North Carolina is well-known for the world’s first powered flight, but aviation’s history actually started in France. In 1783, the first living creatures sailed into the sky in front of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier placed three animals — a duck, a sheep and a rooster — into a hot-air balloon and launched it from the palace of Versailles. When the balloon landed safely and all three animals were unharmed by the altitude, humans quickly hopped aboard, went skyward and never stopped.
When you see a hot-air balloon flying in Western North Carolina, you’re likely awestruck at the romantic sight. You’re also witnessing advanced flying skills practiced by only a handful of local pilots, including Louise Egerton and James “Chief” Eagle, who have decades of experience navigating the airstreams above our region’s mountains.
The three of us meet for coffee at Dripolator in Candler, where Eagle draws a map of the area to explain the unique obstacles balloonists see in the terrain…