Art Prior advertises weekly in the San Diego Reader
Early in the morning of Sunday, August 5, 2001, balloon pilot Art Prior took seven people with him on an unforgettable adventure. Alisa, Chuck, Diane', Rachel, Richard, Steve and Wendy all enjoyed their first ride in a hot air balloon. They were not simply idle passengers, however; they also served as Captain Prior's hardworking ground crew. Further adding to the excitement was the fact that this was no ordinary balloon. This was the seasoned star of magazine and screen: Oceanquest!
How It All Started
The Original Advertisement that Steve & Wendy Responded To
Above is the original ad from the July 5, 2001 San Diego Reader that Steve & Wendy acted upon. First, Wendy called the number in the ad, and got a recorded message. Later, Steve called again and Art Prior answered personally. After Steve expressed interest in learning more about this "Ballooning Special", Art gave him a complete rundown:Not many people know this, but 95% of balloon flights are in the early morning. That's generally when the best weather for flying is had. You may have seen balloons in the sky over Del Mar in the afternoon. Now if we launched from Del Mar in the morning, after 30 minutes or more we'd notice that we were drifting across the beach and out over the ocean. (As I listened I immediately comprehended that this would be a terrible situation.) This is because the prevailing winds in the morning blow toward the ocean, and in the afternoon, they blow inland. So Art generally launches a ways inland, from San Marcos, and then flies southwest to Oceanside or Del Mar, where he lands. Upon landing he and his passengers pop open a bottle of champaigne and enjoy a traditional post-flight celebration. Then they go to breakfast together, which is optional.
How long are the passengers actually in the air? Between 30 and 40 minutes. The balloon hold four passengers at a time. An ideal day for Art is to have 12 passengers. While 4 are up in the air, the other 8 are serving as the chase team, following the balloon in Art's pickup truck. Once in the air, Art takes the balloon up to between 1000 and 2000 feet for a spectactular view. Then, for the final 10 minutes of each leg of the flight, he drops down and does "contour flying". This is what most people enjoy the most. It's flying along 3 or 4 feet above the ground, following the natural contours of the land. If a house is in the way, we just hop over it! In the meantime, this allows the pilot to search for a suitable landing site. Once touching down, the four passengers disembark (in an orderly fashion, because if they all jumped out at once, Art and his balloon would suddenly shoot up into the air) and are replaced by the next four passengers. And the next 30 to 40 minute leg of the flight commences!
Art has been doing this for 23 years. This is not what he does for a living, so that's why he's able to have his price so cheap. To fly, we need to mail a $20 deposit to him (he gave his address), along with the number of passengers in the party, their names, their approximate weight, and the desired flight date (either Saturday or Sunday morning), and a telephone number. He'll call back to confirm your flight, and to give you more pre-flight information.
We went for it! Our 7th wedding anniversary would be on August 6th, so we elected to try and book a flight for Sunday August 5th, 2001.
When Art called us back a few days before the 5th, he confirmed us for a Sunday flight at 5:30am. We were to meet him at the 24 hour Shell gasoline station at the intersection of Highway 15 and Miramar Road. He suggested we wear sturdy shoes, like hiking boots, clothing that we would not mind getting dirty, and lots and lots of film! He says that most people, if not forewarned, will run out of film before the balloon is even in the air! He suggested we bring enough film for about 70 photographs. On each morning before every flight, he calls Aviation Weather to check in and notify them of his flight, and also to get the weather forecast. If the weather will be poor, then we would no doubt drive inland, launch, and fly over Perris, California.
Would you like to see the photographs we took on this exciting day? Come along with us... (click the arrow below)
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