My Future Hot Balloon Chase Truck

Im loving this truck. Perfect for a hot air balloon promotional chase crew truck. Place decals all over the truck with sponsorship logos etc... Soooo BAD ASS !!!!

Another Year Goes By.....

Another year goes by as a pilot and Im unfortunately unable to make it over to my uncle's annual hot air balloon festival in Hengelo, The Netherlands. 20 minutes from the border of Germany. My whole life while attending my uncle's festival I always dream of being a pilot and also being able to fly as a pilot in my uncle's festival. Welllll..... Ive now been a pilot since 2003 and I haven't been able to make it since due to serveral reasons. But once again....I will shoot for next year's festival. The festival launched yesterday...sooo its been on my mind alot lately. Hope they have good weather for flying all 4 days !!!

HEADING BACK TO MEXICO

Headed back to Mexico this fall. Its official !!! Soooo excited !!! McDonald's wanted us back again. On top of that a certain special someone is coming down with me to be apart of the team. Its going to be super mega awesome seeing all of my old Mexican friends along with David and Chuck. Awesome stuff !!!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.
Earl Nightingale

Balloon Crash in Canada

SURREY, British Columbia - A hot air balloon caught fire and crashed in an RV park and campground Friday evening, injuring as many as 11 people, police and a witness said. Two other people were unaccounted for.

The cause of the accident wasn't known. Weather conditions were clear at the time of the sunset flight. At least three 30-foot RVs caught fire, said Don Randall, a witness who lives in the RV park. No one was reported hurt in those blazes.

Witnesses said passengers screamed and jumped to the ground as the balloon's basket caught fire. The balloon reportedly took off from a grassy field with 12 passengers.

"The thing went up about 400 feet in the air at which point it melted enough of the balloon — it collapsed," said Randall, who saw the balloon as it was on its way up and took pictures of the fiery scene. "The basket was basically a fireball, it just dropped like a stone."

"I'm just thinking, 'Oh geez, I hope there's nobody in that thing. It's basically a burning death up there,'" he said.

People who had been riding in the balloon suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospitals in the nearby Vancouver area, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Roger Morrow said in a statement.

Fifteen ambulances, two air ambulances and eight fire trucks raced to the scene at the Hazelmere park, he said. Smoke could be seen billowing from the crash site from miles away, CTV said.

Randall said at least two vehicles were damaged along with the RVs. He said he ran to his RV and grabbed a small fire extinguisher, but it proved of little use.

The hot-air balloon, which CTV reported was operated by Fantasy Balloons Charters based in Langley, British Columbia, was one of several balloons in flight at the time.

Friday evening Aug. 24, 2007

Balloons of History

Found these pictures surfing through the internet....thought they were coool to show a little history of ballooning which originated in Paris, France.

PILOT CAREER UPDATE

PILOT LOG:

Unfortunately I haven't been able to purchase a good second recreational private hot air balloon. But I am hopeful that I will be able to buy one, once the MS foundation is up and running with a regular paycheck. As soon as I'm able, the new balloon will give me to abilities to get better and better gaining more and more confidence in the air. As they say.... "It take up to 100 hours in the air as PILOT in COMMAND before you can begin to change the relationship you have with ballooning." Either "You take control the balloon or it. The only way Im going to be able achieve total control is for me to gain more and more air time with my own balloon. (Confidence = Experience ) The day I have my very own balloon will be one of the greatest days of my life.

The above pic is of the ZORRO balloon.
~ The 1st solo flight Balloon ~

IMAGES FROM THE FESTO MEXICO TOUR 2006

1st EMAIL TO UNCLE about Becoming a Pilot

From my Uncle Rien when he first learned that i was going to begin working on my pilots licience.

DECEMBER 2002

Hello Russell,
Great news that you are going to work on getting your pilot licence as well. This means that a 3th Jurg will be a balloon pilot. Since some time now I am working on my new balloon company in Thailand. The passenger booking is going in a good direction. There is a lot to tell about this. Best look first on my website. www.orientalballoonflights.com and you will know a lot more about our activities during oktober and march. Russell , if I can help you with training or whatever, let me know ! Maybe we can meet soon. It is my dream to have a family party in the nearest future in my "balloon" house in Chiang Mai. Thailand is also a good place for training flights.Best regards to everyone. Good to hear from you say hello to David Smuck. Look forward to meet him also again.

