|
"David" |
|
High Spirits |
The Spirit of Helen |
Evening Sunrise |
| David W. Bristol |
|
"David" |
|
High Spirits |
The Spirit of Helen |
Evening Sunrise |
| David is the Adams Family Georgia Connection. He lives in a small town in the North Georgia Mountains called Helen, GA. He also loves building and flying hot air balloons. David has lived in Helen, Georgia and Albuquerque, New Mexico He attended White County High School, Truett McConnell College and Gainseville College. David isn't married, but he says he's "looking". Judging from his photo, that should be no problem. |
| David has been fascinated with balloons since he first saw them in the 70's. He started building hot air balloons out of tissue paper when he was 10 years old. By the time he was 13 he had already built his own 14,000 cubic ft. hot air balloon from scraps of fabric. The first balloon was also radio controlled, yet it was large enough to lift him. He started flying balloons over 15 years ago and guess in what brand of balloon he learned to fly? You guessed it ADAMS! He bought "High Spirits" from HEAD Balloons. He got his student license on October 22, 1983 and obtained his private pilots license on June 29, 1991. He now has his Commercial Lighter Than Air Rating which he achieved on October 29, 1993 and is working on his Private Fixed Wing Rating. David currently flies his brand spanking new balloon, christened "Evening Sunrise". It is a HEAD, 16 gore, AX-8-88B (About 90,000 cubic feet in volume). "High Spirits" (Almost an angel name!) was the last balloon Mike Adams built before he died. The envelope is a 1985 A-55-S s/n 154 flying over basket s/n 44 built in 1979. He has 2 other envelopes s/n 44 "the Spirit of Helen" an A-50-S Pop Top and s/n 41 also an A-50-S which hasn't been named yet. Maybe there's an angel name out there David? David is an active member of the Georgia Balloon Association. |
| Most of his flight instruction was from Tarp Head and of course Tarp was responsible for a lot of the design work at Adams. Tarp was a partner from the time of the Adams first Type Certification in 1974 'til he dissolved his partnership with Mike in 1980 and started designing the Head Balloon. |
| Helen, Georgia is the home of the Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race which was started by Pete Hodkinson & Mike Adams. Helen was a testing ground for the earlier design Adams. Mike would let Pete try out the new designs and if they could survive Pete that meant it passed the test. Pete was killed in 1976 in one of the first balloon powerline accidents. |
| David has flown in an impressive list of rallies. They include the Helen to the Atlantic, Chateau E'lan, Freedom Weekend Aloft Greenville, Team Nationals Atlanta, Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, U.S. Nationals Baton Rouge 89, 90, and 91, Greenwood, Mississippi, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee, Taste of Kansas, Adirondack Balloon Fest Clen Falls, New York, Atlanta Dogwood Fest, Springtime Tallahassee, Sun-N-Fun 98, Lakeland, Florida and Flight over "Sky City" Acoma Pueblo, Acoma, New Mexico rallies. |
| David says his best ballooning experience is "Each New Flight". David is a welcome addition to the Adams Family Hot Air Balloon Teams. |
| David's crew include: |
| Tarp Head, Crew Chief | Craig McDonald, Crew Chief | Jason Rainwater, Crew Chief | John Terry | Shawn Henderson | Kirk Dills |
| Roger Cantrell | � | � |
| David's personal data include: |
| Aeronautical Licenses: Private Balloon Pilot and Commercial Balloon Pilot (Required for paid rides.) |
| Day Job: Real Estate Agent. |
| Hobbies: Hot Air Ballooning, computers, electronics and authoring his own web page which can be seen at members.xoom.com/hotairfly. |
| Motto: Wherever you go, you are there! |
Best ballooning story (Reprinted from an article written by David Bristol for the February 1999 issue of the Quad A Cloudbouncer): This is a story about how tethered balloons became regulated. It began with an accident that happened to my Real Estate Broker and a friend in 1979. The City of Helen, Georgia, had just purchased "Spirit of Helen", one of the first Adams balloons ever built in the early 1970s. To celebrate the city's new balloon, a ceremony was planned to include a tether. Some of the balloonists decided to tether the original "Helen Balloon" alongside its replacement. With two of its 16 suspension cables already missing or disintegrated, the old Helen Balloon had long since been determined unairworthy. At the time, however, the balloon was not required to be airworthy, nor were its pilots-in-command required to be licensed. After all, they were only going to tether, and what could be the harm in that? Tethering is safe, right? With the Spirit of Helen ceremony underway, both balloons were inflated and soon rose. What happened next is still unclear, but the old balloon broke free of its tethers. The Helen Balloon was suddenly flying freely over the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Needless to say, landing sites were few and far between. Both the pilot and his passenger were now looking for a place to land. Heading in a forested and mountainous direction, they finally spotted a field some 3 miles away. Since the old Adams balloons didn't have much for vents, the pilot brushed through the trees to slow down for a landing. And that's just where they stopped, as the system got hung up in some branches. The pilot had to add a considerable amount of heat to break free from the tall oak. But the sudden release caused the balloon to start oscillating, which put uneven stress on the remaining steel suspension cables. On the ascent, the cables smapped, one by one, until all were broken. The actual height from which they dropped is unclear. I have heard stories ranging from 100 to 500 feet. As they fell, they broke throught the tops of the trees and impacted on the side of a steep hill. Amazingly, both survived. The passenger was in a coma for quite some time, and the pilot had broken his back, legs, and arms. They said he would never walk again. Now, almost 20 years later, the pilot is walking 3 miles a day, and the passenger is in great health. Neither has taken another balloon ride. |
| You may contact David with any ballooning question at: |
 e-mail address: balloonride@netzero.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.
