Balloon Rides In Hot Air Balloons From Virgin Balloon Flights.
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Meet Our Pilots

All Virgin Balloon Flights pilots have been hand-picked because they are some the best balloonists in the world. They all hold full commercial pilot’s licences and have many years of experience.

The majority of our pilots have been flying in their area for a long time so they have plenty of local knowledge to share and lots of stories to tell. Above all, they’ll ensure you have the experience of a lifetime.






Kenneth Karlstrom

Chief pilot and CEO, Kenneth, has flown passenger-carrying hot air balloons for nearly 30 years, racking up over 3500 hours, which makes him one of the most experienced balloon pilots in the world. Kenneth has been flying for Virgin Balloon Flights for ten years and pilots hot air balloon rides in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northants and Buckinghamshire.

Kenneth originally started hot air ballooning to fund his higher education back home in Sweden. He has flown balloons in Kenya, Sweden, U.S.A, Italy, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, and England. His most memorable ballooning occasion was an incredible flight across Stansted Airport, when he actually received permission to fly across the runway, keeping 747's circling above.

Kenneth said: "It was one of the strangest flights of my career. Believe it or not, it was so quiet going across the run way, we could have heard a pin drop. The whole of air traffic control saluted and waved us by! The passengers thought it was marvellous, I have never had so many kisses after a flight in my life."

In January 2008, Kenneth probably topped that by flying a balloon above the Swiss Alps while hit singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner played a gig for Virgin Radio in the first recording of its kind.

Kenneth holds various hot air balloon licences including category A, B and C. He has competed in various world ballooning championships including 1981, 1983 and 1985. He is a C.A.A. (Civil Aviation Authority) examiner and instructor.

Kenneth is fluent in three European languages, German, English and Swedish. Outside of ballooning he lists his hobbies as golf, scuba diving, squash, exotic holidays and anything aviation.

Kenneth use launch sites at St Albans and Knebworth Park near Stevenage, Milton Keynes, Biggleswade, Cambridge and Northampton for hot air balloon flights. London is not far away from his Herts launch sites, making them very popular.
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Alan Lusty

When Alan Lusty became a balloon pilot his dream - which started when he visited the Bristol Balloon Fiesta as an 11-year-old school boy - came true.

Twelve years on, and five since he became a commercial pilot, the father of two has made the dreams of thousands of lucky passengers a reality by taking them on flights from launch sites in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

His passion for being airborne doesn’t end there, because you name it, Alan has flown in it. During 13 years in the RAF as an air traffic control engineer he flew in planes like Tornadoes, Hercules and Tri Stars, plus Chinook, Sea King and Puma helicopters. During this time he served in the Gulf, the Falklands, Belize, Cypress and Germany.

It’s fair to say heights are not an issue for Alan as since he left the Air Force his day job, as a telecommunications specialist for several major phone network providers, has often found him scaling 250ft phone masts!

So after all these adrenaline packed pursuits, what is it about hot air balloons that has him hooked?

“It’s the unpredictable nature of ballooning, the fact that every flight is different and you never know what to expect, that’s what keeps me coming back for more.” Alan says. “I also love the skill and control elements involved as you always have to be thinking ahead of balloon and what it’s about to do.

“The feeling of freedom once you’re up there is amazing and the views are fantastic. It is such a brilliant viewing gallery because it’s so still and you feel no wind resistance at all.”

Alan, who has flown balloons in Italy and Spain, said his most memorable flight was over the surface of the Möhne Reservoir and Damn in Germany, a target of the infamous World War II Dambusters raid. He managed to land that flight on a hospital’s helicopter launch pad. How’s that for parking?

You can see Alan in action yourself if you book onto a flight from Grimsthorpe Castle near Bourne, Belton Woods near Grantham, Stamford Meadows and Peterborough.
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Chris Wood

Chris has been flying hot air balloons for 17 years and has flown everywhere from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic Circle. He now pilots Virgin Balloon Flights in Essex.

Chris first got involved in ballooning in the early eighties as crew and spectator. He bought first balloon in 1991 and became a commercial pilot in 1993. Since then he’s flown balloons in many different countries and places including the Sahara desert, frozen fiords in the arctic circle’, across the English channel and over the Caribbean island of Antigua. He’s also enjoyed many trips to Portugal and Italy and at least 14 return trips to the Alps making many high altitude long distance Alpine flights.

