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DOUBLE LIFE Flight of Fancy Flora Checknoff says the title hot-air balloon “chaser” can be misleading, since a chaser’s goal is to stay on the ground while the pilot and passengers drift overhead. Courtesy of R.O. Franks Aviation
Fired Up A hot air balloon chaser delivers lo mein. by Erin McWhorter With eggrolls, every second counts. Flora Checknoff says it’s a bit of thrill racing through the streets of Asheville in her Toyota Corolla, searching for street signs and numbers on houses as she tries to prevent peoples’ carry-out orders from getting cold. The customers aren’t always grateful for her efforts. But Checknoff, a 24-year-old Baltimore native who moved to Asheville from Black Mountain seven months ago, says her job is still a beautiful way to see the city. She wound up at Black Mountain’s Earthaven Ecovillage last year after a program called WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. When it was time to move on from the farm gig, she found her job at Oriental Pavillion in West Asheville by running her finger down a phonebook page. It’s mostly quiet and peaceful, she says, outside of the occasional panic hunting for house numbers. While her delivery job at Oriental Pavillion may be Zen, her fair-weather mornings this summer were anything but. Checknoff was a crewmember and hot air balloon chaser for R.O. Franks Aviation Company in Asheville. The title “chaser” can be misleading, she says. A chaser’s goal is actually to stay on the ground in front of the hot air balloon while passengers and a pilot drift overhead. On a normal morning of chasing, she picks up pilot Addison Brown and passengers at the Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville 45 minutes before sunrise. They release “pilot” balloons filled with helium to predict the morning’s wind patterns and determine a lift-off location. After unrolling and inflating the massive balloon on a nearby hill or empty field, passengers board the basket and the journey begins. Once on its way, Checknoff
50
VERVE
September 2010
VERVEMAG.com
hops into a company van and begins the chase, keeping the balloon in sight to predict a landing location for pick-up. Checknoff, who is taking classes at A-B Technical College, spends her downtime chasing a different dream—she plays in an Asheville alt-rock band, Holy Holy Vine. But what she has enjoyed most about her job as a chaser is the few quiet minutes after the balloon lift-off. The chaser stays on the ground, and there seems to be a silent, intuitive connection between the crew. “It’s like being strangely tethered to the balloon,” she says.
Erin McWhorter
Fired Up A hot air balloon chaser delivers lo mein. by Erin McWhorter With eggrolls, every second counts. Flora Checknoff says it’s a bit of thrill racing through the streets of Asheville in her Toyota Corolla, searching for street signs and numbers on houses as she tries to prevent peoples’ carry-out orders from getting cold. The customers aren’t always grateful for her efforts. But Checknoff, a 24-year-old Baltimore native who moved to Asheville from Black Mountain seven months ago, says her job is still a beautiful way to see the city. She wound up at Black Mountain’s Earthaven Ecovillage last year after a program called WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. When it was time to move on from the farm gig, she found her job at Oriental Pavillion in West Asheville by running her finger down a phonebook page. It’s mostly quiet and peaceful, she says, outside of the occasional panic hunting for house numbers. While her delivery job at Oriental Pavillion may be Zen, her fair-weather mornings this summer were anything but. Checknoff was a crewmember and hot air balloon chaser for R.O. Franks Aviation Company in Asheville. The title “chaser” can be misleading, she says. A chaser’s goal is actually to stay on the ground in front of the hot air balloon while passengers and a pilot drift overhead. On a normal morning of chasing, she picks up pilot Addison Brown and passengers at the Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville 45 minutes before sunrise. They release “pilot” balloons filled with helium to predict the morning’s wind patterns and determine a lift-off location. After unrolling and inflating the massive balloon on a nearby hill or empty field, passengers board the basket and the journey begins. Once on its way, Checknoff
50
VERVE
September 2010
VERVEMAG.com
hops into a company van and begins the chase, keeping the balloon in sight to predict a landing location for pick-up. Checknoff, who is taking classes at A-B Technical College, spends her downtime chasing a different dream—she plays in an Asheville alt-rock band, Holy Holy Vine. But what she has enjoyed most about her job as a chaser is the few quiet minutes after the balloon lift-off. The chaser stays on the ground, and there seems to be a silent, intuitive connection between the crew. “It’s like being strangely tethered to the balloon,” she says.
Erin McWhorter
