to the official home page of the Roping The Wind Hot Air Balloon Team. The team is based out of Mesa, Arizona. Now and then we get the opportunity to get away from the flying we most often do here in the East Valley area of Phoenix and head out for more adventurous flying country. Arizona is a beautiful state with spectacular scenery ranging from near sea level to mountain peaks towering to near 13,000 ft. From farm fields and low desert to high alpine meadows and ponderosa pine forest. Arizona has some of the most rugged country that can only be viewed by aircraft or by backpack/hiking trips. We prefer to see it from the air! What better way than from the basket of a hot air balloon! Join us on our adventures and enjoy the views of Arizona from the comfort of your own computer desk!

DISTANCE AND DURATION RECORDS BROKEN!!!

The Roping The Wind hot air balloon Adventure Flight Team went out early Sunday morning, December 28th 2003 and wrapped up the year by breaking a couple of my personal records: distance and duration! We lifted off at 8:15am from the community of San Tan (Queen Creek), SE of Phoenix, for a flight of 3.3 hours and 91 miles. The flight landed approx 11 miles south of Robles Junction SW of Tucson and 30 north of the Mexican border. Pictures and narration are soon to come! So check back soon! In the meantime... you can view my records page to see the specifics on this most recent record breaking flight!

Geocaching and Hot air ballooning!
The Roping The Wind adventure flight team has a few members who are also active in the sport of Geocaching. Geocaching is a fun outdoors adventure game that requires participants to find hidden 'caches' placed thru out the world. These hidden treasures can be found from desert flats to high mountain peaks. One such cache was placed up high atop a rock pinnacle in eastern Pinal County. The rock pinnacle is popular with the sport of Rock Climbing. The rock has 3 routes to climb to the top, but require rock climbing gear to get up there.We aren't rock climbers. But, we do have a hot air balloon! So, to accomplish this and also accomplish our first 'geocache by balloon'.... we set out on the morning of December 12, 2004 to attempt to be the first to find this cache.... by balloon!!!  click here to read more!


Roping The Wind Hot Air Balloon Team Stables: 
Welcome to the RTWHABT stables! Here is my prized collection of balloons!
They are all Firefly Balloons manufacturered by The Balloon Works in Statesville, NC!

                                         
Roping The Wind           No Fences         Gold Buckle Dreams              Strawberry Roan
        (TBW FF77)                                 (TBW FF77)                               (TBW FF65)                                                (TBW FF90)

Roping The Wind- TBW/Firefly FF77- My first balloon! Purchased in 1994,  I flew this balloon as my primary for several years. Today, it is used for mostly fun flying and an occasional adventure flight.

No Fences- TBW/Firefly FF77- This was my second balloon. I purchased it in 19__ and became my primary balloon. I used it not only for fun flying, but also some adventure flights as well as for my passenger ride business. Today, it is used strictly for fun flights and an occasional adventure flight.

Gold Buckle Dreams- TBW/Firefly FF65-This balloon was purchased in April of 2003 from a pilot in North Carolina. This balloon is used primarily for competition flying and an occasional adventure flight.

Strawberry Roan- TBW/Firefly FF90- This balloon is my newest and most beautiful balloon. It is very popular with the communities I regularly fly it over! This balloon is used primarily for my passenger ride business. But, we occasionally use it for adventure flights if a flight calls for a larger balloon with more fuel.

                                                                 Apacheland Movie Ranch Photo Shoot

Gold Canyon,Arizona

Apacheland Movie Ranch was built in 1957 and was the filming site of many major motion pictures and television series. The TV series "Death Valley Days" starring Ronald Reagan was the first to be filmed in this beautiful location below the rugged Superstition Mountains. Others include "Have Gun Will Travel" starring Richard Boone, "Wyatt Earp" starring Hugh O' Brian, "Wanted Dead or Alive" with Steve McQueen, "The Rifleman" with Chuck Conners and several other 60's and 70's western TV series. Many great Motion Pictures filmed here include "Rio Bravo" with John Wayne, "Charro" with Elvis Presley, "The Gambler 2" starring Kenny Rogers and Linda Evans and many other great western films used the Apacheland Movie Ranch to film their western scenes.


adventure: 1a: an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks b: the encountering of risks 2: an exciting or remarkable experience

"To me, adventure flying doesn't necessarily mean 'extreme' flying. Adventure flights can be any flight, really. For me, an adventure flight is any flight that is out of the ordinary. Maybe it's a place balloonist fly all the time, but, I have never flown. Flying there would be an adventure. Of course, I love to take ballooning to another level. This can be flying in places where balloons don't typically fly, or maybe, have never flown. This can also mean doing long distance flights, high altitude flights, and duration flights. These flights don't have to be around the world, across the US, or even across the state. Just flying higher, farther, or longer than I have ever flown before. This is adventure flying to me."

Scott Nicol

 Adventure Flights Page
This page contains some of the flights the Roping The Wind Adventure Flight Team has made. Here you can view images taken from these flights as well as read a little about these flights. One of my goals as a pilot is to fly from every town/city in Arizona! No matter how big or how small or how remote. These are just a few of the flights we have made to date. We have only just begun!

Click here to go to the Adventure Flights Page!


                          proud to fly Firefly!              


The best of both!!!
1995 Balloon Works Firefly 90
&
Oldsmobile 455 powered 1974 GMC 1/2 ton pickup

                            

  Competition Corral
Check out my balloon competition page to see another aspect of ballooning that I truly enjoy!
Click here!

 CHECK OUT MY
   Records
   PAGE!

 My personal altitude, duration, and distance records.
  Record breaking flights will be posted here.


Interested in joining us and becoming a part of our adventure flight team?

Check out this link for information on how to become a part of the team and to experience the Arizona outdoors, meet new friends, and even get the opportunity to see the Arizona backcountry from a whole new perspective!

This link will explain what is involved and if what we do fits your recreational interests. Generally, almost anyone is capable of being on a hot air ballon flight crew from the youngsters to the young at heart! Check it out!

Information on joining the Roping The Wind Adventure Flight Team


last updated 12/13/04

NABA logo used by permission of the North American Balloon Association
Firefly logo used by permission of The Balloon works

This web site and supporting pages designed and maintained by Arizcowboy

This is where the cowboy rides away. Off into the sunset!