2009 Flight

John Freis gets a lift from Kent Couch


On Saturday, October 10th, 2009 John Freis flew his first cluster balloon flight out of Borrego Springs, California. He took off about 8:30am and landed shortly after Noon about 46 miles Northeast of the launch site. When asked why he wanted to do this John replied. “Some guys climb Mount Everest, some shoot a caribou…” John chooses to fly in a lawn chair with a cluster of helium balloons.

He was inspired by Kent Couch’s flights and flew to Bend, Oregon to meet Kent and discuss his plans. Their shared dream brought these two men together and they became fast friends.
Kent, familiar with the curiosity and unsolicited advice asked John…“Do you have any friends that are nervous about it, telling you not to do it?” John smiled and said, “Yeah, pretty much all of them”.

Check out this video as we have finally managed to film a landing… Enjoy.

(A huge thank you to Tim Ryan at TAR Productions for his excellent video work)