Red Tape is driving people out of ballooning

It all started with a beer, Don Cameron tells me when I ask how his career in balloon making, which recently saw him appointed MBE in the New Year Honours, began.

“People ask me how I got started and I put it down to drink,” he says.

“I used to be a member of a gliding club and in the bar one day a few of us started talking about this new kind of balloon that had just been invented in the States using propane burners and nylon fabric.

“We ended up building the first modern hot air balloon in Western Europe. We started to do bits for other people then it became a part-time job. Eventually I gave up my real job and started developing the balloon business.”

The business has grown from Don’s Cotham home, spent a decade in St Michael’s Parish Hall nearby, before moving to Bedminster more than 30 years ago. That he doesn’t regard it as a real job tells you something about the adventure Don has been on.

But that doesn’t mean it has been easy.

“The UK needs people to start businesses,” he says. “But it’s hard work, you certainly don’t work 9-5. I remember I worked a whole year where my income was negative. But it’s worth it in the end – it’s fun apart from anything else.

“I’m lucky in the sense that my business is a bit spectacular, although that does mean we have a lot of competition. If you want to make money, go into a business like cleaning drains – something that no one else wants to do.”

The balloon business attracts many enthusiasts, which means they are prepared to do more for less money. That said, it’s not cheap. A standard balloon will set you back around £20,000. If you want it shaped like a magic castle or Darth Vader’s head it could near £100,000.

And despite the fun, it’s not a business on an upward trajectory. Cameron Balloons has been making fewer and fewer balloons each year, from 130 in 2010 to just 82 last year.

Don has no doubt where the blame lies.

“Regulation of the [UK] balloon industry has moved to Europe and because the new regulator is very lazy it regulates balloons as if they are a small aeroplane. This has massively increased costs and is driving people out of ballooning.”

Don explains that the burden of red tape is perhaps more manageable for the pleasure trip balloon firms, as they can spread the cost over many flights. But it is prohibitive for the private enthusiasts.

“If you only fly your balloon a few times a year, this is adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of every flight,” says Don. “It is putting off new people from getting into ballooning, they look at the costs and everything that’s involved and say ‘blow it’.”

Examples of that red tape include pilots having to be re-tested every few years, balloons having to undergo more lengthy airworthiness tests and getting “certification to prove you have a certificate”. All of which costs money and time. Don says you used to be able to get an inspector to look at your balloon “for a beer” but now because the test is more involved and takes much longer, you have to pay. If you can find an inspector – as many have got fed-up and quit.

The problem, it seems, lies in the transfer for control from the Civil Aviation Authority to the European Air Safety Agency.

But despite the problems, 77-year-old Don has no plans to step back from the business he clearly loves.

“They’ll probably have to carry me out of here in a box,” he says.

The firm, in St John’s Street, Bedminster, employs 60 people including engineers working on burners and fans, and machinists sewing the balloons together.

Some of the technology has developed over the years, such as computer cutting of letters and the way some of the balloons are designed, but “a sewing machine is still a sewing machine”, as Don puts it.

Sewing machines take up the top floor of the factory, while on the ground floor are the engineers, baskets, administration staff and more sewing machines (easier access for repairs). The middle floor is largely empty, so there is room to “spread things out” when putting the balloons together.

One of the ways it is trying to beat the regulation issues is with exports further afield.

Europe has been its biggest market but balloons are gaining popularity in the Far East, with Myanmar and Taiwan among the destinations for Cameron Balloons’ goods.

Customers over the years have been varied. Don is proud that the only two balloons to go all the way around the world were made by the firm, one co-piloted by then employee Brian Jones.

And he’s something of an adventurer himself, having both failed then succeeded in crossing the Atlantic in a balloon and being the first and only person to fly from the UK to the Soviet Union by such a mode of transport.

“No one will take that record from me,” chuckles Don. “The Soviet Union ceased to exist soon afterwards.”

“That trip was as much a triumph over bureaucracy than technical challenges. It took an age to get permission and in the end they insisted I had a Russian co-pilot. It worked out well though and he became a good friend. The only thing was every time he came over to Bristol he would bring along a bottle of vodka…”

Don still flies regularly, though hasn’t been up in a balloon for about three months largely due to the dreadful weather of late. But he’s looking forward to his next opportunity.

He says: “It’s an adventure every time you get in a balloon. It’s a journey with an unknown destination.”

Not unlike running a business, perhaps.

via – Bristol Post.