The people behind Ottawa Hot Air are veterans of the sport of ballooning and together have over 3000 hours and over 75 years of combined hot air balloon piloting experience - all over the world, as well as in the USA and right here in Canada.

Mostly, because we only offer exclusive, private hot air balloon rides but also because we are the operator with the most corporate ballooning experience in Canada.

Also, we are real. We own and operate our own fleet of balloons, right here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Our pilots are Canadian, and live right here. We are not a booking agent, or a discount-rate hoax (hint: read their fine print).

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The following are really important too:

Alain has been an avid flying enthusiast his entire life.

As a young boy, he built and flew dozens of his model aircraft creations.

As a certified skydiver, Alain has jumped almost 1,000 times from various types of aircraft, helicopters and hot air balloons, and is a certified skydiving instructor and parachute rigger.  In 2012, he achieved the Canadian record for the largest formation in freefall (102 parachutists).

Alain is a paraglider pilot, and is a Transport Canada certified pilot in powered paragliders and hot air balloons. He is also a hot air balloon flight instructor and a Transport Canada certified Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) for balloons.

Since 2009, Alain's main passion has been piloting Hot Air Balloons. He is one of the rare people in the world to have constructed his own hot air balloons and baskets from scratch. He manufactures these balloons under the Bard Balloons moniker. Seven of these balloons are "Special Shape" hot air balloons in the shape of an Alien Rocket Ship, a Christmas Deer, a Polar Bear, a Tiger, a Robot, a Sun/Cloud and a Mushroom.

Alain has flown balloons in some far-away places in the world, a total of 13 countries: Czech Republic, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom as well as locally at many of the hot air balloon festival in Canada and the USA.

Alain is the Ontario sales representative for Kubicek Balloons, the largest balloon manufacturers in the world.

Since 2012, Alain has been the President of the National Capital Balloon Club where, along with other club members, he has helped create several other balloons from scratch. As President, he helps promote the sport in the National Capital region and also acts as liaison to Transport Canada.

Jean has been involved in ballooning for over 25 years when his wife initially registered them both as volunteer crew for the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival.  Being bilingual he was asked to help the festival's balloon committee so during those early years he was: Crew Director , Launch Director, Flight Security Officer and Assistant Balloonmeister.

Since 2003, Jean has flown hot air balloons all over Canada and the USA, but his favorite place to fly is in Eastern Ontario.

His biggest accomplishment and best balloon experiences is helping other pilots build special shape balloons and flying the first flights on these giant works of art.

Without our Ground Crew, we would never be able to fly. Here are a few of them:

Balloon Name: Pixel Swirl
Make: Kubicek BB22E
Size: AX-7, 77,000 cu ft.
Number of Passengers: Pilot + 2

A brand new, state-of-the-art balloon system featuring a brand new envelope made of lightweight fabric, as well as a brand new basket, burner and fuel cylinders.

Balloon Name: Light Bright
Make: Bard
Size: AX-5, 42,000 cu ft.
Number of Passengers: Pilot only

Special Features: Glass-bottom basket

Used for static displays and tethers for show.

Balloon Name: Emerald Meadows
Make: Aerostar
Size: AX-7, 77,000 cu ft.
Number of Passengers: Pilot + 2

Balloon Name: Blue Twilight
Make: Aerostar
Size: AX-8, 105,000 cu ft.
Number of Passengers: Pilot + 4

Balloon Name: Patriotic, Eh!
Make: Aerostar
Size: AX-8, 105,000 cu ft.
Number of Passengers: Pilot + up to 4

Balloon Name: Hendrick's Gin
Make: Kubicek BB30Z
Size: AX-8, 106,000 cu ft.
Number of Passengers: Pilot + up to 4

This Balloon is not available for paid passenger flights

We also have a fleet of Special Shape Hot Air Balloons.