November 12, 1998
Life in th' clouds is light an' lively
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
Being full of hot air. Having your head in the clouds. These are not the kind of words most business owners strive to hear. But for Jeff Geiger, they keep him flying high - literally.
As owner and pilot of Grand Traverse Balloons, Inc., Geiger spends each workweek getting his business off the ground. Often it comes down to the simple physics of wind speed and gravity. Other times it the more complex science of squeezing an 8 story tall hot air balloon into the diameter of four trash bags.
Despite any logistical headaches here on earth, nothing could upset the experience of having your head in the heavens; even for a hour.
"It's a real high for people to stand up there and watch the earth pull away. It's like you're standing still and everything is moving underneath you," said Geiger, who started his career with hot air balloons as a ground crewman for a company in southern California.
After obtaining his Federal Aviation Administration certified pilot license, Geiger came back home to Traverse City and in 1987 opened his company with one small 2 to 4 person balloon and big ambitions.
"The rides really took off. People hadn't ballooned this far north and the natural beauty of the area just sold itself," noted the Traverse City native, who today averages about 80 to 100 flights year-round.
After spending thousands of hours aloft, Geiger certainly knows the lay of the land and the changing face of it. Encroaching development has altered or eliminated several of what he calls his "flight corridors," including the hayfield that became the Grand Traverse Mall.
Equally important as changing topography, is shifting weather patterns. Factors such as wind direction and speed will not only determine launching and landing sites, but if the balloon goes up at all. A morning wind out of the southwest usually means a launch out of Acme and a flight corridor north toward Elk Lake. A shift toward the northeast and Geiger and his passengers will be headed for the open farm land near Kingsley.
Overall, the balloon company has 20 to 30 different launch areas. But if the winds start to rise above 10 mph, the number of sunny skies won't matter.
"You're very much at the mercy of the weather. It can be frustrating on a beautiful day and the calls start coming in but it's just too windy to fly," said Geiger, who keeps an eye on conditions through an F.A.A. flight service station, marine forecast, local weather predictions and the Weather Channel.
While it is necessary to work with nature, it is also imperative to have a handle on one man-made element: the balloon. At 8 stories tall and with a volume of 210 thousand cubic feet, turning on a dime is not a forte of the hot air balloon.
"You just can't make them do what you want by hitting a lever or turning the wheel. It's a little bit of mind over matter at times," Geiger said. "There is a lot of thinking ahead. I'm wondering about the landing before I even take off from the launch site."
Although piloting requires a tremendous amount of responsibility, Geiger finds it also brings an equal measure of freedom - whether at 8,000 feet or brushing along the tree tops.
"My mind is taken away from everything else when I'm flying. I'm not worried about my earth-bound duties so to speak," noted Geiger. "When you're up in the air there is nothing but you and the wind."
"Then you get back in the vehicle after a flight and you hit the bumps and you've got stoplights and traffic to deal with and you feel different - you feel heavy again."