Balloonist finds solid ground

After more than 30 years in the hot-air ballooning business, Phil Jackson is coming in for a landing.

The Queensbury man, who co-organized the early Adirondack Balloon Festivals and founded his own ride company, is retiring.

“I just see myself as another ballooner stepping aside for the younger generation,” Jackson said recently, thumbing through a 3-inch-thick scrapbook of his career.

Unexpected start

Jackson was living in Glen Cove, Long Island, when he visited his parents in South Glens Falls in the fall of 1973. He saw an article in the newspaper for the area’s first balloon event, held at the former Adirondack Community College on Bay Road.

There were only about 19 balloons that flew that weekend, but Jackson was intrigued by the whole scene. He stopped in at the headquarters at the Ramada Inn in Queensbury to see if he could volunteer.

“It sounded kind of crazy,” he said.

He met a couple of balloonists from Michigan who needed someone with local knowledge of the roads to drive a chase vehicle. He stayed in touch with them and drove to a balloon championship in Indianola, Iowa, to help them again. In return, they gave him a ride in their rainbow-colored Jolly Roger balloon.

That was all it took to set Jackson’s dreams soaring. He took flight lessons to earn his balloon pilot’s license.

His new friends encouraged Jackson to contact Walt Grishkot, who organized the festival. For the next four or five yearly affairs, the two ran it. Grishkot’s wife, Joan, did the bookkeeping.

A few months before the 1978 meet, three Americans completed the first successful Atlantic balloon crossing, lifting off from Presque Isle, Maine, and landing in a field north of Paris slightly more than 137 hours later.

The feat helped put ballooning on the map, according to Jackson.

“That was treated like Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. It just drew a massive amount of attention for the sport,” he said.

Jackson said the Queensbury festival became so popular, he and Grishkot decided the committee should have its own balloon. It was known as “The Spirit of Glens Falls,” with the tagline, “City on the rise,” to signify growth and development.

The balloon appeared at several venues to promote the city, both locally and at the International Vacation and Travel Show in Montreal.
Taking flight

In the summer of 1979, to celebrate the birth of his son, Jackson tethered a hot air balloon in the parking lot of Glens Falls Hospital so his wife, Tanis, could view it from her window. He hung a banner on the side, ‘It’s a Boy!” and took the husband of his wife’s roommate, who had also delivered a baby, for a two-hour balloon ride.

“He was throwing a fit the whole flight because he just had his fifth daughter and no son,” Jackson chuckled.

Later that year, Jackson was one of three balloonists hired to fly over Oyster Bay, Long Island, for Woody Allen’s movie, “Stardust Memories.” He did a scene dressed in World War I aviator garb and landed on a hillside where a party was staged. It was supposed to be a short assignment of two days plus a rain date, but the weather was so uncooperative, he ended up staying a month and a half. He flew three times.

Jackson was never mentioned in the credits, but he still has the royalty checks he received from Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and United Artists. They total a little more than $36.

He ended his involvement as festival co-organizer around 1979 and partnered with Art Binley to form Adirondack Balloon Transit. They focused on balloon sales, rides and commercial promotion.

Balloon rides were still considered unique and people sought them out. Their first clients were a young couple from Texas who came to Crandall Park to be married. Unfortunately, the weather was finicky, and they ended up having to wait a week before tying the knot. Finally, tethered above a pond at 6:15 in the morning, they wed.

Jackson sent out several press releases, and the ceremony was broadcast live over network radio.

“The couple ended up going on ‘To Tell the Truth,’ he said with a chuckle. “All for $500.”

Binley and Jackson were involved in the early days of the “I Love NY” campaign and garnered other business through membership in the local chambers of commerce, and yellow-page and newspaper ads.

The partnership lasted about three years, and in 1982, Jackson bought out Binley and launched Adirondack Balloon Flights.

He was concerned about how well the company would do at first, so he sold real estate for the first few years until things stabilized.

Building memories

Throughout his career, Jackson has had his share of weddings, graduations, anniversaries and “last” flights. Those were special, he said.

“I thought it was sad, but it was kind of nice because they wanted to use what I do for a last-wish kind of thing,” Jackson said.

David Blow of Glens Falls, a former Post-Star reporter and editor who now teaches at Castleton College, asked his wife to marry him during one of Jackson’s rides more than 22 years ago. Blow said he “flailed” during the proposal, but Jackson was a “fun” host who broke out champagne and cheese and crackers.

“He’s down to earth, has a sense of humor much like myself — maybe a little sarcastic — but … clearly a guy who just loved what he did. I think you need that sort of person to be a pilot because it isn’t just taking off and landing. I think a lot of it is in your personality,” Blow said.

A pleasant personality probably played a role in Jackson’s most memorable flight about five years ago. He was asked to take the family and friends of then-Gov. David Paterson for a ride. Jackson met the group in Durkeetown. It was late afternoon on a “marginally” windy day when they boarded his eight-passenger balloon.

Jackson was having trouble getting the craft aloft. He would have preferred to fly another day but there was pressure by the governor’s staff to go up. He was concerned about landing such a large balloon in gusty weather. A half-hour later, after three attempts, they were soaring above Washington County at about 20 miles per hour — considered speedy by balloon standards.

Paterson’s wife at the time sat on the floor, hunched over and “uncomfortable,” during most of the flight. Jackson had to ask her to stand up when he was ready to land. He felt relieved when they touched down.

“It was the fastest flight I ever made in that balloon,” he said. “It took a little skill to pull it off.”

Final chapter

Jackson said there are challenges to running a business that operates only in either early morning or late afternoon; depends on clear, windless skies; and spans a season from about May to October.

He had a total of 18 balloons over three decades, and upgraded as the quality of the fabrics and burner systems improved.

Making a living flying in the Northeast is all about “numbers,” Jackson said. With the region’s weather, it’s important to try to maximize the number of passengers at one time.

For most of his career, Jackson had four- and eight-passenger balloons and developed a clientele from downstate New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to this area.

Jackson is selling Adirondack Balloon Flights to a couple who will relocate from Albuquerque, NM, to run it. Brooke Owen has been the chief pilot and his wife, Kiersten, has been the director of operations for Rainbow Ryders, Inc.

Kiersten said they are in the process of moving from the southwest and are looking for a home in the Glens Falls – Saratoga region. She doesn’t anticipate making major changes to the company.

“Phil did a tremendous job of building the business, having a great rapport within the community and the reputation of his company is absolutely terrific,” she said. “We want to maintain and sort of build on that, gain the trust and respect of the local tourism community and become great partners with them as Phil has for so many years.”

Now, at 67, Jackson is ready to change direction. He and his wife, who works in the accounting department of Finch Paper, plan to take trips in the summer, which has always been his prime season for business. He also hopes to reconnect with friends and take up golf again.

Although he won’t be ballooning anymore, Jackson can reflect fondly on a career that took him to great heights.

“I would like to thank all the area landowners, especially in Washington County, that hosted my take-offs and landings over the years. I’m going to miss our visits, having our little chats,” he said. “I’ve made some good friends that I only met because of dropping by in a balloon.”

via – Glens Falls Post-Star.