know that current means 3 landings in the past 90 days.  We also all know that 3 landings do not truly give you a tune-up to actually be back at the top of your game.  Give yourself a gift of a flight or two or three to get back in the saddle.  Take time to review the following:

• Look your paperwork over…see when your flight review is due, your currency, your balloon annual, your insurance…
• Check your equipment over and make sure everything is ready to go and in good condition including your fan, instruments, launch harness, radios, trailer.
• Review your emergency procedures, practice a burner relight, practice what to do in the event of a fuel leak, how to avoid powerlines.
• Crews are always rusty on that first time out in a while. Give them a chance to dust off the cobwebs.
• Review your various sources for obtaining weather information. Make sure the links and numbers all still work.
• Do your first flight with another pilot and give each other the chance to get comfortable on the burner. Get back to navigating, do some steep descents, practice your scan, get the feel back for the balloon.
• Masks for everyone as well as cleaning/sanitizing your equipment. Making hand sanitizer readily available to everyone and the adjustments you would make for post flight refreshments.

And if after doing that tune up flight, you still don’t feel comfortable yet, give yourself the gift of another one…repeat as necessary.  You do this for yourself but more importantly for your passengers….the people I refer to as the unsuspecting public….because they expect you to be at the top of your game.

So, whenever is the right time for you to get back in the air, start now getting ready.

Please stay safe,

Your BFA Board of Directors

Select Number:
CE01103721

Description:

This event has a cost and requires a paper registration to be sent via mail or email. See attachments in the announcement to register.

Balloonwoledge 2021 will occur via Zoom on two Saturdays in March (20th and 27th) from 8am to noon eastern time. Topics include: risk analysis, flight instruction, weather, flight operations for rusty pilots, aeronautical decision making, ground and crew safety, FARs, density altitude, repair and maintenance, over the counter medication, and accident analysis.

To view further details and registration information for this webinar, click here.

The sponsor for this seminar is: FAASTeam

The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs:

2021 BFA Video Seminar Registration