Great Eastern Balloon Camp

09/01/2026

'if you get an email from clipaway @ gmail .
com about a google doc and an 'invite' please delete.. the acct got hacked

07/02/2026

Be sure to visit the youth program page
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DKiAy5UG7/
to see all the action from both balloon camps that were held last week.

05/08/2026

Congratulations Steve Stokoe. The Balloon Camp in Georgia is fortunate to have you working with our youth to grow our sport!

Join us in congratulating Steve Stokoe on being awarded the Ed Yost Master Pilot Award! 🌟

04/07/2026

We are proud to share the news of another camper that went on to become a pilot. Bryan Sweeney recently earned his private and commercial certificates ❣️ way to go !!

Join us in congratulating our newest Commercial Pilot, Bryan Sweeney of Massachusetts! ⭐️

05/28/2024

10 years ago Great Eastern Balloon Camp began in Pennsylvania. We had a great 3 year run with awesome staff and incredible campers. Several campers went on to earn their wings over the years to become private and/or commercial pilots. We are so very proud to have been a part of growing our sport with the youth stepping up to fill the skies with colorful balloons. Thank you to all who help to keep these wonderful camps going each year through the BFA Youth Programs.

Looking back and remembering the 3 years a BFA balloon camp was held in the East ---- Pictures from the GEBC

07/27/2022

Past campers, their parents and friends -- This is near and dear to our flying safety - please read and hopefully you will be inclined to respond to the FAA about Drones and Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (email [email protected] by August 2, 2022 with your comments)

Obviously, this one is of concern to me. The box next to my smaller basket. Probably should have stood the box on its side - it would be close to the height of the uprights. I don't believe that these two items, sharing the same airspace, and with the blind drone having right of way over a manned aircraft is a good idea. Think about it.

06/22/2022

Get those art projects sent in!

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Contest entries now due by June 30th.

Calling all students! We want your balloon art!
The BFA is having an art contest! Create an original art piece on the theme of Hot Air Balloons. Over the summer we will have voting and the winners will be featured on our social media in August! Read on for the details.
Who: Students from Pre-K to 12th grade, Divisions are Pre-K-2nd grade, 3rd-6th grades, 7th-9th grades, and 10th-12th grades
What: An original art piece on hot air balloons - can be a drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture, diorama, craft, collage, or combination of these
When: Submissions are due by June 15th at midnight
Where: Send a high-quality photograph of your art piece to [email protected], include the student’s name, grade, and hometown as well as contact information.
Voting: The BFA Board will choose the top 15 pieces from each division. From there the ballooning community will help us find the winners! Stage 1 will narrow the top 15 down to the top 8, Stage 2 of voting will determine the final winner of each division. 1st place winner will get a $25 Amazon gift card, 2nd place a $15 Amazon gift card and 3rd place a $10 Amazon gift card. Prizes are sponsored by Sky Cabs Balloon Promotions.
We look forward to seeing all the creative art projects!

06/16/2022

Send in your balloon art! The deadline is extended to June 30th!

06/11/2022

Please read and submit your comments at the email in the original post.

URGENT - ACTION NEEDED

The attached article from AOPA lays out yet another challenge that we as balloonist are facing and the FAA is soliciting comments from you relating to it.

The issue is the use of drones for delivery of packages from hubs around the country. These hubs have already been established in many major metropolitan areas. These drone aircraft will be flying below 400 feet AGL and the intent will be to give them the right of way over all other manned aircraft. This poses a serious risk to lighter than air aircraft.

The problem is that the commission established to look at the right of way rules has proposed a rule change to the right of way rules to require us to see and avoid and proposes to give unmanned drones the right of way over us. Ballooning was not even considered in the steps taken to assess the risk.

The BFA is now preparing our response to this proposed rule change and public meetings will be held on June 22. You are being asked for individual input to this rule change. We are advising you to read the attached information and to comment against the allowance of these drones to be given right of way over all other forms of manned aircraft. These drones cannot see where they are flying and are blind to us because balloons do not have ADS-B transmission capability.

What we do as a group will matter, but each of you needs to send a letter in opposition as soon as you can. The address is contained in the attached links.

If we do not get this stopped or amended, we will have a serious increase in risk of having a collision between a drone and a balloon.

Address to send comments : [email protected]

with ‘‘Attention to Laura E. Gomez’’ in the subject line

No later than JUNE 21

When sending an email comment, please include:

Your Name
Your Pilot Certificate (if a pilot)
Your flying area (city, state)
Specific concerns about right-of-way issues / safety
Your ability (or lack thereof) to avoid a collision with an unmanned drone
Phone number (if desired)

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2022/march/17/aopa-objects-to-proposed-drone-rules

05/14/2022

Due to circumstances beyond our control the Rio Grande Balloon Camp, in Albuquerque, NM will be a day camp instead of a sleep over camp. This means that the campers will be picked up by their parents at the end of camp each day. The camp will still have all the other functions that the sleep over camp had: Balloon inflations, (weather permitted; flying and tethers) classroom sessions, guest speakers from the industry, fun balloon related games and activities.

We still have a few openings at the Southeast Balloon Camp June 21-26, 2022, which is a traditional sleep over camp in Cordele, Georgia, and at the DinaSOAR Balloon Camp August 26-28, 2022 which is an event camp in Vernal, Utah.