Up, Up and Away
Hot Air Baloon Ride Over SML Awe-inspiring
By Jerry & Ferne Hale


      The telltale “Whooosshhh!” from the sky creates a scramble on the ground: people spilling out onto their decks and stopping their cars to crane skyward for a glimpse of a brightly-colored balloon drifting effortlessly overhead. “Who’s up in that thing?” they wonder. Secretly, they think, “Someday….”
        Well, now your dream of a balloon adventure can come true right here at Smith Mountain Lake, just as it did for us one evening when the Endeavor Balloon Company drove over from Daleville to let us experience ballooning at SML first-hand. 
        Captain Colin Graham has been piloting hot air balloons for more than 10 years and doing it commercially for the past five. With more than 600 hours of flight time, he’s been aloft above 20 states and one Canadian province. 
        Balloon pilots must be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration before they can carry passengers. Colin trained in Virginia and New Mexico. He’s required to get re-certified every two years to demonstrate balloon handling proficiency and safety procedures.   
        And proficiency reigns at Endeavor Balloons. Friendly but business-like, the captain and his three ground crew members meshed like components of a fine watch.
        “The captain explains everything,” said Winding Waters’ Joanne Steckline, who recently took an Endeavor balloon ride with husband Frank as a gift from their grown children. “I don’t like heights at all, but this wasn’t one bit scary. And the views, looking down on Park Place and the dam, were just spectacular!”
        A trip’s departure point is determined in part by wind direction and speed. The Stecklines’ voyage departed from their front yard; ours lifted off from a grassy point midway up the Blackwater. Endeavor operates daily and usually flies early morning or late afternoon when the breezes are light. About 70 percent of flights occur on their originally scheduled day and time; the rest have to be rescheduled for more balloon-friendly weather. 
        Trips above SML are available in fall, winter and spring. Mid-summer days lack favorable breezes and are too hazy for brilliant sightseeing.
        While the pilot has little control over float direction, Colin showed us the precision with which he can manage altitude by skimming along the surface of a nearby cove. A quarter of an inch of water moistened the wicker basket’s floor as we made a wake in the glassy water. We waved assuredly to well-wishers who streamed onto decks and docks to greet us. Then, as the balloon climbed to clear the shoreline trees, we spotted Anne Carpenter, a Boxwood Green neighbor, out tending her flowers. “It’s Jerry and Ferne,” we hollered. “We’ll throw you a line, and you canclimb up.”
        “Oh, sure,” she replied, as we floated effortlessly over her roof. 
        The balloon’s basket carries up to five passengers, who pay $250 each for a trip in the SML area ($275 each if only two ride). Not cheap, but it’s one of those life experiences that shouldn’t be missed.
        “Nearly all of our passengers are first-timers,” Colin said, “most often at the urging of a friend or family member who has experienced the rush of balloon flight.”
        Colin said he believes in using the newest and best equipment. His rig is a 2005 model, costing about $51,000. The balloon itself holds 120,000 cubic feet of hot air.  
        The basket carries four waist-high cylinders of propane to feed two 18,000,000 (yes, that’s million) BTU burners.
        “Theoretically, one 10-second burn produces enough heat to warm a typical house for an entire winter,” Colin said. (Advice to baldies: wear a hat, since a few BTU’s of each blast reflect downward onto basket occupants’ heads.) 
        While a flight lasts about an hour, passengers are awed by all aspects of the nearly 3-hour experience, which begins by watching the crew launch a helium-filled “pi-ball” to observe wind conditions. Soon the basket gets removed from its hydraulic travel platform behind the brightly-painted Endeavor Balloons van, which then eases forward to spill out a 65-foot run of Rip-Stop Nylon balloon fabric. Next, a gas-powered fan blows in enough air to begin inflating the reclining balloon fabric and create enough shape for careful blasts from the burner to pump in hot, light air. The balloon climbs, its rise-to-vertical kept gradual by a crew member tugging on the “crown line.” 
        Soon, the beautifully colored, completely filled balloon is directly overhead, and passengers are beckoned to scramble into the basket, per pre-flight briefing instructions. Adrenalin is in bountiful supply as the basket lightens, still in the controlling grasp of the ground crew.
        “OK, we’re good to go,” Colin proclaims.
At 10 feet off the ground, passenger height anxiety melts away into the silky-smooth calmness and quiet of balloon flight. You’re simply too awe-inspired to waste time worrying!
        Even Jerry, who gets woozy on the dock when the water’s low, truly enjoyed the ride — though he kept a firm grasp on one of the basket’s sturdy uprights most of the time.