Published on September 24, 2010
Soaring Above
World’s first paraplegic hot-air balloon pilot visits Genesis
Michael Glen wanted to be a hot-air balloon pilot. Never mind that a single-car rollover at 55 mph injured his spinal cord and had left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Never mind that the Federal Aviation Agency initially rejected his request for a pilot’s license. The 21-year-old life-long athlete with a “thirst for challenge” saw no reason to abandon the dream he’d had since childhood going up in his father’s hot-air balloon in Roswell, N.M. His first balloon ride was as a 2-week-old baby.
“I applied for my license a year after my accident. I was denied,” he said. “The FAA said, ‘Due to your disability, there’s no way you can fly a balloon.’ Well, I don’t let anyone tell me I can’t. I don’t let anyone tell me no.”
Ten years later in 2006, despite many physical and mental challenges, the 31-year-old Glen became the world’s first paraplegic hot-air balloon pilot.
On Tuesday, he gave members of the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group at Genesis, West Central Park an inspirational message: “Go out and experience life,” he said. “Don’t let things hold you back. Just because you’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you can’t get out and live.”
Glen, who’s nicknamed “Rolling Pilot,” is here from his Arizona home for the Quad Cities Balloon Festival, which begins today at Avenue of the Cities and Kennedy Drive in East Moline. His visit is sponsored by Genesis.
An ambassador for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Glen travels the U.S. attending hot-air balloon events and giving motivational speeches. He promotes awareness that people with disabilities can do many of the things anyone else can do. “I had to do everything I could to prove to the FAA I could realize my dreams,” he said.
“I had to do all this paperwork. I had to go through all these processes and get support from all these people -- other FAA personnel, balloon manufacturers, and balloonists -- to achieve this dream. I didn’t just sit back and say ‘I’m going to be a balloon pilot.’ I had to actually go after that dream.”
Usually balloon pilots require 10 hours of training. Glen had to undergo 26 hours. Getting his pilot’s license wasn’t the end of his hurdles, however.
The next hurdle
Several months after getting his license and preparing to participate in the International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico, he awoke to find the trailer connected to his truck gone -- and so was his entire balloon system. It had been stolen. “This is a unique balloon system, and there are very few in existence in the world,” he said.
The theft was a devastating blow to his finances and spirit, but with perseverance and the support of family and friends, he got a replacement balloon system and went back into the air.
“The name of my first balloon was Elevation, my wife’s idea to signify my elevation from my wheelchair to go play with others,” he said. “My new balloon is Elevation II, and I’ll be flying it here this weekend.”
Weather permitting, balloons at the festival will launch at 5 p.m. today, and 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday. A balloon glow will be from 6-7 p.m. Saturday. Hot air balloons will be tethered along the Quad Cities Marathon route from 7-9 a.m. Sunday. The festival is free, however, a donation of non-perishable food items for the River Bend Foodbank is encouraged.
The basket of Glen’s balloon differs from that of a traditional balloon. “My basket looks like a ski lift chair,” he says “It’s basically a bench I’m sitting on in the sky.
People say, ‘Well that’s crazy.’ But it’s very secure. You’re 2 miles above the ground and looking down, but it’s not a scary experience. “People ask me what a balloon ride is like. Well, to me it’s just like going down the street. It’s just something I’ve always done. It’s like standing on a platform while the Earth is moving beneath you. You’re moving with the winds. It’s quiet...the only noise is the burner above you. Everything else is just kind of slow. We go where the wind takes us, and as fast as the wind blows.”
A chase crew assists the pilot in inflating and deflating the balloon for each flight. Once the hot air balloons launch from the festival site, the chase crew departs quickly and follows the balloon on the journey.
“Mine is actually a smaller balloon,” Glen says.”The envelope of the balloon could fit 65,000 basketballs in it. It all packs away like a sleeping bag, only when you stretch it out it’s about six stories tall and about 200 pounds. We have no steering wheel. We have no determined destination. We go with the winds, and try to land near roads and in fields.”
Glen says he has been lucky to have accomplished his dream, and credits the support of many people, including the rehabilitation professionals who gave him hope after his accident. “It has been a long crazy road, and it always will be,” he concludes.
To learn more about Glen’s story, go to www.rollingpilot.com. To find out more about this weekend’s Quad Cities Balloon Festival, go to www.qcballoonfestival.com.