See you soon,
Rien

MY 1st email to my uncle:

Hello Rien~

How are you? Hope all is well. My father said that you've been in Thailand alot. It must be beautiful over there. I wanted to type you a little e-mail to let youknow that I've begun to pursue my pilot's licience. Two weeks ago I drove out to Austin Texas to meet with David Smuck to see what I need to do in order for me toget my licience. David is going to guide me througheverything. I'm currently living in Houston Texas,which isn't too far from Austin. The drive isn't toofar. I'm excited, this is something that I've always wanted to do since I was 10 years old. Anyways...please say hello to the family for me, have agreat holiday & happy new year.

Take care,
Russell Jurg

WHAT STARTED IT ALL - 1st email

This is one of the first emails I wrote to David Smuck about wanting to get my hot air balloon pilots licience after 20 plus years of dreaming about it:

Russell HT Jurg <jurg31@canada.com> wrote:

January 2003

Hello David~

How are you doing? Keeping busy I'm sure. I've been meaning to get ahold of you about hot air ballooning, but I've been super busy over here in Houston. I am still very interested in eventually getting my pilots licience, and would like to begin as soon as possible. Do you know of any classroom coarses that I can take somewhere to better learn the written section of the hot air balloon examinations. It's hard for me to really learn something if certain things are not explained in detail and visual. If you can advise me in what direction I should go in I would greatly appreciate it.

Some of the books & manual I have from 1998:
-Private Pilot 1998 Test Prep-Balloon Ground School Home Study Manual/Revision Oct.97-Balloon Digest
-A Publication of the BalloonFederation of America
-Computerized Testing Supplement for Recreational Pilot& Private Pilot/US Dept of Transportation

Which of these are still good to use for 2003? I hope all is well with you and Paula. I greatly appreciate your help. Thank you.

Take care~
Russell Jurg

IMAGES FROM THE FESTO MEXICO TOUR 2006

FESTO MEXICO BALLOON TOUR 2006

A COLLECTION OF PHOTOS OF MY TRIP MEXICO (MARCH 21ST - APRIL 1ST)

FESTO MEXICO BALLOON TOUR 2006

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE PICS FROM MY RECENT TRIP TO MEXICO WITH FESTO. WE TRAVELLED TO MEXICO CITY, CHIHUAHUA AND MONTERREY MEXICO OVER A 2 WEEK PERIOD.

BALLOONSCAPE ART

LEON MEXICO 2004

LAUNCH TIME

A SHOT OF SEVERAL BALLOONS TAKING OFF DURING THE 2004 Leon Mexico Balloon Festival.

David Waves GoodBye

My good friend and former flight instructor David Smuck watching a British balloon take off from a launch site in Guanajuato Mexico in 2004

My BALLOONING ARTWORK

While playing around with yahoo's photoshop....I fooled around with one of my photos from one of my Mexican trips.

OFF TO MEXICO

LEAVING TOMORROW MORNING !!!!

FESTO HOT AIR BALLOON TOUR - MEXICO 2006

Getting ready for Mexico again !! Should be a GRRRRRRRRREAT trip !! Im going down there with the above hot air balloons and my cousin Miriam. It will be the first time my cousin and I will have one on one time together without having other family members around. Miriam is 3 years younger then I am...we've known each and have been around each other for our entire lives. But due to her living in Holland and me living in Canada and now in the US....its been hard to carry on a normal family relationship with any of my relatives in Europe. Sooo this will be a trip for the history books.
Our FESTO balloon team is set to tour 5 Mexican cities over a 2 and a half week schedule. Mexico City, Monterrey, Chihuahua, Xochitla and Leon . When I get back plan on having 1000's of awesome hot air balloon and Mexican landscape pictures sent your way.
Til then.....be safe, take care and have a grrrrrrrrrrreat April fools day !!! LOL

MEXICAN FESTO TOUR 2006

HEADING BACK DOWN TO MEXICO - March 21st to April 5th, 2006 with my uncle's FESTO Balloon Team. One of the special part of this trip that my younger cousin Miriam Jurg who is also a pilot will be joining to crew to Mexico from Holland. I am sooo looking forward to this...it will the first time that my cousin and I will be hanging out one on one as pilots. It should be a great great trip with lots and lots of memories.

Balloons Balloons and More Balloons

During the Leon Balloon Festival December 1st-4th2005