It’s 3 a.m. and Mandy Baskin is awake, checking weather reports from her home in Gordonsville. At 5:30 a.m., the owner of Monticello Country Ballooning stands outside the Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville, prepping Barrie and Bruce Carveth, her passengers for the day.
Like many of the University of Virginia 2004 graduate’s balloon flights, today’s is a celebration – this one for Barrie’s 70th birthday.
Sunrise is 20 minutes away. The skies are dark, and birdsong is beginning to swell. Baskin releases a helium-filled “pilot balloon” about the size of a soccer ball into the air to see where the wind will take it. Everyone gazes skyward.
Baskin ignites her burner to lift the balloon from the ground. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
“We’ve definitely got some good movement this morning,” she declares as the pilot balloon rises above the treetops. Now, higher in the sky, it drifts northward.
“The second thing that we’re looking for, after we assess the safety, is ‘What direction is that headed? What kind of steerage do we have to work with?’” she says. It’s an important question because the only way Baskin can steer her balloon is by varying its altitude, finding sweet spots of wind currents along the way. “It’s a little bit like sailing, but there’s no tacking,” she explains.
Baskin’s delivery is precise. Listening to her tell the Carveths what to expect, it’s clear she has honed this tutorial in her 25 years as an FAA-certified balloon pilot.
Baskin and the Carveths relocate to a large field next to the pond at Boar’s Head. The pilot and her lifelong friend and balloon “chaser” Holly Layne remove a gondola from a trailer, lay it on its side on the damp grass and begin unfurling the balloon, which arrived in January from a maker in the Czech Republic.
Baskin stays in constant contact with her “chaser,” Holly Layne, who follows the balloon in a car. Baskin also communicates with the control tower at Charlottesville Albemarle Airport. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
“It’s a dream machine,” Baskin says.
The friends attach the balloon to the passenger basket and use a fan to fill the balloon with ambient air. “Once it’s pretty full, I’ll turn the burners on. It’ll pop right up in about 10 to 15 seconds,” she says.
And that’s exactly what happens. With the burners roaring, the hot air lifts the vessel into the sky and Baskin and the Carveths begin drifting northward, just like the pilot balloon.
‘What’s not to love?’
“If I launch from the same place five days in a row, the altitudes, lighting, cloud cover, passengers, flight path and landing would be a different place,” Baskin later explained. “It’s so stimulating, and you just never know what you’re going to get. What’s not to love?”
Baskin grew up in Keswick and attended Albemarle County public schools. When she graduated from Albemarle High School, she went to Radford University on a cross country scholarship. At the time, gap years were not en vogue, but she knew she needed to take some time off. “I just wasn’t ready,” she said.
A surprise on her 19th birthday opened a new world for her. Baskin’s boyfriend blindfolded her, and the two set off on a motorcycle ride. She hoped the destination would be a skydiving adventure. When the blindfold came off, instead of a plane, she saw a balloon. Once the disappointment wore off, a new obsession took hold. She discovered she loved ballooning and being in the sky. The experience sparked a desire to pursue a career in commercial aviation. All she needed was a bachelor’s degree. With a newfound educational purpose, she enrolled at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
Baskin keeps a hand on the burner lever as she points out scenery to her passengers, Barrie and Bruce Carveth. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
“I was taking nursing classes for fun, like anatomy and physiology and gross anatomy, and just absolutely loved them,” she said. In 2002, Baskin transferred to UVA with honors and began the pre-med track, just as she was launching her ballooning business.
“I was kind of burning the candle at both ends,” she remembered. “It was hard! I put myself through school at UVA and nursing school (later at PVCC), ballooning.”
After working in private practice outpatient surgery for six years, Baskin had to come to terms with her passion. “I learned that I loved ballooning more,” she said, and made it her full-time job in 2020.
