Enchanted Balloon Rides
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Enchanted Balloon Tours is rich in ballooning history. The Williams family has been hot air ballooning in Orange County New York for 39 years. Dave's father Fred Williams, an outstanding pilot and ballooning pioneer, began ballooning in 1971 by building his own equipment. It seemed a little risky, but that is how it was done. Fred wove the gondolas, attached all of the fixtures, and even cut patterns before sewing his own balloon envelopes. Fred has built more than a dozen balloon systems including his first - 'Neophite' in 1972 (the green and white balloon above). Imagine a 100,000 cubic foot balloon floating overhead in 1972 when there were just over 200 hot air balloons in the entire country. Fred also built balloons for promotions and for the motion picutre and prison escape movie entitled "On the Yard". Fred converted his experimental vision in 1985 to commercial reality by starting his own hot air balloon ride business. Fred's sons Dave, Daryl, and Scott were involved at a very young age. Dave became his dad's crew chief and started logging student pilot hours at the age of 14. Scott and Daryl also took interest in crewing and piloting. Our prominence in ballooning comes from our entire ballooning family flying for many years mostly for fun, over New York's beautiful Orange County. ENCHANTED
HISTORY
(above) One of our first chase vehicles. Times have changed.
(below) Fred built this balloon to celebrate the bi-centenial in 1976.
(below) Fred's first balloon, 'Neophite' contained the same volume as thirty - 18 wheelers!
The balloon below was used as a model for the movie 'On the Yard'. A larger model was actually flown out of the prison in the movie.
The balloon below is our newest addition to our 'other side' of ballooning. We built this tetrahedron to fly as a single person balloon or a 'cloud hopper'.
On Sale Now..... only $20.00
Through the pages of this book you can put yourself into the basket and land in a swamp, river, lake, or the middle of the woods. You will fly in the dark, and ascend to almost 2 miles above the surface of the earth. Walk waist deep in muddy water after a flight, watch a landowner threaten to cut the balloon, and be there when a disgruntled property owner pulls out a rifle to disuade the balloon landing.
No, the hundreds and hundreds of exhilarating 'regular' flights are not touched upon in this fascinating culmination of ballooning adventures. Perfect flights make for incredible flying, but not much for incredible reading. Indescribable, you will just have to experience an amazing balloon flight for yourself.
How does Fred and his crew get into.....and out of these situat....uuh predicaments? You will have to read Fred's fascinating accounts to find out. You will not be dissapointed.
Get the answer to Fred's most frequently asked question. "How did you get involved in hot air ballooning?" Fred not only became involved, but built his first, and many other hot air balloons...by hand...from scratch!
Don't worry, the Wright Brothers did not fly off into the sunset on their first attempt either. That was then, this is now. We use all of the modern navigation, weather, and safety equipment available. Enchanted Balloons has a perfect safety record and has all of its equipment inspected by an FAA certified repair station. See you soon.
