BALLOONING SAFETY

Hot Air Ballooning and safety go hand in hand. It is important to know about your balloon company and the measures they take to insure a safe flight.

At Unicorn Balloon and Adventures Out West we pride are selves on maintaining one of the finest fleets of balloons in the business. We use modern equipment built by the oldest balloon manufacturer in the country, Aerostar. As with all aircraft, balloons are subject to annual inspections by an FAA certified repair facility to insure minimum safe tollerances. Aerostar balloons are held to higher inspection standards than other balloon manufacturers by their own merits.

Balloon Accidents are usually the result of poor pilot decisions. Our Pilots are some of the best in the country, see our pilot bios. Our pilots are selected based on their extensive flight careers, currency and proficiency in flight and local knowledge of weather conditions. Unlike most balloon companies our pilots are paid a fee for their services even in the event of a flight cancellation relieving the financial pressure to fly on questionable days.

Flight decisions are based on current weather forcasts by the FAA and the National Weather Service. Our experienced pilots use their years of knowledge to interpret and read the weather at flight time. No matter what the inconvinence or loss of revenue to the company we will not fly if our equipment or skills tell us not to.

Hot Air Ballooning is a sport not unlike whitewater rafting, mountain biking or skiing. There are inherent risks involved. Our flights originate in rural and remote areas not at airports. Landings can be rough though generally they are quite gentle Guests on balloon flights should be fit and in good physical condition ready for an adventure in the outback.

Adventures Out West and Unicorn Balloon Co. is owned by Greg Wellens. Greg is, 33 years old and has been involved with ballooning for his entire life. His family started flying in 1973 and pioneered many of balloonings first in Colorado. Bruce Wellens, his father has flown commercially for 33 years and started the company. The wellens purchased Unicorn Balloon Co in 2002 from long time balloonist Fred Gorrel. The Wellens also operate Jeep tours, rafting tours and other outdoor adventure activities as a full time business. All balloon Companies claim to be the best and safest but only one can be. Ask our competitors the following questions to learn a little about them.

1. How long have you been flying?

2. Have you ever had an accident? And then look up the company name on the web.

3. Is this a new company or did you purchase an existing company? People buy old names for legitimacy.

4. Will you fax me a copy of your insurance certificate?

5. When was the last flight your company performed? Currency

For further information hot air ballooning and ballooning statistics refer to the link below. Happy flying.

http://www.facworld.com/FACWORLD.nsf/Doc/Hotairballoon

Old ballooninst saying, "It is better to be on the ground wishing were in the air then in the air wishing you were on the ground."

Balloon Ride Participant Waiver:

Balloon Ride Participant Waiver and Landing Instructions

If you wish to print out a copy of the waiver, but do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html and download the latest free version of Acrobat Reader.

-- mor info coming soon --

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