Our Crew

Ian is one of our balloon pilots.

Justin Moore, Chief Pilot

Justin has been flying balloons since before his 18th birthday. He has UK, Australian, and Sri Lankan licences, and is qualified to fly the world’s largest balloons. Justin has flown in Europe, Scandinavia, the US, Australia, South America, Africa and Asia. He has been flying for over 23 years and has over 3000 hours of ballooning experience. Justin says his favourite place to fly is in the Alps. He is the Chief Pilot of both the Altitude Balloon Co. Ltd and our sister company, the European Balloon Co.

Ian Woodmansey, Pilot

Ian’s first experience of ballooning came 18 years ago while at university when offered a ticket by a friend. He was instantly hooked, and is convinced that he left his heart in the sky on that first trip! Ian did not train immediately as a pilot, first working for 8 years with Oxfam, the International Red Cross and the UN in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and various other countries in Africa and Asia. On returning from these overseas missions he knew there was only one direction he could take – flying balloons! After training with the instructor who also trained the renowned explorer and record-breaker, David Hempleman-Adams, Ian then set about building his experience by flying in the UK and Europe. Ian is a fully qualified commercial balloon pilot with substantial experience of flying in different environments. He looks forward to welcoming you on board.

Andrew Sherman, Chief Technical Advisor Andy first flew solo in an airplane on his 17th birthday, a rare feat in flying circles. Andy has been involved with balloons since the age of 18. He is one of our weather experts, and is a trainer in meteorology as well as numerous other aspects of aviation. When not ballooning, Andy has been flying jets commercially, both longhaul and shorthaul, for the past 10 years. He is responsible for airline safety issues for one of the UK’s large commercial airlines. Stuart Skinner, Equipment Maintenance Manager Stuart is a private balloon pilot, and he is building hours towards taking his commerical pilot’s licence. He is a qualified builder and electrician

Stuart looks after all of the equipment.

Andy and Lorne with one of our younger passengers.

Lorne Aslett, Crew Leader

Lorne is a highly experienced crew member who will ensure that your balloon is ready to inflate and take-off, and who will come and find us on the landing field with the passenger vehicle and trailer. We are enormously lucky to have such an experienced and enthusiastic crew leader. Lorne can tell you anything you wish to know about balloons !