ALBUQUERQUE — Bobby Brad ley is ready. He has been training for about five years and learned from some of the most experienced and decorated pilots in the sport of ballooning.
But he will be making his own mark on the sport when he lifts off from a desolate patch of New Mexico desert in about seven weeks: At 9 years old, Bobby will become the youngest trained pilot to fly solo in an ultra-light hot-air balloon.
So, is he excited? “Definitely,” he says.
Worried? “Not at all.”
“I’ve been flying since I was 4, so I’ve had a lot of time to train, and I’ve always wanted to solo,” Bobby said.
For some, the feat might conjure up the dramatic televised images from 2009, when a runaway silver balloon flew uncontrollably over Colorado amid fears that a little boy was inside. That boy was actually hiding in the family’s garage; his parents were later accused of staging a hoax.
Bobby is the real deal. He is the son of well-known balloonists Troy and Tami Bradley of Albuquerque. Both have been licensed pilots since they were teenagers and come from families immersed in the ballooning community for decades.
In 1998, Troy and Tami Bradley won the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race, one of the country’s biggest events in balloon racing. Six years earlier, Troy Bradley and Richard Abruzzo piloted the first balloon to fly from North America to Africa.
In all, Troy Bradley has set nearly five dozen world records in ballooning and has logged thousands of hours of pilot time. He is also the president of the Balloon Federation of America.
So, is it in Bobby’s blood? His parents think so, but they have been careful not to pressure him or his 11-year-old sister, Savannah, who would rather leave the piloting to Bobby.
“Truthfully, this is his idea,” Troy Bradley said. “He’s just so gung-ho about flying and everything. It’s kind of funny because when he was real little, he was like every other kid, the burners scared him.”
That turned around when Bobby was about 4. His dad gave him control of the burner, and he began to understand where that loud roaring sound was coming from.
Bobby has about 25 hours of flight time with his father in a standard hot-air balloon.
He can’t get his pilot’s license until he is 16, but he will be able to fly on his own now because his balloon will be classified as an ultra-light aircraft.
