TOME, N.M. — The boy balloonist can hardly wait to lift off from a remote patch of New Mexico desert and start his first solo flight — a moment set for early Saturday that would make him the youngest trained pilot to fly an ultra-light hot air balloon.
The big day for 9-year-old Bobby Bradley comes after about five years of training and learning from some of the most experienced and decorated pilots in the sport of ballooning — including his parents, well-known balloonists Troy and Tami Bradley, of Albuquerque.
“If I could fly right now, I would,” said Bobby, who planned to spend the last few days leading up to his solo practicing in a tethered balloon. His father expects Bobby will have enough fuel for about a 90-minute flight, but he’ll likely fly about 20 to 40 minutes, and his balloon will go wherever the wind takes it.
The feat is sure to remind some of the televised images showing a runaway balloon sailing over Colorado in 2009 amid fears a boy was inside. That boy was actually hiding in the family’s garage and his parents were later accused of staging a hoax.
This boy, Bobby, has logged nearly 30 hours of flight time with his father in a standard hot air balloon. It’s about three times bigger than the ultra-light balloon built by family and friends specifically for the 9-year-old’s solo flight.
He will be able to fly on his own at such a young age because the balloon is classified as an ultra-light aircraft.
The endeavor could place Bobby among the growing ranks of record-setting child adventurers. The most notable among them include 13-year-old Jordan Romero, of California, the youngest person to climb Mount Everest; and Australian Jessica Watson, who at 16 became the youngest person last year to sail around the world solo, nonstop and unassisted.
Such accomplishments have drawn both acclaim and debate, with critics saying the adventures pose serious risks.
But Bobby and his parents are confident he is prepared, and his mother said she worried most about smaller complications, like her son “needing to go to the bathroom and things like that.”
“I’m pretty confident in his skills,” Tami Bradly said. “I don’t worry about his flying ability. I worry about other things. I’m a mom.”
She will be a little nervous Saturday. But to put things in perspective, she explained that as a mother, she’ll always be anxious any time Bobby and his 11-year-old sister, Savannah, have big events, whether they mark a first music recital or the first time behind the wheel of a car.
Raymond Bair, a designated balloon examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration in New Mexico, said he is not “particularly” concerned about Bobby’s solo flight, and there are factors that give him confidence, including his extensive flight training. “I say not particularly because there is always danger in aviation in general,” Bair said. “A couple of things give me quite a bit of confidence.”
Troy and Tami Bradley have been licensed pilots since they were teenagers. He made his first solo flight when he was 14 and earned his license at 16. She earned her license at 17.
The two won the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race, one of the country’s biggest events in balloon racing, in 1998. Troy Bradly also helped pilot the first balloon to fly from North America to Africa and has set dozens of world records in ballooning.
They have never pressured Bobby to follow in their footsteps. He simply grew up to love his parents’ sport. “It’s really relaxing and fun,” Bobby said. “I’ve grown up around it, it’s in my blood, and both of my parents are balloon pilots. I’m just used to it.”
Troy and Tami Bradley know what it’s like to be up there, watching life pass by quietly under their feet.
“It’s that bird’s eye view and just a different sensation of looking at the world,” Troy Bradley said. “It all just seems to make a little more sense. It’s laid out nicely and it’s a wonderful feeling to be up in the air.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
