Jon Radowski

Jon Radowski has been involved in ballooning essentially his entire
life. His interest took off at the age of two when his family attended
the Bloomsbury Balloon Festival. Jon knew from a very early age he
would become a balloon pilot, and made all the necessary preparations
in his life to help allow his plans to unfold. He first flew in a
balloon at the age of 12, began flight instruction at 14, designed and
built his first hot air balloon at 17 while a junior in high school,
earned his private pilots license later that year, and gained his
commercial pilots license at 19 to begin ballooning as a career.

From 2003 onwards, Jon served as the chief pilot of the Space Shuttle
Patriot balloon, still the tallest special shape hot air balloon
currently flying in the world. Towering an impressive 190 feet from
nose to ground, with a wingspan of 115 feet, Patriot is 40% larger
than the actual NASA Orbiter. Patriot appeared with Jon at the helm at
the Warren County Farmers Fair in 2003.

Jon currently operates passenger balloon ride operations in New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Phoenix, Arizona. He continues to design and
build custom hot air balloons and special shapes, and is also involved
in hot air airship design, construction and piloting. Jon has flown
balloons and airships in eighteen different US states as well as
Canada, Mexico and Europe.