He says choosing one special flight is tricky but one voyage from Oswestry on the Anglo-Welsh border to Lowestoft in the east in the Great British Long Jump which covered 300km and took 7 hrs 20mins sticks in the memory.

His flight in the 1st Russian Balloon festival in 1990 while the “Iron Curtain” was still up or one over St Paul’s Cathedral in London are also up there.

“The one sneaking into first place was a flight over the Alps in 2006, from Dobbiaco in Italy, to Munich in Germany. En route he had passenger planes flying under us into Innsbruck, Austria, and we cut out 150 miles of our road journey home, but unfortunately not for the chase crew!” he said.

Chris has been married to Jan for 22 years, and they have 2 sons, Thomas and William, who are both very keen balloonists. Hobbies include sport and competition ballooning, sailing and rugby with his boys, renovating his old house as well as travelling.

Chris is flying balloons in Essex and does hot air balloon flights from Colchester, Chelmsford, and ballooning rides from Braintree, Brentwood and Feering.
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Conrad Van Wyk

Conrad has been a commercial hot air balloon pilot for 12 years but he took his first flight back home in South Africa with his father when he was just 3-years-old. He now flies for Virgin and takes people on balloon rides in Scotland.

As Conrad explains, it was ‘love at first flight’ but it was some time before he followed in his father Andre’s footsteps.

“When I was 18 I remember my dad asking me when I was going to go and get my pilot license and my words were: ‘I don’t want to fly balloons’,” he says.

“Well that changed, because after doing a year’s military service and working as a courier for five years, I had a massive car accident one night whilst delivering parcels.

“It opened my eyes,” he admits.

“I quit my job and started my training about three weeks later. Three weeks after that I had my license in my hand. With just 20 hours on my logbook, I went to the national championships and got a 4th place overall.”

Confidence boosted, Conrad joined his father who was by now flying in Hamburg, in Germany, before they eventually moved to Kent and then to Cambridge for six years.

He then returned home to his homeland where he secured a position as Chief Pilot on the east coast in Port Elizabeth - “The second windiest city in the world…the first one blew away!” Conrad recounts.

There he flew over a private game reserve watching the ‘big five’ roam free beneath the basket.

“Sometimes in the morning we would be chasing lions off the launch site with the Land Rover before we could launch the balloon, just as the sun came over the mountains – what a sight!”

He subsequently moved to back to Johannesburg, where he grew up, to start a balloon manufacturing business and partnership with a flights company. He also helped to setup a successful training school.

Conrad is now flying balloons in Scotland and does hot air balloon flights from Perth, Angus, Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire and Fife.
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Damon Bridger

Damon has flown passenger-carrying hot air balloons for 13 years and has well over 1,000 hours ballooning experience. He has been flying for Virgin Balloon Flights for nearly ten years and pilots hot air balloon rides in Kent and Sussex.

Damon started ballooning as a hobby then decided to leave his highly paid managerial job in the City to take to the skies permanently. Since then, he has flown hot air balloons in Switzerland, North Africa, USA, Italy, Spain, Austria, France, Germany, England and Scotland. He’s a particular fan of doing hot air balloon flights in Kent, his home county.

He has also had the privilege of working with Sir Richard Branson in Morocco. His most memorable ballooning occasion was a wonderful flight over the Austrian Alps at over 18,000 feet!

Damon said: "It was the most incredible view I think I am ever likely to see, although I must admit the flight I did with Blind Date in Italy, pushes this very close, particularly as the couple ended up marrying! I believe they were only one of three to ever get hitched so it must have been something special."

He has also flown actor Brian Murphy, flown the family of the week for Channel 4’s Big Breakfast and been ‘buzzed’ by the Red Arrows as a stunt.

Damon does balloon flights from Kent including launch sites at Mote Park in Maidstone, Goudhurst, Headcorn, Sutton Valance and from the balloon you may see other towns such as Canterbury. He also does ballooning rides in Sussex from Fernhurst and Crowborough north of Portsmouth.

