This Year's Pilots
We constantly look to add new balloons all the way up to our event date. Our goal is to provide our guests with the best show we can!

Skip Durham
Balloon Meister - Mischief
Skip Durham, aka “The Skipper,” and Toni Durham, aka “the Crew Chief,” met in the summer of 2009. When Skip told her that he owned a hot air balloon, Toni thought, either he really owns one or that’s the greatest pickup line I’ve ever heard.
Toni said, “I tell people, I fell in love with the balloon, I fell in love with ballooning, and you have to have a pilot, right? So, Skip was part of the package deal.”
The couple married in 2011, and in 2012, they founded their company, Bluff City Balloons, LLC. Since then, they’ve had all sorts of adventures from taking skydivers two miles into the sky and watching them jump out of the basket, to accidentally landing—twice—on the estate of actor Steven Seagal. The balloon they are bringing to the festival is one of only six in the country specially outfitted for people with special needs including people with wheelchairs.
Bill Cunningham
Calypso
Bill has been married to his wife Martha for 48 years. They have 2 daughters, Jenny and Maggie. Jenny is a regional manager for a fit- ness chain and mother of our three grandkids. Maggie is a Delta Airlines pilot and is married to a FedEx pilot.
Bill started flying in 1978. He currently has over 2300 hours. He was a full time balloonist from 1978 to 1991. He sold balloons, champagne flights, corporate tethers, banner flights and cold air inflatables. He also flew corporate balloons for Seven- Up, Red Lobster, Holiday Inn, Budweiser, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, United Van Lines, Refco Commodities and others.
He started flying national and international competitions in 1981. He has had 17 top 5 finishes out of 25 events including #1 twice in 3 North American Championships, a 3rd and a 7th in 3 World Championships and a 5th in the U.S. National Championships.


Ben Eakes
Silver Switch
My name is Benjamin Eakes, a hot air balloon pilot from Meridian Mississippi. I fell in love with aviation as a young child and always found myself looking to the skies. I graduated college with my FAA Airframe and Power Plant license in 2014 and started a career in general aviation specializing in corporate and business jet maintenance. During my time in college I had the opportunity to have my first exposure to a hot air balloon and I fell in love! One evening in 2018 I was approached and asked if I wanted to wake up early and come help crew for a balloon. I was immediately excited because it had been some years since the last time I was around one.
The pilot I met that morning was Fred Poole. He was very patient and instructed me on the operation of his balloon and what I needed to do. Little did I know that would be the start of a life long journey for me. I found myself crewing for him more and more and one day he told me “get in!” Shocked at the opportunity, I hopped right on in the basket and before I knew it we were gracefully floating through the air. I knew from that moment I wanted to be a hot air balloon pilot!
After crewing for several years off and on,Fred told me to get a log book and he would teach me to fly as long as I crew for him.I did not even have to think about that because it was a great opportunity. I dedicated my time to crewing every weekend, traveling the country when he had different events or festivals. One thing I learned quickly is that crewing is not for the faint of heart! My flight training began in spring of 2023, and I worked hard. I gained flight hours every chance I could get. During these flights I tried to absorb as much information as possible. After many flight lessons in a Kubicek 120 I was finally told it’s time for me to really look at getting a balloon of my own. In the fall of 2023 I purchased my first hot air balloon a, Thunder and Colt AX8-90.
With the assistance of my great instructor and family of friends the name of “Silver Switch” was decided. I had many more lessons flying my balloon and gained more confidence with every flight. I received my private pilots license in June of 2024. I am a firm believer that crewing before you learn to fly is the best way to learn. My journey from crewing for the first time to now being a pilot has given me so much more respect for the crew. Our sport of flying is not possible without a dependable crew. I am looking forward to a life full of flights and adventure. I highly encourage anyone who is interested to get with a pilot and start the journey for themselves. The sky is the limit!
Chuck Waltz
Yellow Bird
Chuck has been ballooning for close to 35 years with almost 1,500 hours in the air. He is the pilot for Yellow Bird. His wife Cindy enjoys the balloon as much as he does. Their greatest pleasure with ballooning is all the excitement people have watching them and all of the hearts they have touched over the years.


