This blog was written by Jon Robinson, a childhood school friend of Jamie’s who joined the team properly this year. We recently surprised Jon with his first flight whilst giving trainee pilot Liam Menzies a training flight.

Jon’s experience is detailed below and is written from his perspective:

Attending the Northampton Balloon Festival during the 90s are some of my fondest memories. These experiences are what really paved the way for my love of hot air balloons. Seeing the incredible shapes floating through the Northampton skies was incredible. The likes of Action Man, Rupert the bear, Aston Martin, Cadburys Bunny to name a few. There was a sense of excitement watching these incredible structures fill with air and gently float away!

 I’ve always wanted to not only have a flight in a balloon but to pilot one and at the ripe old age of 36 I decided I needed to do something about this. Having put a post on Facebook I reconnected with an old school friend Jamie Edwards. When at school, we used to look at balloon photos together and talk about the possibility of going up in one!

Jamie’s passion meant he had already gained his pilot license in 2009 and is the head pilot and founder of Molly Mae Ballooning. I was invited to get involved in the team to assist with learning the ropes (literally). When you see balloons in the skies you never think about the background logistics. From the collecting the equipment, setting it up and also the team on the ground who are tracking the flight and finding the landowner on landing to arrange access to the land.

The Evening of the Flight:

Friday evening 26/09/2025 , Jamie and Liam gave the go ahead for a flight and messaged the team to arrange the crew. It was even more special as it was Trainee Pilot Liam’s 17th Birthday! The take-off point was agreed as Billing Aquadrome and we all met at 16:30. The team began setting out the balloon ready for inflation.

 Liam and Jamie completed their preflight checks and briefings. As part of Liam’s training he completed the briefings and I was essentially told I was a “practice dummy” for Liam’s in flight briefing. This included where to stand in the basket, what to hold on to during take off, what not to touch at any point in flight as well as how the adopt the brace position for landing.

After this was completed, it was time to cold inflate. This is exactly as described just using a powerful petrol fan to fill the balloon with cold air ready to heat it up! This allows the balloon to take shape, whilst this is happening Liam enters the balloon mouth and continues his safety checks inside:

 Once the balloon was filled with cold air and Liam had completed his checks it was time to hot inflate! I was on the mouth which is where you hold it open to ensure the air goes into the balloon during inflation. As the balloons air gets hot from the roaring burner the balloon rises. It is soon in a standing up position ready for take-off!

 Final pilot checks are completed, maps, GPS trackers and an altimeter are all on board! Don’t forget to the leave the keys for the retrieve vehicle! Now it’s time for take-off!

As I’m ready to wave them off, I’m told to follow Liam’s preflight briefing and jump on board. OMG the pure excitement and adrenaline filled my body, a childhood dream was about to come true! Without hesitation I jumped in and the roar of the burners filled the air and we gently drifted into the sky!

 Unlike airplanes, there’s a serene stillness in hot air ballooning. The basket gently lifted off the ground, and I felt an exhilarating mix of nerves and wonder. The ground slowly receded as we floated higher, gradually gaining a panoramic view of the landscape below. The air was calm and the only noise you can really hear during the flight is barking dogs and alarms. We floated over the A45 and towards the Weston Favell Shopping Centre

 Our course then meant we were over Headlands where I live. My kids were in the garden screaming with excitement as we drifted over the house!

 After an hour in the sky it was time to look for the perfect landing spot! A large grassy area where access would be possible with a car and free from overhead wires! As we drifted over parklands Jamie and Liam discussed the possibility of landing in Parklands primary school. As we began to descend, the lower wind directions pushed us slightly to the right meaning this was no longer a possibility. Another landing place was now the target, but it was going to be tight! A small area of grass between parklands and Bewiched Coffee in Moulton Park

 As we cleared the tops of the trees the park was full of people cameras in hand excited to see this massive bubble of hot air approaching them for landing. As gently as we took off, we touched down, the wind was calm so it was stand up landing.

 We kept the balloon inflated to help the ground crew find us easily.

After around 15 minutes we found that we could not get the car onto the park so onto plan B! We manoeuvred the balloon across the field to a small alleyway which led to a road next to Bewiched coffee. This pack up was going to mean a little more lifting than usual to get the kit back into the trailer.

Liam and I jumped out of the basket and a couple of young spectators were happy to assist Jamie in being ballast in the basket. He kept the hot air flowing and we carried the balloon across the field to where we wanted it. We were now in the best position for deflation and the shortest distance away from the trailer.

That gave us just enough time to pack up and get home as the sun was setting.

Thankfully we had plenty of willing helpers and we were soon loaded and ready for Saturday AM flight which I was going to be crewing on, time to head back to the launch site to get my car, the adrenaline is still pumping and I feel a sense of accomplishment that after all these years of dreaming to go up in a balloon, 30 years later I’ve achieved it. This has really cemented my passion for ballooning. I now know that I 100% want to gain my private pilot license. I’m confident with the support of Jamie and the Molly Mae Ballooning Team that this is within reach.

In closing I want to thank Jamie, Liam and the team for everything I have learnt so far and for this amazing opportunity! Here’s to many more! 🎈

Below are a selection of photos from the flight thanks to Jon for the lovely blog. We hope to feature more guest blogs in the future!