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Dave Ling

Dave began flying balloons in 1981 when he fell in love with the sport and since then he has notched up around 3200 hours on flights all over the world. Now he takes people on unforgettable Virgin Balloon Flights in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

It all started for Dave when he saw in a local paper that the Nottingham Building Society was launching a hot air balloon shaped like a cottage. Intrigued, he and his wife went down to see it and he fell in love with the idea there and then. The ‘Flying Cottage’ made its maiden voyage on 14 February 1981 and from then on it became a popular attraction, regularly spotted flying over the city and at special events.

Having seen a local builder launch his balloon at the same event, Dave tracked him down a few weeks later and asked how he could get into ballooning. Two weeks on he was in the air with the builder, experiencing his first flight. He immediately went to buy a second hand balloon and learnt in that, before getting his licence and buying a brand new balloon of his own. He later went on to run his own successful ballooning business and sold it in around 2006/2007.

Over the years, Dave has flown over Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Holland, France, Portugal and of course the UK. In early 2010 he took a trip to Spain and flew over the spectacular Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain. His most memorable flights have been over the Italian and Austrian Alps, but he also enjoyed a long trip from Ashbourne in Derbyshire to Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire where he landed amongst some sand dunes.

Dave, who started flying with Virgin Balloon Flights in 2008, is a member of the East Midlands Balloon Group an affiliated region of the BBAC (British Balloon and Airship Club) representing ballooning in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland. He has been the greatest distance champion of the club nine times in the last 12 years.

“Every flight is exciting and has an element of challenge, I enjoy every minute of it,” he says.
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Dave Sutcliffe

Dave has 18 years experience as a commercial hot air balloon pilot. He has taken to the skies all over Europe and the USA in a varied flying career. To him: ‘Ballooning is just pure enjoyment - it’s not work.’ Dave, or ‘Sutty’ as he is known, goes ballooning in Yorkshire and County Durham.

He is also half of the team which won the Great British Long Jump 2005 title. Along with co-pilot Ian Swift, Dave flew the furthest in the UK in a single flight during the month of October.

The pair packed a 105 balloon with fuel cylinders and flew an impressive 168 miles from County Durham to Bedfordshire. They were airbourne for 6 hours and 20 minutes! They cruised at 6,000ft for much of the journey, flying at an average of 27mph, and followed the A1, narrowly avoiding East Midlands Airport! They were awarded the Frog title, which is awarded to the outright winner. Now they are planning to top that performance later this year.

Long distance flying is nothing new to father of two Dave, who has also dabbled in the world of gas balloons, the cousins of hot air balloons which fly much further as they are filled with hydrogen instead of plain hot air.

In 2004 he took part in the World Gas Balloon Championships when he and his co-pilot flew the whole length of Poland.

“We flew from south of Berlin all way up to Kaliningrad and I think it took us around 16 hours. It was a hell of an experience,” he says.

Dave won’t you quite so far, but he will be whisking people away on balloon rides from York, Ripley Castle and Bishop Auckland in County Durham.
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Gary Mortimer

Gary Mortimer began flying hot air balloons in 1988 having continually bumped into them during his 17 years in the Royal Air Force (although not literally!). Gary now pilots balloon flights in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

He has taught balloon pilots in Thailand and flown passengers in Australia, Kenya, France, South Africa and England. He also once flew to France across the English Channel.

Gary has 2500 hours of balloon flying experience and is one of the UK pilots to hold a Class C rating, he also holds an Australian group 4 rating and is a class 2 instructor in South Africa.

As for memorable flights, Gary says many spring to mind, but any of the flights that he undertook from the centre of London, launching from next to Tower Bridge, are near the top of his list as flying from London is difficult for lots of reasons and most planned flights from the capital are moved to surrounding counties.

Being the first pilot to fly over Bangkok is especially memorable for him, as are his trips across the centre of Melbourne, in Australia. In fact, he says, any flight over a large city is a brilliant one.

Gary does hot air balloon flights from Knebworth near Stevenage, St Albans, Biggleswade and Cambridge West.
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John Fenton

John has flown passenger carrying balloons for many years now, being one of the first pilots to obtain an Air Operators Certificate. He does balloon flights in Lancashire and Cumbria area.

