Crew Safety- Landowner Relations

This was another excellent class put on by Gordon. This was on landowner relations.
" Ballooning is 10 percent ballooning and 90 percent people skills."

If you rearrange the letters of landowner relations you get two things: Land now or later, Land Now, No Sir

Formula for danger: 1 balloonist, 1 landowner and bad relations could lead to havoc for decades. His example was that in Illinois, someone landed on a piece of property at a community surrounding a lake. The pilot was rude, the crew tore up his property and after the flight they had the celebration in the field. That person now hates balloons. He went onto become the mayor of this community and the first thing he did was now make it illegal to land a balloon within this community. This community has 38,000 people in it and growing every year.

Remember, that not only the balloon landing in the wrong area can cause bad relations, but also the actions of crew members. Most people don't realize that each balloon has a chase vehicle. They associate seeing a trailer with balloons on the side and anything that you are doing to make them mad, they see it as all balloons not just that one. Train your crew to be polite and remind them that their actions could cause a bad experience and ruin it for all balloonists in the area and those coming to the area.

If you are in a situation where damage is evident, and you have the option of injuring an animal or damaging the crops, choose the crop every time. Vet bills can run very large and people are very attached to their animals.

Great Quote by Ed Yost " Protect yourself first and this beautiful creation- The Hot Air Balloon."