Balloonist Profiles: Laura Jones

BALLONIST PROFILES: LAURA  JONES

Champion balloonist Laura Jones is a 26-year-old hairdresser from Atlanta, Georgia who enjoys modeling vintage ballooning gear at meets and conferences. I caught this shot of her from below just as she lifted off on her record-breaking flight at last month’s Western Division Vintage Fly-In in Escondido, California. She is wearing a rare mid-1950’s era Fem-Aire Super Stretch Comfort suit in natural latex with an Eileen Feather “Pressure-Proof” single port helmet- the original all-fiberglass design, which made metal ballooning helmets a thing of the past back in the day.

Laura prefers the crotch-mount connector because her helium hose doubles as her tether line during flight. Unlike a helmet-mount connector, which tends to rotate the balloonist upside-down when tethering with the hose, the crotch mount allows the balloonist to maintain a heads-up position even when the tether pulls tight.

Although many of the early records for altitude and duration were set by balloonists  wearing this suit and helmet combination, Laura warns that a latex Super Stretch pumped full of helium and topped with a Feather “PP” helmet is by today’s standards a confining and primitive way for a girl to fly. It is also much more accident-prone, since it lacks any of the basic safety features required in modern ballooning gear.  Laura admits to having had a couple of close calls while teaching herself how to balloon in the ‘50’s style (which requires her to hold her breath for much of the duration of the flight) and for extra safety she has added a small emergency oxygen bottle that feeds directly into her helmet. In case her ground support crew cannot reel her in quickly enough after she reaches her maximum altitude, she can always crack the valve on the O2 bottle and save herself from suffocating inside the suit. The line from her helmet to the emergency bottle on her hip is visible in the inset closeup of her in her ballooning gear, which shows her fully prepped and ready for flight.

Despite the risks inherent in the use of vintage ballooning equipment , Laura says she enjoys the chance to demonstrate to the current generation of ballooning enthusiasts how the sport of human ballooning first “got off the ground” and is looking forward to seeing all her fans and friends again at the November WinterNationals in Palm Beach, Florida.  

-photography and text copyright 2013 by Jim Donaldson