Hot Air Will Travel
August 21st, 2008 categories: Market Trends, Relocating
A couple of days after my last post, I received a call from a Mayflower employee. As a matter of fact, he happened to be one of those travelling in the subject of my last post; the Mayflower Hot Air Balloon. He called to say he’d seen the post and was glad we’d (yes, I wasn’t the only individual spying the balloon that afternoon) noticed! Additionally, he mentioned that more information about the balloon, and its’ pilot, could be found on Mayflower’s home page.
I’ll provide a bit of that information here, just in case you aren’t able to take a look at their page. But, you ought to, you may find, as I did, some items of interest! Here are some balloon facts (straight from Mayflower’s Hot Air Balloon page) you may find interesting:
2005 marked the inaugural year of flight for the Mayflower Transit balloon. The balloon is made of ripstop nylon and sports a bright, green, yellow and red design with three Mayflower ship inflatable appendages that give the balloon a special shape. The balloon is fueled by propane, which heats the envelope. Variation in the envelope temperature provides vertical movement, but the direction of the flight is completely dependent upon prevailing wind currents.
While the ballon’s specifications were of interest, this military retiree found the balloon’s pilot’s background a bit more compelling. Flying “hot-airs” since 1989, Kevin Niels Knapp is a retired Army major who is a full-time commercial balloon pilot, has owned and operated the “ARMY” hot-air balloon since 1994, and owns Airborne AD-Ventures, a full-service, hot-air balloon company. So, as you can see, Mr. Knapp is anything but ”retired”.
As far as the the phone call, the Mayflower representative informed me the balloon is an interesting and valuable marketing tool that normally elicits more than a few inquiries from the public.
For those of us outside that day watching it float by, seemingly without a care in the world, we wondered what it might be like floating up there, so high and so free…..
And, while Mayflower may be on my list of vendors to call next time I move, I don’t think I’ll be calling them anytime soon for a my first ”Hot Air” trip. But, then again, if the mood strikes me, maybe so. It sure looks fun.
Cool, if only Allied had a hot air balloon too… they could race!