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J.T. Head on his first solo flight in July at 8 years old. (Photo courtesy Tarp Head) -
J.T. Head III, center, is now the world’s youngest pilot at only 8 years old flying a specially designed hot air balloon flying over Sautee Nacoochee. He’s shown with parents Desiree and Tarp Head. (Photos courtesy/Tarp Head)
He’s years away from being able to have a pilot’s license, but J.T. Head III recently earned a flight record to his name at 8 years old.
J.T., a fourth-grader at Tesnatee Gap Elementary School became the world’s youngest hot-air balloon pilot last month, according to his father, Tarp Head, who owns Head Balloons of Cleveland.
The previous record was set in 2011 when 9-year-old Bobby Bradley took to the skies in New Mexico. The Heads are friends with that family.
“We see them several times a year at different balloon events around the country,” Tarp Head said. “So it’s been an idea that’s been in his head since he was 4 years old that he wanted to do this after he read about Bobby.”
J.T., who since turned 9 after his record-setting flight, has been around balloons and flying all of his life, his father said. His experience has included years of flying with his parents and learning through virtual flights since he was 4.
“He’s got a computer game and it’s one that was written to teach people how to fly a hot air balloon,” Tarp Head said. “You do a certain thing and the burner comes on and the balloon takes off. If you quit burning, the balloon starts falling unless you keep some heat into it. If you don’t put enough heat into it, it falls very fast.”
About two years ago, J.T. also got a remote controlled model hot air balloon that allowed him to practice taking the balloon up and using the remote control to operate the burner.
“He gets the hand-eye and visual effects of what using the burner is going to do and how long he has to burn to make it go up and how often he has to burn to make it fly,” Head said. “Then we built this balloon and went out and tethered this balloon up and down. He’s had more training than probably a lot of people that are going to get their pilot’s license.”
Before actually going up by himself, J.T. trained on a simulator and in a balloon that remained tethered to the ground.
“He practiced with it tied to the ground a lot, up and down, up and down, and finally on this day, it was very, very nice weather and said OK, today is the day,” Head said.
J.T. solo flight lifted off from a Sautee Nacoochee field belonging to David Bristol, eventually rising to about 400 feet. J.T. said he was nervous about going up, but he was also wondered what he would see while up there.
“I saw the sunset,” he said. “I saw maybe some cows. I saw a lot of Sautee. I saw Yonah Mountain, the back of it.”
J.T. said coming down was fun, though he was nervous since it was the first time flying by himself. Of course, he knew what to do thanks to his practice simulator.
“I knew that I had to burn, like on my little simulator I was doing. It was coming down really fast, and I burned some of it to slow it down,” he said.
His parents looked as their son piloted a hot air balloon on his own.
“I was proud. I wasn’t nervous because I knew how prepared he was,” Tarp Head said. “I also knew it was good weather, that the weather was not an issue and he knew what he was doing. I guess I was a little apprehensive. I knew how prepared things were.”
“I felt the same way,” said Desiree Head, J.T.’s mom. “Anxious because your baby is going up. But this he’s talked about a long time. The way we’ve parented him is to offer opportunities, do not force things on him that he’s not quite ready to do. The same with his first real flight in a hot air balloon, we waited until he asked to go on a flight.”
J.T. has since made another solo flight, this time up to about 500 feet, Tarp Head said. To legally fly by himself, J.T. had to fly an ultralight aircraft, such as the hot air balloon he used.
“You can’t get a pilot’s license until you’re a student at 14 and a private pilot at 16,” Tarp Head said. “This is a type of aircraft that the FAA calls an ultralight where it’s not licensed … There’s ultralight airplanes and ultralight helicopters, and as long as they’re underneath a certain weight restriction and single-person occupancy, then they require no license.”
J.T. said he’s eager to continue flying and wants to travel all over the world.
“I like to be up the air instead of just standing on the gravel.”