For Peter and Diane Burns of Natchez and sons Carter and Tyler, serving as crew members for the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race has been a family affair for years.

And it seems they wouldn’t have it any other way.

&uot;Getting to fly is definitely one of the perks,&uot; said Carter, 20, now a junior at Millsaps College and a veteran of at least four hot-air balloon flights.

&uot;You’re moving at the speed of the wind, so it doesn’t feel like you’re moving at all,&uot; Diane added. &uot;It’s so calm and peaceful up there.&uot;

For Tyler, the best part of crewing is that &uot;you get to meet so many different people,&uot; including balloonists from all over the country. &uot;You feel like ambassadors for your community and for ballooning,&uot; Peter said.

The Burnses’ involvement with the race began 14 years ago, when Peter was recruited as a crew volunteer by friends on the Balloon Race Committee.

Carter, then just 6 years old, also pitched in by toting ropes and other light equipment to the truck and sitting on the balloon bag to flatten it out. He still comes home to help on race days and, as of last year, started bringing his fraternity brothers home to help.

Diane began pitching in a couple of years later, followed by Tyler, now 17 and a senior at Trinity Episcopal Day School.

There is no big secret to success in crewing, the Burnses said — just attending training sessions, being at briefing sessions by 6 a.m. on race days and, above all, listening and following the pilot’s instructions.

Tasks pilots ask the event’s hundreds of crew volunteers to perform can range from lifting and carrying balloon baskets that weigh hundreds of pounds to picking up trash at the takeoff or landing sites.

Crew members also have to follow their balloons by car or truck to the landing site in order to disassemble and store the balloon and related equipment — and both the trip and the work that follows it can be difficult.

&uot;The pilot is trying to describe to you the (landmarks) he’s passing over so you’ll know where he is and can follow him,&uot; Carter said. &uot;It can be pretty challenging to find him.&uot;

And sometimes available landing sites are not always ideal, such as when a pilot had to land at Anna’s Bottom in the middle of a soggy field.

&uot;So we had to carry this heavy basket over this muddy ground to the truck, because the truck couldn’t get in there,&uot; Peter said.

&uot;We had to make sure we didn’t destroy the crop … and didn’t get ourselves struck in the mud in the process.&uot;

Based on their experiences, the Burnses said they would definitely recommend balloon crew volunteering to others.

Such volunteering is a good way to get involved in one’s community — and to learn more about the area, since one has to know the geography and history of the region in order to explain it to pilots and other balloon race participants.

&uot;It’s one of the biggest annual events we have, and it can’t happen without the volunteers,&uot; Peter said. &uot;Also, some of the money goes to community projects, such as buying parade barricades and trash cans for downtown Natchez.&uot;

&uot;It’s an experience you can’t have anywhere else,&uot; Carter said.