John has flown in Thailand, Greece, Italy, Austria, Antigua and Switzerland. In Switzerland he gained his airship licence. He has also taught many people to fly in different parts of the world.

Originally John bought a balloon to advertise a business he owned. However, it was soon evident that ballooning was becoming an obsession, he enjoyed the thrill of flying so much that he wound down the business, and concentrated entirely on hot air ballooning.

When time allows, John is passionate about model sail planes, making many models himself. He also enjoys walking, the countryside, bird watching, and eating out.

John's overriding motto when ballooning is that safety always comes first. John is the Safety Officer for the BBAC (British Balloon & Airship Club) and also holds the position of Safety Officer and Vice Chairman for the British Association of Balloon Operators.

John has sites in the Forrest of Bowland in Lancashire for his balloon flights. Blackburn and Preston are not far away making them very popular sites. He also does ballooning rides in Cumbria from Kirkby Lonsdale.
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Lindsay Muir

Lindsay is one of the leading balloonists in Great Britain, the UK’s leading female competition pilot and, arguably, the best female hot air balloon pilot in the world. She has been flying for 23 years and does Virgin Balloon Flights over Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

Lindsay competed in the 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997 and 1999 World Hot Air Balloon Championships and the 1992, 1994 & 2000 European Championships (where she was usually the only female pilot).

In 1990 she won the first Ladies World Cup, a title which she retained for the following two years and regained in 1996 (having not competed for 2 years). In 1988 she became the first female pilot to become British Champion, and once again won the championship at the end of August 1996.

In 1995 she was placed 6th in the World Championship and in 1997 she was placed 2nd in the 1st World Air Games Hot Air Balloon Championship; this is the highest a woman has been placed in open international hot air balloon championships.

She has also set British women’s and general and World women’s distance, duration and altitude records. She’s now got her sights set on smashing a number of other world ballooning records – watch this space. All this as well as running a business and being a mum – phew, how does she do it!?!

Lindsay pilots hot air balloon flights from Evesham and Shelsley Wash near Worcester, Eastnor Castle and Berrington Hall near Hereford and ballooning rides from Stokesay Court near Ludlow, Telford and Shrewsbury.
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Mark Shemilt

Mark is one of finest and most experienced hot air balloon pilots in the world having flown more than 2,000 hours in large balloons. He pilots Virgin Balloon Flights in Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey.

Mark currently holds three British ballooning records for distance plus the World Record for duration in the small AX-02 balloon category from when he flew solo 7h 26min 56s from Morzine in France in 2009. He has flown the Channel, spent time flying in Barbados, Toronto, Switzerland and many other superb locations.

Mark does hot air balloon flights from Alton and Basingstoke in Hampshire; Henley in Oxfordshire and Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
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Mark Simmons

Mark has been a commercial hot air balloon pilot since 1991. He has flown more than 80 balloons including many special shapes in over 30 countries for famous brands, such as Michelin, Motorola, Coca-Cola and the Financial Times. He is a double world record holder and captains hot air balloon flights in Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area.

Mark, known to friends and colleagues as "Nobby", started flying when he was a teenager and to this day holds the record for being the youngest pilot to captain a balloon across the English Channel in 1991, at the age of just 21. He would like to point out that this flight to France was intentional, but by no means his most memorable.

He said: "Flying a balloon at 18,000 ft above Switzerland in January 1995, seeing pretty much the whole of the Swiss Alps and all the way to the French Alps, Italian Alps, German Alps, Austrian Alps, the Eiger, the Materhorn, Mont Blanc, the view was probably the most amazing sight I have ever seen. Definitely my most memorable flight. And to top it all, it was just another day at the office!".

In May 2006, Mark teamed up with Future Music magazine and rock-band the Girls to set two Guinness World Records for the highest concert ever in a hot air balloon and the highest song recording in a balloon more than 5,000ft above the South West of England. He has ambitions to break many more records, some more whacky than others.

Marks hot air balloon rides from Aston Court, Bristol; ballooning flights from Royal Victoria Park, Bath; Glastonbury; Cheltenham; Cirencester; Monmouth and Pandy near Cardiff in South Wales.
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Martin Collinson

Martin has been hot air ballooning professionally for 13 years and has thousands of hours of flying under his belt. He has also worked and travelled in over 80 countries worldwide. Martin pilots Virgin Balloon Flights from York.

