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Written by Adam Magee

Published: January 12 2017

The BFA HACD wants you to sharpen your competition ballooning skills and join the HACD this year!

We are proud of what our members accomplished in 2016 including:

• Team USA’s performance at the 2016 World Championship in Japan, including Rhett Heartsill the 2016 World Champion.
• Team USA’s performance at the 2016 Women’s World Championships in Lithuania, including Cheri White a bronze medalist.
• Team USA’s performance at the 2016 Junior World Championship in Lithuania.

If flying on the World Stage is your goal, the HACD welcomes you to join and sharpen your skills.

We are also proud to have had two successful US National Championships in 2016 – one in Shreveport, LA and the other, the first standalone US Women’s National Championships in Albuquerque, NM.  In 2017 the HACD looks forward to another successful US Nationals in Shreveport, LA and will continue to search for organizers of US National Championships – Women’s, Jr’s and Team Nationals to promote the sport and allow members to sharpen skills.

We continue to be thankful for all the balloon events that support competitive ballooning in the USA and use our rules/regulations and allow their pilots to compete for points in our National Eligibility List. Though not final, as of this writing 39 different events had scores submitted into the National Eligibility List. Many more events had intentions to submit scores, but were weathered out. It is these events, ranging from small balloon club events, to large competitive events which are the lifeblood of our division. We attempt to add value to organizers by having a published rule book, scoring software, safety standards, etc. available to organizers with very little extra work needed to have scores submitted to our National Eligibility List. Help us grow competitive ballooning and consider having your event submit scores to the National Eligibility List. Although the name of the list is a bit deceiving, pilots don’t have to have an interest in flying at Nationals to be listed and have points submitted. The HACD recognizes the top pilot on the National Eligibility List as well as the top senior pilot, top women pilot, top rookie pilot, top Jr. pilot, and the most improved pilot from the previous year list. Any organizers who wish to have their scores submitted for the 2017 National Eligibility List should visit the BFA website to learn how.

The HACD Board of Directors held their annual face to face meeting in December 2016 to discuss the year that was in 2016 as well as plan and approve rule changes for 2017. There are many new and exciting things in the works that will debut in 2017, join us and see!