Balloonists Welcome PPG
Another example of how to be welcome is the work of Ed Poccia and Derick DeGennaro, USPPA members from New Mexico. They have worked with organizers of the 2006 Socorro Balloon Rally to get paramotor pilots invited to participate. The Albuquerque based Route 66 Flyers PPG Club will have 5 to 7 members flying and generally representing the sport. A full article appeared in the El Defensor Chieftain newspaper.
Ed reports: Perfect conditions greeted PPGers from New Mexico’s Route 66 Flyers participating in the Socorro Balloon & PPG Rally. The people of this central New Mexico town know how to throw a party. Pilots enjoyed the free motel rooms and food as well as a generous “goodies” bag. Seven PPG pilots launched into calm winds and clear, cool skies to join more than thirty hot air balloons to provide spectacle to the opening of the town’s holiday season.
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Recognition
Much of the time we’re just tolerated. Sometimes it’s a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with landowners looking the other way in hopes that having never given permission lessons their perceived liability.
So it was a nice change of pace that Texas City took the acknowledgement of fun to a new level. Thanks to Andy McAvin and others who helped pull it off and to the folks of the Texas City Dike who welcome paramotor pilots and their incredible craft.
Photo submitted by Beery Miller.
- Published in Entertainment