The 43-year-old father of two has more than seven years’ flying under his belt and during that time he has piloted all over Europe, including flights amongst the challenging Swiss and Austrian Alps.
But perhaps the feat the new Virgin pilot is most proud of is when he followed in the footsteps of 18th century French ballooning pioneer Jean Pierre Blanchard by single-handedly soaring on the wind across the Channel in 2006.
Simon said: “It was part of a major charity challenge and I was raising money for the Hospice in the Weald in Kent. Me and some other pilots launched from Kent and it took around 55 minutes to reach the French coast.
“We flew at around 2,000ft above the water all the way across and from the moment I reached that altitude over the white cliffs of Dover I could see France clearly in the distance. The view was spectacular.
“I was enjoying it so much that I carried on for two and a half hours before eventually landing. There I was greeted by a really friendly local farmer and his family who gave me lunch while I waited for the retrieval crew to come across on the ferry and pick me up.”
That day, Simon was using a small sports balloon, a bit different from the huge 100ft tall red 12-man Virgin balloon he’ll be flying in Dorset. He’ll usually fly for around an hour and always treat his passengers to a traditional champagne toast.
Simon, a carpenter and kitchen-fitter by trade, first got involved with ballooning by crewing for a pilot he knew and it was then that he ‘caught the bug’.
“I never really intended to fly balloons for a living. To be honest, at first, I was quite apprehensive about even going up in them. But a balloon flight is like nothing else you’ll ever experience, it’s amazing, and since I got into it I’ve never looked back,” he added. |
