Capt Jeff A Thompson.

This is my passion.  I have been flying balloons for well over 30 years and still show up every morning with a huge grin on my face to go fly.  This has been my passion since I was 15 years old.  I am ranked as one of the best competition pilots in the country with Mutable top 20 finishes in the country as well as regional and state titles.  I am out to fly every day that we operate.  It is more than a passion to me it is an obsession.  We are creating memories that you will treasure as well as share with your friends and family for the rest of your life.  I want that to be a perfect memory in all ways.  That is why I am out to fly each and every day and hand choose our pilots to make the Thompson Aire perfect.  You may not know this but "Aire" is French for My Domain!

Capt Jon A Thompson

Jon Thompson has been flying balloons for almost 30 years.  A top competitive pilot as well as spending over 15 years flying corporate balloons around the country Jon has seen all aspects of balloon flight,  He enjoys his flying and sharing it with others.  His personality will entertain you and his flight skills will amaze.

Capt Doug Cleghorn

Doug started in Ballooning here in the central Florida area back in the early 80's!  Yes he too has been flying balloon for nearly 30 years.  Are you starting to see a trend here?  He was involved with the Church Street balloon team in the beginning.  Flying passenger flights most of his years he has perfected the program.  Doug is a perfectionist and we like that in a pilot.  Great charm and excellent pilot skills make him a wonderful addition to our pilot staff.

Peter was referred to us by another local pilot.  When we found out that Peter had been around balloons since he was child since his father was a pilot we knew he would be a good fit with us.  He is a full time charter airline pilot but when he is in town he loves to come and fly with us.  His charm and easy going personality is fantastic to be around and his flight skills are well within the standards we set for Thompson Aire.  He is a veteran pilot and still enjoys each flight.  We kid him about being our rookie pilot.  He has only been flying since he was 17.  We think he looks good for 55...  Just kidding.  The Thompson brothers started to fly balloons before they had a drivers license so at 17 Peter was a late bloomer.

If you look at him real close you may recognize him from his potato chip product.  just kidding  But the name is the same.  Here is a guy we could let fly every day and he still would not have enough.  Skip, as we all do, loves to fly and you will be caught up in his enthusiasm.  He has also been flying balloons for 30 years and has not missed the earth yet!  A great addition to our flight staff Capt Skippy as we call him is out with us as often as we can get him.

Kim has been with us for 8 years.  He made the decision to become a pilot.  His life has not been the same since.  He has worked his butt off to learn the regulations and get his flight time as well as purchased his own balloon to finish his training in.  We are happy to say that on July 27th of 2008 Kim took his first SOLO flight!  Have a look on the calendar to see his photo after his solo flight.  Kim has now passed the commercial flight reviews and is now one of our very own professional pilots.  We are proud to have him on our team.

Photos below were take of Kim's SOLO on 07/27/08

Capt Bob Carlton

We met Bob Carlton at the Iowa State hot air balloon championships in 1977.  Yes Bob is much older than he looks.  We believe he is in his late 80's but does not look a day over 60.  Just kidding.  Bob is an extremely good pilot with over 30 years flight experience.  He has been involved in competition as well as corporate balloon flying.  He has been a flight instructor to many and has the humor and personality to fit right in with the Thompson Gang.

Capt Kenny Shuemate

Capt Kenny is also a local boy.  Starting as one of the pioneers in the balloon world here in central Florida Kenny has been flying balloons for over 30 years as well.  Kenney is a top competition pilot.  Kenney spends time in the summer months traveling to balloon competitions all over the southeast united states.  You have to watch him since he love's a good practical joke.  We truly enjoy the days when Capt. Kenney can come out and play with us.

Capt Jim Thompson

Dad as we know him.  Capt Jim Thompson is the second generation of the Thompson family involved in ballooning.  We were going to put him on the ground crew page since he started his ballooning life as ground crew for Jeff Thompson.  But since he is now a top ranked pilot and has been a top ranked pilot for almost a quarter century we figured he should be listed here.  Dad does not fly passenger flights for Thompson Aire but in the winter months when he comes down from Iowa to get away from the snow.   Occasionally during his winter stay he will come out with his little Pilot +one balloon and fly along with us.

Capt David Fuller

Mr. Excitement as he is known by our other pilots.  Capt Dave is a wonderful TA Pilot.  He is now living up in St Augustine so we don't get to see him here flying with us as much as we used to but we still have him out any chance we can.  Dave also does commercial work for Re/Max as well as competition in the summer months.  A talented pilot with a fun and entertaining personality he can fly for Thompson Aire any time he wishes.

Capt Mike Braddock

Capt Mikey as we like to call him lives over in the Tampa area.  Flying for many years he is a good friend as well as a great pilot for Thompson Aire.  Most of the time Mike will come over with his own balloon to fly for us when we have more passengers than we can accommodate with our fleet of balloons.  There are times when he will come over and fly our equipment as well.  A long time pilot with tons of experience we truly feel special when we have our Capt Braddock out for a flight.

Capt Bob Pfaff

Capt Bob Pfaff has been flying for many many years.  We can not tell you since it will give away his age.  Bob has actually competed and almost beat our very own Capt Jeff Thompson.  Tied for first place he and Capt Jeff share the last Sebring Balloon challenge as co-champions for the Saturday morning event.  You will have to ask Capt Bob about it when you come to fly,  Somehow he has a completely different story about the whole thing.  Still.  He is great with passengers and a highly skilled pilot and we enjoy having him out to fly.

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