Heiress - Laurie Cheatham

My husband, Paul, and I would find balloons and stop to take pictures. Knowing that Albuquerque was the largest balloon festival in the world and the most photographed event in the world, I insisted that we go.

A friend of ours said he knew a pilot who would be in Albuquerque that year and to look her up. He name was Kathy Rains. I said we would never find her with all the other pilots and spectators there. He assured me we would and described her balloon to use. The first morning we were there we saw her balloon right away. After introducing ourselves to her, she insisted that we join her crew for the remainder of the week. What a time we had!

After returning home she would call us periodically to come out to crew for her. But being a very popular balloon that people wanted to be associated with, we found that she really had no need for extra crew. A 77,500 cu. Ft. balloon doesn’t need a 15-person crew. We asked her crew chief if he knew anyone who needed crew on a regular basis since we were now hooded on ballooning. He introduced us to another pilot, Tim Brown, who had recently purchased a new balloon and had no crew. It became a great ballooning experience and a wonderful relationship that still exists to this day.

We were out ballooning almost every weekend. We went to every balloon event we possibly could over the next four years. We traveled all over California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico often driving Tim’s equipment to the event and home again while he sat comfortably on an airplane. People in our ballooning circle kidded Tim about the loyalty of his crew saying they wanted us to crew for them. We used to joke that we crewed for food since Tim always paid our expenses on the road.

It was Tim that encouraged me to get my student pilot’s license. I didn’t think I wanted to learn to fly since I was having so much fun crewing. But he felt I should take ballooning to the next level. He was a very patient instructor and I was a very timid student. With the help of my dad, I bought my first balloon in 1991. It was an Aerostar Aurora 54K that was christened Hummingbird. I got my private pilot’s license and spent the next two years flying almost every weekend.

With Tim’s encouragement I started going to balloon events as a pilot, not as crew. I noticed a distinct difference in the way other pilots responded to me now that I was one of them. People who had never talked to me before were acting like we were long-lost relatives. I eventually went on to get my commercial pilot’s license under the tutelage of Mike Bauwens.

I now own a fleet of three balloons. My husband, Paul, is also a commercial balloon pilot as well as a general aviation private pilot. In real life we own Arrow Financial Services, a bookkeeping, tax and financial planning firm in Ranch Cucamonga, CA. We have been working together for 12 years and haven’t killed each other yet. The joke at home is “How was your day, dear?” Even though we are in the same office, we rarely see each other all day.

I am the proud owner of a 5-year old Collie named Bambi that I recently rescued from Doggie Death Row. She has become a permanent member of my crew. And while she doesn’t mind flying, she much prefers the chase.

Ballooning is my favorite form of stress relief. It is challenging, yet rewarding and peaceful all at once. I never tire of sharing the sport with new friends and greatly admire and appreciate all of the friends I have made throughout the years while enjoying the sport.