|
"Ted" |
Windpacer |
| Ted was born October 27, 1937 in Wirch, North Dakota. He has lived in most cities of the world, including Japan, Saudi Arabia and many States. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Jason. MR2. He claims two purple hearts for action in the bars of Sasebo, Japan, which is also a sister city to Albuquerque, New Mexico. |
| He claims that he was kicked out of the third grade because he wouldn't shave. Although that may be true, he attended the University of North Dakota, among others, and graduated from Treasure Valley, Community college with a degree in Commercial Aviation. He has three children, two boys, Teddy and Justin and one girl, Alexis. | Ted got into ballooning by helping a balloon land in Phoenix, Arizona. As Ted tells it, "He threw a line down and told me to grab it. I am an idiot. I grabbed. Got him down and went to look inside the basket and decided I needed to do this." That did it. Ted bought his balloon, Windpacer from Mike Adams and earned his private balloon pilot license in the Spring of 1982. He continued on and got his commercial balloon pilots license in the Fall of 1982. His aircraft pilot licenses date back to 1964. He holds an ATP, around 25,000 hours. Since then he has flown in too many rallies to include on this page. | Ted organized the Battle Ground Fiesta Balloon Meet and organized the Safety Seminar for the Northwest Ballooning Society. He has won the BFA President's award, the BFA Director's award and was named NBA Aeronaut of the Year. |
| Now retired from the airlines, Ted owns and operates Captain Ted's Flying Service. He owns a Cessna 205 and is a contract pilot for the Office of Aircraft Services. Most of his flying is between 500 and 200 feet, either tracking some animal, counting some animal, or surveying the land. |
| Ted has no crew. Before you start to feel sorry for him, listen to what he has to say about help getting the balloon inflated. He says "Mostly I use someone in the crowd, mainly women, mostly endowed women." As to crew names, he says "I ain't got none." |
| Ted's personal data include: |
| Aeronautical Licenses: Private Balloon Pilot and Commercial Balloon Pilot (Required for paid rides.) Private Aircraft Pilot and Commercial Aircraft Pilot |
| Day Job: Owns and operates Captain Ted's Flying Service. |
| Hobbies: Hot Air Ballooning, Beekeeping, Shooting Pool, Chess and authoring a web page, which can be seen at http://www.gaia-inc.net. |
| Motto to live by: Do unto others before they do unto you. |
| Best Ballooning Experience: Flying with Mike Adams over the pines of Georgia. |
| Worst Ballooning Experience: Flying over the pines of Georgia during the Mike Adams Memorial. |
| You may contact Ted with any ballooning question at: |
 e-mail address: captted@gaia-inc.net |
Click on a pilot's picture to go to that page
Copyright� 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Except for educational entities, no reproduction without written permission of The Adams Family Hot Air Balloon Teams is allowed.