Al Smith
Tom Cat
Al Smith began his love of hot air ballooning more than 30 years ago by crewing with a local balloon pilot. This quickly evolved into flight training and earning his private pilot certificate and soon after his commer- cial pilot certificate.
Since his early days of ballooning Al has been involved in his local balloon event, the Hot Air Jubilee, in Jackson Michigan. Going on to become the event Balloonmeister for many years.
Al attends many balloon events in a radius of the Mid-Michigan area., and has attended the grand daddy of balloon events, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, for the past 23 years. A special memory was a flight during tbe Bay Harbor Balloon Event near Petosky MI when the balloons were able to make a crossing of Little Traverse Bay with spectacular views of Lake Michigan.
Fred Poole
Joy
Fred Poole has a long history in aviation. He is a skydiver with over 700 jumps, a fixed wing pilot with a seaplane rating and of course a commercial hot air balloon pilot. His company Champagne Sunrise operates out of Meridian Mississippi and has taken hundreds of passengers for rides over the years. No stranger to adventure his wife Lori is a certified skydiver with over 200 jumps and his son Devon is a Open Water certified SCUBA diver, both are an integral part of the balloon crew and support Champagne Sunrise every flight.
Fred Poole soared above the Leon International Balloon Festival in Mexico, five black limousines tailing him from the ground. This flight, he was with the wife of a Mexican governor, and the limousines were the chase crew, the people who would pick them up at the end of the flight.
Fred was looking for a place to land, but the balloon had drifted over a local zoo. He asked his passenger if it was okay for them to land there.
She laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m on the board of directors. I think it’s okay.”
The balloon set down in the safari exhibit, inside one of the enclosures, scattering herds of gazelles and zebras. Eventually, the zoo workers—who must have been surprised to see a hot air balloon landing in their zoo—came to help them out. It’s one of Fred’s favorite memories from his 13 years in ballooning, or as he calls it “the smile business,” that is, the business of making other people happy. It’s why his balloon is called Joy.
I ask him how he got started and he says, “I literally woke up one day and decided I was going to fly hot air balloons.” Before this, he piloted planes and did skydiving. One day, he heard about a balloon festival near his home in Mississippi and became interested. He reached out to the festival and found an instructor.
“The rest is history,” said Fred. “It’s an adventure every time you fly.”


Tabatha Rainwater
Pi in The Sky
Tabatha Rainwater flies “π in the sky” hot air balloon. She will be joining us from Knoxville, Tennessee. Go Vols! Fun fact: Tabatha has previously attended this event with her family before becoming a hot air balloon pilot!
Mike Wahl
Party On
Mike Wahl releases the small helium balloon and watches carefully as it twists and turns in the air currents. He needs to know what direction the wind is blowing at all different altitudes. The information is critical if he’s going to win the balloon rally.
Mike boards his hot air balloon with his crew member and fires his burners, causing it to rise off the ground. Their target is a tall pole in the far distance with a key on the top. The competing balloonists will go one at a time and whoever grabs the key wins the event and gets one step closer to the rally’s $10,000 prize.
Navigating a hot air balloon is not easy. There’s no way to directly control where it is going as the balloon will always travel in the same direction as the wind. Fortunately, the wind is often blowing in different directions at different altitudes, so pilots can raise and lower the balloon to reach air currents moving in the direction they want. This is why Mike released the balloon earlier. Navigating this way takes experience, intuition, and some luck.
Eventually, Mike and his crew member reach the pole, but precision flying in a balloon is difficult, and they have trouble getting low enough to grab the key. Fortunately, there’s another option. Each balloonist in the rally was given a numbered bean bag to throw at the X at the base of the pole. The bags that land are scored from the pole at the X outward, with the closest three winning descending cash prizes.
Unable to reach the key, Mike and his crew member look for the bean bag… only to realize that they’ve somehow left it behind, meaning they have no way to win the competition. Panicking, they begin throwing random objects overboard instead—gloves, bags, whatever is loose in the basket. Finally, the wind carries them away from the pole and they have to land.
At the end of the competition, when all the results have been measured, the judges return with a handful of bean bags dropped by other pilots… and a pile of random objects from Mike’s balloon.
“Here’s all the stuff you dumped,” the judge says.
Mike asks if their creative solution still counts, and the judges inform him that he has won second place. Over the years, Mike would go on to win countless other rallies but never in quite so unique a way as this.


