WANTED: PEOPLE TO CHASE LARGE BALLOONS

Forget about the cool air at 200 feet whistling past your ears. Don't even think about the breathtaking scenery as you soundlessly drift on the wind at that height or the feeling of weightlessness as you shoot up from the ground.

None of that will matter at this weekend's Balloons and Arts Festival '96 because being on the ground as a member of a chase crew is "where all the fun is," said Beverly Strohmeyer, of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

"It (the chase crew) is for people who want to be involved in the whole project, who want to make it all happen and like being in the middle of the action," Strohmeyer said.

Strohmeyer and Laura Brothers, the Arts Council's administrative assistant, are trying to recruit at least 60 volunteers for chase crews who will help pilots get their balloons airborne and break them down after the flights. It's not easy work, there is some physical demands, but it's not complicated either.

"It's really a simple thing to do," Strohmeyer said.

Crew members will meet at 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on race days to unload the balloons from the pilots' vans, help inflate them and hook up the baskets. Then they'll pile into the pilots' vehicles and follow the slow-moving balloons as they drift wherever the wind takes them. The crews hope to keep the balloons in sight but they will be in constant radio contact throughout the flights, which last from 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.

The pilots will be competing against each other in a three-day contest to see who can fly closest to a marker. The winner will receive up to $3,000.

Eventually, though, the balloons will have to land and that's when the real fun begins. Crews occasionally may have to climb over fences, wade through mud or dodge traffic to retrieve the balloons because once a balloon is ready to land very little is going to stop it.

"We've had a balloon land in the medium of the interstate," Strohmeyer said. "We had one new pilot who landed in a pig sty. A lot of the time you have no idea where you're going to land."

Landing zones are essential to the pilots and crews. A pilot may spot what appears to be a suitable field for landing and ask his crew to drive ahead and ask permission. Landowners along the route can display their willingness to have a balloon land in their fields by laying out a white sheet as a marker.

"That's basically saying, Come on down, you're welcome," Brothers said.

It's a simple matter to break down and store a balloon once it's been located. Then it's off to the Pilots Party on Friday night and a chance to mingle with the pilots and maybe even wrangle a ride.

"Being a crew member gives people the opportunity to meet new people, and possibly get a ride although that's not a guarantee," Strohmeyer said. "Besides, it's a lot of fun."

Anyone interested in joining a chase crew must sign up at the Arts Council for a class to be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Drury Lodge. The class is free. In addition, a Balloons and Arts Festival T-shirt can be purchased with the application for $10.

Jetta Schantz, who holds the world record for the duration flight in a balloon of 15 hours and 11 minutes, will be an instructor at the chase-crew class as well as the chief scoring officer for the competition.