Inside the Basket - Balloon Pilot Andrew Strang and his team Sky Adventures

Adventure seekers travel from across the world to attend Balloon Fiesta. In this month’s Inside the Basket interview, we hear from pilot Andrew Strang and his team at Sky Adventures, who travel from Michigan to fly through the New Mexico October skies.

Read Andrew’s story in this month’s Inside the Basket, and check out his journey to the 2023 Balloon Fiesta here.

1. Please provide a brief overview of your ballooning background:

My foray into ballooning started with my Uncle Richard more than 35 years ago when a hot air balloon landed in an empty pasture of the farmhouse he lived in back then. He thought it would be something fun to do with his family, asked if they ever needed help (OF COURSE!), and began crewing. In roughly 1990, when I was just 8 years old, my uncle invited my dad, brother, and I out to crew with the team at Sky Adventures and I was immediately enamored with hot air ballooning. I spent countless hours drawing pictures of the balloons I chased, and my dad, now pilot Uncle Richard, and my Aunt Sandy all love to make my 42-year-old face red in front of my passengers recounting me telling my dad as a kid... "I'm going to be a pilot one day".

I loved every minute of chasing, crewing, and just being a part of it all, and in July 2000 at 18 years old, I took my first training flight. After many years and more than 100 hours, I earned my Private Pilot certificate in 2013 and then my Commercial certificate in 2014. I truly find it enjoyable taking up complete strangers, nerding out on their ballooning questions in the air for an hour, and showing them how beautiful and fun this sport is. I've logged more than 550 hours to date with a (Detroit) Lions share of them in my beautiful home state of Michigan, and I've also attended events in Kentucky, New York, and of course New Mexico.

I'm incredibly proud to fly alongside my longtime friend and mentor Dennis Kollin at Sky Adventures, especially as we celebrate his 50^th year in ballooning next year in 2025! Flying a hot air balloon is already amazing in its own right, but sharing the experience every summer with my family, and ballooning family that I've known most of my life, makes it that much more special to me.

2. How and when did you become involved in Balloon Fiesta?

My first experience at Fiesta came in the year 2000 when Dennis was celebrating 25 years in ballooning, wanted to do something special, and it was going to be the largest Fiesta ever, with more than 1,000 balloons registered. Oddly, I don't remember a lot from that year besides being amazed at the special shapes, the sheer volume of balloons, locals apologizing for the cold overcast weather, and the fact that there was so much sand everywhere! (Since a fellow could earn themselves demerits for landing a balloon on dirt here in the very green Midwest) I returned as a commercial pilot to Fiesta in 2015, 2019, and 2023 feeling more comfortable in the crowded ABQ sky each trip, having more and more fun.

3. What balloon do you fly and what is the story behind it?

Flying primarily as a commercial pilot taking paid rides, I get to fly balloons ranging from 77,000 to 120,000 cubic ft with 2-6 passengers. Our process for naming our balloons is mostly unscientific but organic, in that we just fly a new balloon; sometimes for weeks, with the pilots and crew tossing out various names they think fit during radio contact, eventually somebody lands on one that sticks and gets bragging rights. It makes for fun competition when we get new balloons, and last year we got two!

4. What is your favorite Balloon Fiesta memory?

Fiesta 2023 from start to finish was just the best for me in general with great weather, meeting Facebook friends in person, and making new friends throughout the week. On Friday the 13^th, my friend Jeff took off, and landed back at the field, which none of us had done the entire week, so he was quite proud of himself; that is of course, until my Uncle Richard also landed at the field, then I landed next to Jeff, and Dennis landed next to our launch square. We all had a great laugh about it when Jeff told us after refueling "I thought I was all that... until everybody else did it."

5. What do you do when you’re not flying hot air balloons?

My family and I love to do anything outdoors together, especially hiking, biking, and camping all over the eastern half of the country, and we're making plans to begin traveling the western half of the United States. I also love photography, videography, drones, and would love to film and edit a documentary (or many) in the future.

6. Do you have any advice for a pilot coming to Balloon Fiesta for the first time?

Balloon Fiesta is so well organized, that it's worth taking the time to familiarize yourself with as many of the procedures and guidelines in the weeks leading up to Fiesta, so they're fresh in your mind, and that will allow you to focus on flying your balloon safely. In 2015, my first Fiesta as a pilot, I hadn't done much in advance to prepare and it led to me feeling intimidated and stressed at points throughout the week. I enjoyed myself so much more in 2019 and 2023 after studying the materials and knowing exactly what was expected of me as a pilot. Also, land in Corrales, there's grass there!