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Fresh from a very hot weekend, I guess I’ve got some explaining to do. And no, not that Girls Gone Wild kind of icky “hot.” I’m talking about hot air balloons and the high temperatures that couldn’t keep balloons grounded or 85,000 to 90,000 spectators from coming out to the Pennington Balloon Championships.

Question: How hot is too hot to fly?

Answer: Depends on how many pounds you’re packing.

It’s not necessarily that it’s too unbearably hot outside (though kudos to those who took to the sky this weekend as I went along for a ride Thursday morning and I was a human sprinkler by journey’s end). A balloon can withstand 275 to 300 degrees, but how hot it must get in there depends on how much weight it has to carry. To pick up a reasonable amount of weight the air inside the balloon needs to be about 100 degrees hotter than the air outside. With our weekend temps what they were; balloonists were looking at roughly 225 degrees. If you ventured out this weekend, you may have noticed most pilots flew solo during the competitions. This can partially be attributed to that hot, hot heat. Perhaps there should’ve been a “who can fry an egg the fastest” competition in addition to that pesky key grab!

Question: Do your kids want to fly balloons now?

Answer: I don’t know. But I do!

That’s what happened to George Richard of the Louisiana Ballooning Federation. He’s been ballooning for 19 years because back then his 12-year-old son, Ryan, took an interest. They’ve been competing against each other for about 15 or 16 years now. This weekend, George placed second and Ryan placed fifth. (How’s that for good ole family rivalry? Much to my mother’s dismay, I think my dad and I only competed in burping contests.)

Though licensing rules were scant at the time, nowadays you can get a student license at 14, a private license at 16 and a commercial license at 18. Given that balloons are aircrafts, balloon pilots follow the same Federal Aviation Administration regulations and training timelines as regular aircraft pilots. Balloons get a bit of specialized workload, with 10 hours of ground school and 10 hours minimum of flight training. Then you pass a written test, an oral examination and a check ride. Have I lifted an eyebrow of interest? There are four or five certified instructors in Baton Rouge, including George, who can school you. Or visit the Balloon Federation of America’s page at bfa.net.

Thanks to George Richard of the Louisiana Ballooning Federation for the uplifting information and to Leo Honeycutt for serving as the “flight director.”