NATCHEZ &045; There was a bug in the balloon.

But she’d earned her spot, even though the others said it wasn’t her turn.

The bug, 6-year-old Charlotte Sedlak, daughter of pilot Randy Sedlak, knew just when to ask for permission to fly.

&uot;Dad was making me do more, and I thought maybe it was because he was going to let me go up,&uot; Charlotte said.

So after Charlotte, her three sisters and her mom and dad got the balloon inflated and ready for liftoff, she leaned over the basket, grinned &045; minus the two front teeth &045; and asked to go.

And up it went, bug in tow.

Bug, a family nickname, is the smallest member of the Heaven Bound balloon crew of Montgomery, Ala. The other members get increasingly taller, but still don’t have a combined weight heavy enough to hold the inflated balloon down without mom and dad.

That doesn’t mean they don’t do more than their share of the work.

Anna (banana), 12, Carrie (bear), 11, and Rebecca (bean), 9, share the responsibilities of crewing the balloon with their parents and little sister.

&uot;As they get bigger they get more responsibilities,&uot; mom Carla Sedlak said. &uot;(Experience) comes from doing it.&uot;

So as the balloons nearby, nearly all of which are smaller than Heaven Bound, use five or more adults to get the balloon aloft, the little Sedlak hands work with maturity and strength beyond their age.

&uot;They pretty much know what’s expected of them,&uot; Randy said.

On the scene that fact becomes apparent. Once dad finds the perfect liftoff spot, the trailer door comes open the girls head straight to their tasks.

&uot;I get the pilot bag and sometimes I put on the radios and things,&uot; Charlotte said. &uot;I help Carrie do the crown line and get the GPS. Mom taught me how to do the radios and Dad taught me how to help.&uot;

&uot;Rebecca and I normally Velcro the parachute at the top,&uot; Carrie said. &uot;And the crown line, Anna or I do that.&uot;

Heaven Bound’s envelope volume is 105,000 cubic feet and the deflated balloon, basket and fuel tanks weigh around 750 lbs. The balloon can carry up to four people. The majority of the balloons at the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race were at least 15,000 cubic feet smaller and could carry a maximum of two people. The Sedlaks said they purchased the larger balloon to carry more people because of the size of their family.

Though the Sedlaks prefer to have more adult help, including curious passersby and newspaper reporters, they said they’ve put the balloon up in gentle winds with just the girls.

The hard work pays off every fourth time for the children when they get the chance to go thousands of feet off the ground with dad.

&uot;I look forward to it,&uot; Rebecca said. &uot;But sometimes I do kind of get tired. But it’s fun seeing all the things look so small.&uot;

Ballooning as a family affair is something Randy and Carla would have no other way. They attend about four or five balloon festivals a year and go flying on their own at the most once a week, at the least, once a month, Carla said. At a festival, the morning starts before dawn and often ends after dark, for three days in a row.

Randy, a pilot for two years, got interested in ballooning while growing up in Decatur, Ala., home of a 27-year-old balloon festival. The family worked as crew for another pilot for a few years before Randy, a surgeon on the ground, got his own license and balloon. In the early days Charlotte spent some balloon mornings at her grandmother’s, but it wasn’t long before the whole family made every trip, Carla said.

Most of the girls had flown with other pilots, but Anna’s first trip up was with her dad.

&uot;It was a nice slow flight,&uot; Anna said of her first ride. &uot;And the crew was working.&uot;

Anna and Carrie said they prefer to have more adult crew along, but don’t mind doing the work when they have to.

&uot;It’s work, but it’s fun,&uot; Anna said. &uot;You learn getting told over and over again how to do stuff.&uot;

Once the balloon is unpacked, cold inflated and heated up, a procedure that takes the Sedlaks at least 20 to 30 minutes, Randy and passengers drift upward and Carla and girls keep working.

They load the remaining setup gear back into the trailer then pile into the large family van, wired with more technology than many office buildings. Carla uses an Automatic Position Reporting System connected to a laptop showing a map of the area to track Randy’s progress and drive where he flies. Balloon pilots all use radios to communicate with chase crews, but the APRS the Sedlaks use isn’t used by all. GPS systems in both the balloon and the van show Carla where the balloon is and where she is at all times.

Her goal is simply to be at the landing site when Randy touches down and to provide any information along the way to ensure safety.

This weekend, the first trip to Natchez for the family, there were few times the balloon passengers couldn’t look down and spot Carla and the chase crew on the roads. Regardless of landing conditions, either hard on clean land, or soft in shoulder-high brush, Carla and the girls in the chase van are there to pack up.

&uot;We put our weight on the balloon and help get it away from the field,&uot; Carrie said.

The girls help deflate the balloon and store it in the trailer for the next flight, a procedure that takes almost as long as inflating it. When nights get long and children get cranky all it takes is a stern but gentle word from dad to send them all back into high gear.

The next balloon fest for the Sedlaks will be in Battle Creek, Mich., in December.