OMG! I gave this ride to my wife as a birthday gift. It is BY FAR the best gift I could have given her. She is fun and adventurous which is a perfectly apt description of this ride as well. So, from the beginning:
The trip began a little late because some people had to be picked up at a hotel and they were a little late. But it was all fine. Jason arrived and loaded us into his van and took us to the launch site. However, the "trial balloon" (now you know where that phrase comes from) revealed that the upper winds were not favorable. So we got in the van and drove a few miles away to a better located launch site. Captain Craig explained how the balloon would be inflated and several of us men were recruited to assist. It was very thrilling to be in on the action. Before launch, Captain went through the safety features and what we could and should not do. He also told us where to stand in the basket. Soon it was time to launch. The balloon rose slowly as it filled with hot air from our 12 million BTU burner, and as it did, the basket rose to the vertical too. We all hopped aboard and rose rapidly to about 4,000 feet and drifted slowly northwest in the 4 to 5 knot wind. There were six other balloons in the vicinity, some from the same company and some from another company. The pilots of these balloons were cooperating with each other which was good to see. Once we got out from under the Phoenix Airport airspace, we climbed further to a maximum altitude of 8,800 feet above sea level (about 7,300 feet above the ground). We were still floating lazily northwest and in the lull, I asked Captain Craig, "Don't you find it more interesting to fly lower." He replied with a simple, "Yes" and said nothing more. I just knew he had something up his sleeve. And he did. I will describe what that was in the rest of this review, but hang in with me because this is good. Really GOOD!
We slowly descended and caught a wind going in a more southwesterly direction. This had us moving towards at a sizeable mountain which lay directly ahead. You could feel a little tension begin to build in the basket as we drew ever closer. Captain Craig, indicated that we had no need to worry, because the wind would rise as it approached the mountain and carry us up (and over) with it. Once we passed the summit, we began to descend. Ahead lay a large housing development of single family homes stretching about a mile ahead. We flew over these homes at a height above their rooftops that we never more than twenty feet, and frequently less than ten feet.It was a total BLAST, especially as all the neighborhood dogs were going nuts, and the families all came out to wave at us. But... the best was yet to come. We climbed once more to scale the next mountain skimming over its peak by all of five feet. Superb judgement by El Capitan Craig once again. And in one final feat of skill, the Captain pointed out that we were going to land in a flat area (The Landing Zone or LZ) the size of a housing lot. The lot had been prepared for a new home and was about 140 feet square). Between us and the LZ, there was a flagpole which we sailed by (missed it by 30 feet and there was never a doubt that we would, but ahead, between us and the wall was a block wall five or six feet high. We rose slowly (aided by the wind again) to clear the wall by a foot or so, and touched down a few seconds later, not more that 30 feet the other side of the wall. It was a superb piece of precision flying by an obvious expert who was rightly proud of his ability to pilot our balloon and bring us safely back to Mother Earth.
As if that were not enough, the chase crew arrived a few minutes later with champagne dinner under the Super-Moon lit sky (the sun having set a few minutes earlier). Jason drove us all back to our cars and a SPLENDID time was had by all. You have to do this trip and do it with Captain Craig.
Réponse de l'hôte
Mar 2019
Greetings Steve C,
In reading your review, I felt like I was there with all of you! We are just thrilled that you and your wife enjoyed your hot air balloon flight with the marvelous Captain Craig, Jason and the crew. We feel that the only way to celebrate such an experience is with champagne and under that moon, it must have been just beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful review and flying with Hot Air Expeditions. From all of us, we wish your wife another year of adventure and happiness. Cheers!