This Sumner High School student’s office is a hot air balloon. Here’s how he trained
Hot air ballooning comes with a perk that most jobs can’t offer.
“We only fly in good weather so it’s always super pretty, and it’s just a great way to see the world,” Cooper Dill said. “It’s a nice office.”
Dill is a senior at Sumner High School. Two summers ago, he decided to try something new after he saw a post on Facebook, asking for help setting up hot air balloon rides.
Dill has always been drawn to science as well as the concept of hot air balloons, he said. As he helped set up balloons over summer 2020, he eventually learned the mechanics of flying them.
“Most people that see hot air balloons just kind of instantly fall in love,” Dill said. “That happened to me.”
About a year after, Dill decided to participate in Seattle Ballooning’s first Aeronaut Training Program. The program offers free hot air balloon training over the summer for people living in the greater Seattle area.
The program was established to help get young people interested in hot air ballooning, Eliav Cohen, chief pilot and owner of Seattle Ballooning, said. The average balloon pilot in the U.S. is a 68-year-old white male, he said.
“We were lucky enough in the state of Washington to have half of our pilots be female in general, which is a big deal in aviation,” Cohen said.
Last summer’s program had over 20 high school and college students, and half of them were women, Cohen said. This summer, the program will take 25 students. Over 50 percent will be women, 25 percent will be people of color and 25 percent will come from low-income and underserved communities.
The only way people can learn how to fly hot air balloons is by buying their own because people cannot rent balloons, Cohen said. The program removes that barrier by giving students access to balloons and experienced pilots.
The program offers up to 10 hours of flight time. Participants will get hands-on experience with setting up, riding and breaking down hot air balloons. Participants will be responsible for any fees associated with the Federal Aviation Administration, but otherwise it’s free. At the end, they get a student balloon pilot license from the FAA.
Participants will get a chance to fly a hot air balloon almost 5,000 feet high in front of Mount Rainier, Cohen said. They will also fly over Enumclaw, Lake Tapps, the White River and the Green River.
Students who are interested in participating in this summer’s program can find more information on the program’s website. The deadline to apply is March 1. Online training will start in April and the flight program will start in May.
Dill’s close friend, Aidan Hughes, also worked with him in 2020 and participated in the program last summer. Hughes lives in Orting and is also a senior at Sumner High School. They are both working to get their private license, Hughes said.
Sometime around the end of last summer, Dill and Hughes scored a 90,000-cubic-foot hot air balloon from a man in Ohio. But the wintertime did not give them a lot of opportunities to fly, Dill said.
“We’re just waiting until the weather gets better to really be able to start flying it more,” Dill said.
Hughes said nothing can compare to the experience that comes with hot air ballooning. Being able to look at things from a bird’s perspective and picking a pinecone or two after brushing against a tree is “awesome,” he said.
Hughes’ favorite moment last summer was when they watched the sunrise.
“As you start going up in the air you start seeing the sun before it’s coming up,” Hughes said. “That’s pretty amazing.”
After graduating high school, Hughes plans to attend Washington State University to pursue orthodontics. He plans to continue hot air ballooning over the summer. Dill, on the other hand, plans to study business and finance at Boise State University.
Dill said he is in touch with a hot air balloon pilot at the university and hopes to go on a couple of flights with them in the next few years.
“It’s just an awesome hobby that I love, and I’ll just see where it takes me,” Dill said.
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
