Introducing Our Pilot

Who would have thought that a little ad in the Thrifty Nickel offering balloon rides in exchange for crew help in 1989 would lead to over 20 consecutive years of ballooning for Tony Sandlin?

Tony received his FAA Commercial License for Hot Air Balloons in 2005 after attending the Balloon Excelsior Flight School in California and is now the proud owner of three hot air balloons.

Tony has flown in three countries outside of the United States; Canada, five separate trips to Mexico and Qatar.  In January 2011, Qatar was host to the AFC Asian Cup finals, an international association football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).  As one of five balloons representing the five participating stadiums, Tony was hired by the AFC to represent the yellow team from January 2^nd-30^th.  Along with the other ballooning teams from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Australia, Tony shared in the first time in the counties’ history that hot air balloons had been flown in Doha, Qatar.

In 2011 Tony was contracted to fly passengers in Albugurque, New Mexico at the 40th Annual International Balloon Fiesta!

Tony’s three boys and his wife Gail are all active in ballooning and join him at the many balloon festivals held throughout the US and abroad.  Today, Tony and his family reside in Fishers, Indiana.