Martin has many experiences he can recount and one interesting period was the setting up of a flight operation around Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and another quiet different experience was working at a school for children with behavioural problems in Denmark, using ballooning as a vehicle for change.

With a love of the outdoors, Martin spends much of the winter teaching skiing and leading climbing expeditions in high and remote places. Despite the extreme and challenging nature of these activities there is little to compare to the buzz of flying big balloons. Most of all Martin enjoys flying here in the UK.

He says: ‘It definitely is the green and pleasant land - full of diverse and interesting things to see. Enjoying this beauty whilst helping to turn people's dreams into reality makes ballooning the best job in the world.’ Martin does balloon flights from York Racecourse.
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Max Duncomb

Max has been a commercial hot air balloon pilot for 16 years. He is currently the Virgin Balloon called G – UVBF the largest passenger balloon in the UK capable of taking up to 20 passengers. Max does balloon flights from Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

Max, who is originally from Stamford in Lincolnshire but lives in Whitchurch during the flying season, was an industrial engineer before becoming a pilot. He first learned to fly balloons in 1989 when his training ground was the sky above the vineyards of Burgundy, France. He became commercial in 1991 and now holds various licenses including A, B and C ratings.

“The thing I love about ballooning is its ability to turn an average day into a fantastic one,” says Max. “Flying such a massive balloon is great fun and being able to take so many people up at once is really good too.

Max has flown all over continental Europe and his favourite place and time to fly is out of Gstaad in Switzerland in the winter. But the 36-year-old, who flies for VBF from launch sites at Telford, Shrewsbury, Ludow, Evesham, Nantwich and Shelsey Walsh, says he still loves soaring over the UK because “it’s such a green and pleasant land”.

After thousands of hours in the air, Max said one moment 10 years ago stood out.

“My most memorable flight was when I asked my wife Louise to marry me during a flight with 12 other passengers,” he says.

“It’s not easy to get down on one knee whilst trying to fly as well. The other passengers were glad to hear her say yes so I could get on with the flight!”

Max does balloon flights from Nantwich near Chester and Crewe in Cheshire, ballooning flights from Whitchurch, Shrewsbury and Telford in Shropshire and Amerton Farm in Staffordshire.
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Neal Parry

Neal has been flying balloons since 1994 and after years of taking people on balloon safaris over an African game reserve he now soars above the beautiful Peak District.

Having worked in corporate finance for 20 years, Neal’s hobby of ballooning became such a passion that, when he was made redundant in 2004, he traded the city office for the skies over Kenya’s Masai Mara.

In four years of flying over the incredible landscape, he took up more than 7,000 passengers, regularly catching sight of wildebeest, giraffes, rhinos and even the illusive Big Cats.

‘I just love ballooning and you cannot beat the satisfaction you get when you see the happy, smiling faces of your passengers at the end of a flight,’ he says. ‘There is nothing in the corporate world that can touch that feeling.

‘I had so many amazing flights over the Masai that it is hard to pick one out, but the great thing about ballooning is that it doesn’t matter where you fly, every time is different and I’ve had some fantastic flights in Britain,’ he adds.

Some of Neal’s most memorable balloon trips include when he crossed the English Channel and a 200-mile voyage from Pembroke in South Wales almost to Cambridge which placed him second in the Great British Long Jump one year.

The father-of-two flies for Virgin Balloon Flights from Bakewell in Derbyshire which he says is ‘a fantastic place for people to get their first taste of ballooning’.
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Peter Waller

Peter first became involved with ballooning over 16 years ago, when he took to the skies in a friend's balloon and instantly caught the bug! Now he takes passengers on hot air balloon flights in Norfolk and Suffolk.

After first getting involved with ballooning Peter continued it as a hobby whilst running his own insurance brokerage but eventually became full time when he sold his business.

Peter has flown advertising balloons for many well know companies including, amongst others, Eastern Electricity, Fast Fit, Wilco, Mobile Oil, and Charles Stanley Stockbrokers, and is honoured to be the pilot for The Lions Club International and the Round Table Charities.

