Aerial Adventures USA

Since 1992, we have entertained thousands of people with our commercial hot air balloon rides.

Back in 1982, we went to our first hot air balloon festival as spectators. It was fascinating! It was early in the morning, just before sunrise, a bright cool morning.

Watching the balloons as they were unpacked out of the trucks, vans and trailers and then laid out on the dew covered grass.

The excitement kept building.

We listened to the pilots and crew as they communicated their instructions for laying the basket on its side, hooking up the equipment and unfolding the balloon fabric.

And then, one by one, the throttling up of the inflator fans, filling in the fabric with cold air, the balloons taking shape. Once the fabric was full, but still laying on the ground, the pilots got into their baskets, started the pilot lights on the burners and then... the "woosh" noise of the burners startled us as their flames heated the cold air.

As the air was heated, the noise from the burners became almost deafening, and then...

...silence.

The fabric lifted off of the ground and then the baskets leaned up until it was upright. The pilots gave it a little extra "woosh", to fill in the fabric tight with hot air, and then the passengers climbed in.

A little more heat and noise from the burners and the balloons lifted, so gently off the ground, that the passengers did not know they were air borne.

As we watched them float away down over the town, some touching down on the stream, some touching the tops of the trees, someday... just someday, I knew I would do that!

It only took another nine years. But, after my first flight in 1991, I
knew this was something that I would enjoy doing for the rest of my life. Two weeks after my first flight, I was having my first lesson and within two months we had our first new balloon.

Today, we operate our balloon ride business in central Massachusetts, just off Rt. 9, about 10 miles west of Worcester, MA in the beautiful valley area of the Brookfields, Warren and New Braintree.

We fly on the weekends, and most of our flights are first thing in the morning, right around sunrise. We fly at this time, to take advantage of the cool temperatures of the morning and because this is usually the calmest part of the day.

We fly year round, usually on the weekends, with most of our passenger flights between the months of May and October.


A Typical Flight

We have our passengers meet us at our home about 15-30 minutes before sunrise. One of our guests will become our launch site co-ordinator and will let a helium balloon rise up into the air. This helium balloon is called a pibol and as it ascends upwards, it tells us the directions of the breeze and just how much breeze is up above. We will then have all of the passengers and crew get into our vans and chase vehicles and we will drive them to one of our many launch sites, usually about 10 miles away. This is a great time to get to know the pilot, passengers and crew... there are always lots of interesting questions to answer.

When we arrive at our launch site, we put up another pibol, just making sure that conditions have not changed and with a nod from our crew chief and pilot, the excitement begins. Our passengers are welcomed to help out if they would like to be involved or they can walk around and take pictures.

It takes about 30 minutes to set up the balloon and have it ready to fly. Once the balloon is ready and we have gone through our checklists, we are ready to have the passengers climb in. This is a great time for picture taking (we call it a photographic opportunity) ! We will have our passenger briefing to let them know where we will be traveling and what they can expect to see and do. We will cover the procedures for everyone to do when we land. And then comes the crescendo... the heating of the air inside the balloon envelope. It usually takes only a minute or so of heating... and then we will gently and quietly lift off !

We will float up in the air and will ascend up to around 500- 1,500' above the ground. It is spectacular! Not only for the passengers, but also for me. I get to see the awe and amazement in the passengers eyes... the very same feeling that I had on my first flight! It is so interesting to me to see how the fear of the unknown melts away in each and every passenger and a feeling of serenity and tranquility takes over. For some folks, it only takes a few seconds to be comfortable up in the air, for others it might take 5-10 minutes.

While flying we may descend down over the pine groves, floating just a few feet above the trees. You may be able to smell the fresh bouquet of pine scents, or the muskey fragrance of the older forests which consist of mostly oaks, maples and poplar trees. If conditions are favorable, we can drop right down on top of the trees and the passengers can pick a leaf or an acorn or two.

We will then ascend back up and float along. The world takes on a whole new look from up above. It is very peaceful and quiet, except for the occasional burst of noise and heat from the burners or a lonely dog barking from down below, or a local neighbor out for an early morning walk who asks, "How is it up there ?". We may see deer, an occasional fox or coyote, wild turkeys, and beaver in the small streams and sheltered ponds which glisten from the early morning sun. The ponds are home for a wide abundance of wildlife including ducks, blue herons and Canada geese. We may also see the beautiful red tail hawks as we fly along. Each flight is different and we never know what beauty may be found in Mother Nature during the flight.

We prefer flying into this area of central Massachusetts because of all of the larger fields and big back yards which we can land on and because of the hospitality of the farmers and landowners. We always offer to take the landowners up and down in the balloon, as a thank you for letting us land on their property. Then, there is always the tradition of leaving the landowners with a cold bottle of sparkling champagne.

Our flights last about an hour, up to an hour and a half. I'm sure that you can tell, just from reading this page, that I am enjoying the flights just as much, if not even more, than everyone else, so if I can fly a little longer, I always do.

Once we land, we have a tethered ride up and down for the landowners (weather permitting). We will then deflate the balloon and pack it back into the trailer. This takes about 30 minutes. We will then take out our table, table cloth, flowers and crystal ware and have a champagne toast to the flight with our passengers, land owners and crew.

We have complimentary cheese and crackers for all, and juice for the non-drinkers. To finish our celebration, we will travel to a local restaurant where we land and have breakfast (usually "The Trolley Stop" in East Brookfield).

For all that we offer, including the flight, champagne toast, breakfast and all of the fun, excitement and entertainment in our beautiful hot air balloons, we charge $200.00 per person.

We offer gift certificates, payable when we send out the certificates, and we accept VISA and MasterCard.

We will even accept cash !

We usually book up very quickly, once the ballooning season starts, because of all that we do and offer our passengers. So give us a call and make your reservation (508-867-2008).

If you do not have a gift certificate, we only require a small $50.00 deposit to hold your reservation. This $50.00 deposit is refundable, as long as you provide us with at least a 3 day notice of your cancellation.

The weather around here in New England is always non-predictable... just ask our local weather forecasters ! We always ask that our passengers call us the night before the flight, around 8:15, to confirm their flight. There are times where Mother Nature is not very accomodating and we will have to cancel the flight because of wind, either right on the ground or up above at 500 - 3000', or because of inclement weather. When this happens, we will either refund your deposit or just re-book your reservation for another weekend that is convenient to your schedule and ours.