We provide tethered rides, free-flight (untethered) rides, educational presentations, and active crowd/customer interaction and participation. Please see the following sections for details. We can provide any combination of the listed services based upon your needs. All presentations/rides are dependent upon weather conditions. Passenger capacity will also vary dependent upon weight of passengers, ambient temperature, and field elevation.

1)
Tethered rides are performed at your location. Please see the section Site Requirements.

2)
Free-Flights are only performed in Temecula, CA at sunrise.

3)
Educational presentations can consist of a wide variation of choices to meet your individual needs. Even if your Risk Assessment Department won’t permit a Hot Air Balloon, we can eliminate the risk and still provide excitement, learning, and interaction with your people. We can provide a Hot Air Balloon Information booth, a cold inflated balloon that your customers can walk into, and a separate basket for them to climb into and take pictures. All without the risk of a conventional hot air balloon. Obviously, we can still provide classroom presentations from overhead transparencies, videos, or Power Point Presentations. You name it and we can do it.

4)
If you’re an Event Planner, you want that crowd that came to see the balloons kept happy. There are times they arrive late and miss the balloons or Mother Nature grounds the balloons. We have some alternatives that can keep that crowd happy as they interact and get hands on experience with Hot Air Balloons without the hot air. See section 3 above.
 
 
 
We are a 501c3 publicly supported charity. We use donations and money from Festivals to subsidize the costs for our visits to children’s summer camps and other worthwhile events. Each event is unique, so please contact us about the approximate cost to meet your needs. Typically, these are the expenses involved with doing an event:

Aircraft Fuel:
This is the cost of propane used by the balloon. We carry 60 gallons with us. Use your local $/gallon cost as an estimate. 60 gallons of propane lasts ~ 2 hours.

Insurance Costs:
If your event requires any special certificates, you pay those costs. They typically run ~ $50.
 
Vehicle:
We use the current IRS mileage deduction (0.585 cents/mile) to determine this cost. Our estimate is based upon the round trip mileage from our door to your site location using Map Quest as a reference. When we return from the event, we’ll give you an updated/actual mileage count.

Hotel/Food:
Obviously, if we have to travel outside our local area, we must consider the costs of hotel and food. We use the IRS daily guidelines for estimates.

Travel Time:
We charge $15/hour travel time.
 
$1,200/day. This includes all or any combination of: tether, displays, and walk-in balloon. We typically can tether for ~ 2hours. The displays are up and staffed all day and evening, depending upon volunteers available.
 
Free-flights are performed in Temecula, CA only. These are “Private Flights” not “Balloon Rides”. The cost is $500 per flight. The basket can handle one physically challenged person and up to 2 others, depending upon overall weight. This cost is subsidized by us and is well below the local market cost for a private flight.
 

Please consult with us to help get a better estimate of the costs. A typical local event that runs 2 to 4 hours has ~$150 out of pocket expenses. We do our utmost to keep costs low. We do NOT charge for our time or the time on the equipment. If you’d like to make a donation, we’d love to have it and it is tax deductible.