Share
the Thank You Balloon
With Your Community
Flying the Thank You Balloon we believe is a special honor. You carry the torch of 1,000 thanks to be shared with the people in your local community who deserve it most. Beyond that, you are an ambassador of the spirit of ballooning, promoting the happiness and inspiration our sport brings.
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Applying does not guarantee you will fly the balloon, although we promise to make every effort so that you may. Our goal is to develop a US network of pilots/operators, so that we can work on planning efficiently and testing something like a Coast-to-Coast Thank You Road Trip in 2021. Experienced private pilots or commercial pilots may apply.
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The balloon will come with the FlyDOO user manual and aircraft logbook. You are required to make the appropriate entry into the logbook. Should you damage the balloon, you are responsible for taking it to your repair station and covering costs, along with proper logbook entries by the repairman.
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We will give first dib preference to those who could stand up the balloon at hospitals, grocery stores, and other public centers like parks. Schools are always welcome too. This is not required, but community and local media involvement are both deeply encouraged. We are here to support you with materials and planning. Please coordinate ahead of receiving the balloon.
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We ask that each Pilot in Command to assume gas expenses and cover costs and logistics to pass the balloon over to the next pilot.
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Commercial ride operators may also use the balloon to give free flights to one or 2 special guests. Ride operators may also use the balloon to promote their own business in anyway possible, as we sympathize with how the economic impact affected our industry.
Learn more on the Partner Program further below.
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Each partner or pilots getting the TYB will have to agree and sign out Terms of Use before receiving the balloon.
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Our goal is to begin flying in the USA in early 2021 and fly for the life of the balloon into the future after that. You may sign the balloon up for specific festivals too and we will aim to accommodate on a first come first serve basis.
Partner program for balloon operators and flight instructors
It is simple, we want to support the community of balloon operators and flight instructors through those times of uncertainty, by encouraging them to apply for flying the Thank You Balloon. Flying this one of a kind balloon, might alone bring good karma to shine over your life and business, but for taking the most out of it, you will have to communicate about this effectively around you.
We recommend to carry on at least one public inflation, for example in front of a Hospital or at a school, inviting local media to share your story and the one of the Thank You Balloon, as a good example of how our ballooning community came together to crowdfund this balloon and to spread our gratitude message around us. It will be wonderful opportunity to thank your crew as well, your local authorities if you might find it convenient, the landowners in your area, and all customers that enjoyed a ride or a lesson with you in the past: and of course, remember them you are still there and happy to take them up in the sky again!
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To further support our community and promote the sport of ballooning as a whole, we will build up a "Ballooning" page on our website, presenting to the public our sport, and a listing of all operators where to experience a ride, as well as a "Where to learn" page
listing all active flight instructors that adhere to our program.
We invite them to display our "We Fly with Gratitude" label on their website and social media during the time that our initiative if live.
But as gratitude should not be limited by anything, we would like to include in that listing all operators and instructors that ask us to do so, and that want to benefit from the visibility that this initiative might have towards the general public. We will however add a little "TYB"
logo in front of those operators that will engage in flying the Thank You Balloon.
an opportunity to express yourself and empower our gratitude message
We believe we are at the start of a great project here, that in the future might evolve in different directions that are mostly unpredictable right now.
We would like to open up this project to all of you. If you have an idea you would like to share with us, get in touch with us!
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The TYB could be used to offer rides to people that deserve it particularly, or that suffer from any phisical, mental or social disadvantage.
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As a medium to long-term goal, we symphatize with the idea that the TYB balloon will complete its career dedicated to provide flight instruction to the future generation of balloon pilots, at no cost related to using the equipment... Additional sponsorships might contribute to lower down the cost of flight instruction and facilitate the access to our sport to young and highly motivated individuals...