Temecula Shared Balloon Ride with a Racing-Team Pilot Crew

The pilots here fly as part of a professional racing team, and the baskets have doors, which sounds like a small thing until you have watched somebody climb over the side of one. The fleet runs to 14 balloons of different sizes, and which one goes up on a given morning depends on who has booked: the number of guests, the size of the parties, the passenger weights. A balloon loaded too heavy will not fly, and one loaded too light is no safer. Matching people to envelope is a technical decision, not a commercial one. Space per person stays the same whichever balloon comes out of the trailer. The largest compartment takes up to 7 guests, and baskets come with one compartment (open), two, or four (partitioned). Check-in is at the Meadows Village shopping centre car park.