Tom Steinbock
My Cup of Tea
Tom Steinbock has loved balloons ever since he was seven years old. At that age, his next-door neighbor hired someone to fly the very first Kentucky Derby Balloon Race, and Tom got involved with chasing and helping crew the balloons.
“I fell in love with it when I was really young, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Tom said.
This year was the 50th anniversary of the race, and Tom has been involved every single year, with the sole exception of 1982 when he was building a house. But Tom didn’t feel too left out that year, because the finish line for the race just so happened to be his front yard!
In 2016, he completed a childhood dream by winning the Kentucky Derby Balloon Race.
“That’s got to be one of my top favorite memories of all time,” Tom said. “I was just at the right place at the right time when I won.” He has been licensed for 37 years and has flown in 40 states and six countries. He has been married to the same woman for 41 years, has two golden retrievers, and lives in Crestwood, Kentucky.
Marshall Grower
Stained Horizon
Marshall Gower, 32, is an Asset Reliability Leader at Constellium, where he ensures the efficiency and reliability of the company’s assets. He is married to Tesa with two daughters Sadie and Emma and balances his professional career with his passion for aviation. In June 2021, Marshall earned his fixed-wing pilot’s license, and in 2023, he furthered his aviation credentials with a lighter-than-air license.


Mike Hansen
Delta Belle
Michael DeWayne Hanson
Lighter Than Air DPE Resume
• 1991 LTAprivate and commercial certificate
• Owned and operated a successful small ride operation since 1992 to present.
• Commercial hot air balloon pilot for Bryan Foods, Sara Lee, Mossy Oak, Mississippi Printing.
• BFA 2016 Rookie of the Year
• Flown for several high-profile passengers including, President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Brooks and Dunn, 38 Special and User
• Pilot for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
• LTA pilot for charity fundraiser for Palmer Home for Children and Peavey Electronics Orphan relief project.
• Organizer and speaker for Canton Mississippi Hot Air Balloon Safety Seminar from 2018 to present.
• Balloon Meister for Grenada Lake Thunder on Water and Greenville Mississippi
Aviation Days from 2018 to present.
• Competion Director and assist Balloon Meister for Mississippi Balloon Championship.* • 2700+ hours as pilot of command of Hot Air Balloons
Matt Gateway
Smile High
I am a second-generation pilot. My dad was a balloon pilot in Tucson, AZ, and had his own company. I grew up around balloons and, from an early age, was crewing on all types and shapes. I moved up to Phoenix and started to crew on more oversized ride balloons and shapes.
I got my license and started to travel doing competition flying, where I became the top- ranked rookie of the year. After I got my commercial license, I began to fly in Indiana for balloons over Bloomington, where I gained experience in larger balloon rides. When I decided to make flying my full-time career, I came across Lehigh Valley Hot Air, where I began to fly daily (weather permitting) and gained experience in tethering and unique shapes. Due to the seasonal nature of flying in Pennsylvania during wintertime, I headed out to Phoenix, AZ, where I flew for Aerogelic Ballooning and gained experience in even larger ride balloons (200,000cf+). I am very versatile and can handle a variety of balloon sizes. I can comfortably fly one size in the morning and another in the afternoon.