Peter has been able to help his local special need's school, where he has been able to assist many of the pupils experience the fun and excitement of ballooning.

Over the years Peter has had many memorable flights ranging from flying a bride and groom out of their wedding reception, scattering a loved ones ashes from the air over their favourite golf course, to dropping parachutists from 10,000 ft on a record breaking attempt.

Since he started commercial ballooning he has flown many thousands of passengers and finds each and every flight different, a special adventure! His hobbies including music, motorcycling, computers, and walking his dogs.

Peter does ballooning rides from Ipswich, Jimmy’s Farm, Stowmarket and ballooning flights from Norwich and Wymondham.
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Phil Claridge

Phil has been flying hot air balloons for many years in some of the most beautiful locations in the world - from Thailand to the Lake District.

Having spent a long time working in London as a journalist with the Times and the Sunday Times, Phil gave up the hectic city life to pursue his career as a commercial balloon pilot.

After sometime flying in West Sussex, Phil joined Virgin Balloon Flights in 2008 to pilot in Cumbria. He describes ballooning as ‘an unbelievable adventure that is matchless in any other walk of life’ and in December 2009 it led him to take part in the Thailand International Balloon Festival, a spectacular event which attracted 300,000 spectators.

The day job isn’t bad either, as he has the pleasure of flying over some of the UK’s most spectacular scenery. Brilliant launch sites at Dalemain near Penrith and Kirkby Lonsdale offer incredible panoramic views of the Lake District, while flights from Newby Bridge can sometimes fly right over Lake Windermere itself.
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Richard Prowse

Richard gained his commercial hot air ballooning licence in 1993 and joined the Virgin team in 2003. He has more than 500 hours of experience and pilots balloon flights in Devon and Cornwall.

Between 1994 and 2002 Richard worked as a contract pilot, flying more than 2000 passengers in balloons ranging from Cameron 180's through to the bigger 315's, capable of carrying up to 16 passengers.

In addition, Richard has toured Europe as part of the Michelin team, and flown a variety of special shapes, including the well known Michelin Man which stands at over 180 feet tall.

Richard currently has over 500 hours of commercial flying experience and holds A & B category licenses.

Richard does balloon flights in Devon from launch sites near Plymouth and further a field, where he makes best use of his extensive local knowledge of Dartmoor and the south coast peninsula. He also does ballooning rides from Liskaerd in Cornwall.
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Simon Redman

Simon has been flying balloons for eight years and has joined Virgin Balloon Flights to do Champagne hot air balloon rides from Dorset, Devon and Somerset launch sites.

During his career so far, the 43-year-old father of two has piloted all over Europe, including flights amongst the challenging Swiss and Austrian Alps.

Perhaps the feat the new Virgin pilot is most proud of, however, is when he single-handedly soaring on the wind across the Channel in 2006.

Simon said: “It was part of a major charity challenge and I was raising money for the Hospice in the Weald in Kent. Me and some other pilots launched from Kent and it took around 55 minutes to reach the French coast.

“We flew at around 2,000ft above the water all the way across and from the moment I reached that altitude over the white cliffs of Dover I could see France clearly in the distance. The view was spectacular.

“I was enjoying it so much that I carried on for two and a half hours before eventually landing. There I was greeted by a really friendly local farmer and his family who gave me lunch while I waited for the retrieval crew to come across on the ferry and pick me up.”

That day, Simon was using a small sports balloon, a bit different from the huge 100ft tall red 12-man Virgin balloon he’ll be flying in Dorset. He’ll usually fly for around an hour and always treat his passengers to a traditional champagne toast.

Simon, a carpenter and kitchen-fitter by trade, first got involved with ballooning by crewing for a pilot he knew and it was then that he ‘caught the bug’.

“I never really intended to fly balloons for a living. To be honest, at first, I was quite apprehensive about even going up in them. But a balloon flight is like nothing else you’ll ever experience, it’s amazing, and since I got into it I’ve never looked back,” he added.

Simon does balloon flights from Exeter, Blandford Forum, Shaftsbury, Tiverton, Taunton and Sherborne near Yeovil.
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