Willamette Aerostat Society Balloon Club
Welcome to the Willamette Aerostat Society Balloon Club! We are a Hot Air Balloon Club located in Oregon. We have members from across the country including Washington, Nevada, South Dakota and more. We publish a newsletter each month that covers a variety of topics, including upcoming ballooning events, reports on recent events and other topics of interest to the ballooning community.
Current WAS Members: Email Sallie if you need the password for members only pages of the website.
Please check out our Learn to Crew or Learn to Fly pages.
Current Aerostats (click image above)
Join the Willamette Aerostat Society Facebook Group
We saved all of you from having to waste 90 minutes of your life and watched "Best.Christmas.Ever" on Netflix last night. I honestly had no clue it was centered around a "solar powered hot air balloon" until it started. But. Save yourselves and don't bother unless you really really want to say "what in the ever living hell am I watching?" multiple times over.
I don't see many balloons where I live south of Albuquerque, but I did see this one on a late afternoon flight a few minutes ago.
Hey! Hey! Make sure you are checking emails and newsletters for upcoming events. We have two events coming up this month and next and we want to see you there! If you are not a club member, consider joining today so you receive all the fun club activities and details! Contact me at prez@wasballoon.org for details!
Club members! Go check your email with newsletter details! If you are not a club member… well you should join! If you have questions about membership, email me at prez@wasballoon.org.
Sallie shared that Albert Brienen passed a couple of weeks ago. I am putting together a photo album to send/give to his brothers. I know Albert proudly crewed at a few festivals over the years. If any of you have pictures of him to share, please send to me or post here for me to steal. If you have any thoughts to share, please pass those along and i can print them in the book. Thanks!
I have a friend who asked me about a special shape balloon of a teddy bear wearing a cowboy hat. The pilot was from NH. She is looking for a photo of said balloon and maybe the name of the pilot. Her boyfriend's cousin grew up seeing it in the early 90s, so they are trying to find more info on it…. ok super sleuths, who knows anything?
A funny from a friend .
This just in from Cindy Murphy
For those of you who may not know, Albert Brienen, a long time crew member at Vista Balloons, passed away unexpectedly about a week ago. There will be a wake held at Mt Angel Sausage Co in Mt Angel on November 2 at 4:30pm and a funeral service on November 25 at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Beaverton at 11am. I am not sure if Vista is planning something separately, but if they are please pass along the information.
Pearson Field Education Center reached out to me about an old basket they want to get rid of (by this Saturday). No clue if they have paperwork for it to make it airworthy. It could be a good educational basket to have. Does anyone want it? Otherwise I will either go get it or they will destroy it… let me know!