Nothing compares to floating on air. It&8217;s no wonder everyone &8212; from pilots to crew members to spectators watching in awe &8212; falls in love with hot air balloons.

No matter how many of the latest gadgets and gauges balloon pilots take with them, flying that small basket beneath a giant colorful nylon envelope is the purest form of flight &8212; the kind of science we all learned in elementary school.

If science can be magic, ballooning is magic. Just look at the faces of small children when they see a balloon rise tall and wide in the air. Even tethered to the ground, they are something alive and moving and pulsing.

And lifting off &8212; it&8217;s a sensation like reaching on tiptoe and then having your feet unexpectedly leave the ground. You almost miss the moment, it&8217;s so quiet but for the whoosh of the propane heating the balloon envelope.

Drifting above treetops and looking down over antebellum homes and church steeples and backyards &8212; all the while with the wind in your face &8212; means a view unlike any other.

The ride is so peaceful, you can forget a fear of heights or flying. With a careful pilot, it&8217;s as if you&8217;re riding tucked safely in the palm of God.

But there&8217;s even more magic at work in ballooning, more than the propane that heats the molecules that keeps the balloon aloft, more than the pure wonder of something so large floating so peacefully through the sky.

It&8217;s the camaradarie of everyone involved. And perhaps nowhere is that more evident than Natchez, which brings its Southern hospitality to this, our largest tourism weekend of the year.

The hobby takes pilots far and wide to participate in festivals and races, but every place they go they meet new friends and reacquaint themselves with old ones.

For many people, ballooning is a family affair, with husband and wife pilots or father and son pilots.

Rose &8220;Bubbles&8221; Beard relies on husband Bob to help direct the crew and the chase vehicles.

And balloon events are family-oriented, with carnival rides, food and games like the Natchez festival at many other locations.

But the definition of &8220;family&8221; becomes more broad when you talk about ballooning. It means pilots who return year after year to the same festivals, and who find the same hospitality among residents and volunteer crew members.

Many pilots who return to Natchez meet up with the same crew members year after year. Cody Higdon of Ferriday has been crewing for Mike Hanson for the past three years. Willie and Linda and Loyed, also of Ferriday, will retire this year along with Bubbles Beard; they wouldn&8217;t dream now of crewing for anyone else.

The magic and wonder of ballooning begins with the tangible &8212; the sight of colorful, floating orbs in the sky, the warmth of propane flickers at balloon glow.

But that magic wouldn&8217;t be nearly so special without the people behind it all.

Kerry Whipple

, editor of The Democrat, is grateful to Bubbles Beard for an unexpected Saturday morning balloon flight. She can be reached at 445-3541 or by e-mail at

kerry.whipple@natchezdemocrat.com

.