NOBPA has established the Steve Lachendro Award to honor the memory and legacy of Steve. The award acknowledges the cooperative spirit of an individual always willing to help others; one who places sportsmanship and teamwork above self interest. The recipient should have that child-like twinkle in their eyes when doing anything dealing with hot air ballooning especially when encouraging the involvement of others.
This award was established in 1981 in memory of Elizabeth J. Dumont, an Indiana pilot, who was killed in 1978 when her balloon collided with power lines. The award is presented annually at the BFA National Hot Air Balloon Championships to the pilot who, in the judgment of the Event Director, shall be deemed for that given year to best exemplify the highest degree of safety whether such pilot be a competitor or non- competitor.
The Balloon Federation of America and it's Hot Air Competition Division Congratulate Nick Donner on his second consecutive US National Championship. With four BFA National Titles, Nick trails only Bruce Comstock (6) and Joe Heartsill (5) in the Title Race. Rhett Heartsill took Rookie of the Year honors with a solid sixth place finish while Joe Heartsill was top "Senior" with his fourth place finish.
The following links contain individual BFA task results from each respective event or flight. These "positional" scores of BFA/HACD members only are used to determine the National Ranking and will differ from any all-inclusive event scores. Please click on task numbers to review scores.
If you're currently utilizing mapping software (Ozi Explorer, CompeGPS, etc.) in competition, you may be interested in the following technical information. What you view on your computer screen may not be an exact image of the real world.
The World Championships of Hot Air Ballooning will be held in Battle Creek Michigan on August 18-25, 2012. Holiday Balloon Fest of Battle Creek, under the leadership of Derrick Jones, sponsored the USA Nationals in 2009. Derrick has long had the dream of sponsoring the world competition with Observers* and his dream has come true.
Digital Map Calibration -- Technical Issues