Balloon Group B, C or D

Prerequisites

 To enter the Balloon group transition training course, you have to be holder of Balloon Pilot Licence with privileges to fly the hot-air class and to hold Class 1 or Class 2 medical.

To be eligible for the balloon group transition you need to have following experience:

• at least 100 hours, if privileges for group B balloons are sought;
• at least 200 hours, if privileges for group C balloons are sought;
• at least 300 hours, if privileges for group D balloons are sought.

Content

The training flights with bigger balloon envelope concentrate on the differences between the group for which your privileges are sought and the group(s) for which you already has privileges. For example, handling needs to consider balloon performance differences arising from greater mass, inertia, response to the burner and, in some cases, differing deflation systems. Additional requirements arise for dealing with larger numbers of passengers.

Duration

The hot-air balloon group transition flight training consists of at least 2 flights in the respective group of the hot-air balloon lasting approximately 2 hours. The training syllabi covers the normal and emergency procedures with the focus on the different handling characteristics of the bigger balloon group.

Completion

Upon the completion of balloon group transition training the privileges will be endorsed into your logbook by balloon instructor. From now on, you can fly as a pilot-in-command in the respective balloon group. An extension to Group C is also valid for Groups A and B. An extension to Group D is also valid for groups A, B and C.