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I did self study for the written test and flunked it the first time because there were questions that had no correct answer without further information. I remember one example: "What is the minimum size field to launch a hot air balloon (multiple choice)". That is exactly like asking what is the minimum slope angle to launch a foot launched glider.
So, on my way back home I stopped at Piccard Balloons, which was still in SoCal at that time, and asked where did these dumb questions on the FAA test come from. I was told that a guy plagiarized club newsletters and books and made up his book. This guy did not fly a balloon. The FAA made up the test questions from that book, so all I needed to do was read that book and then I aced the test when I retook it.
There was an instructor who often flew at the Perris CA balloon field so I made an appointment with him to do my flight test. Since i was single place he stayed on the ground and yelled flight orders up to me. Like: "lift off and go to 100 feet and stabilize, etc." As I was doing the flight maneuver command he yelled he yelled I gradually drifted out over the adjacent open field. He got in his truck and drove a little way and parked in the field across the road but next to a low telephone cable line. As I was now drifting toward that road he yelled to me to land in the field he was parked in across the road. I came down to a level just above the line and neatly landed right behind his truck and next to the line. He smugly walked over to me and asked: "why did you assume that the wind on the ground was blowing the same direction you were going in and not in the reverse direction toward the line"? I said because the steam coming out of your exhaust (his cold engine was idling) was going in the same direction, away from the line. The surprised look on his face was priceless. He shook my hand and told me I had passed the flight test and signed me off.
His next statement was very interesting and applies to things we have been saying here. He said he came out to the field that morning fully intending to fail me because he didn't think anybody could teach themselves the balloon piloting I had taught myself. That showed a definite bias toward instruction as absolutely necessary to balloon flight. I've always been glad that I could prove him wrong.
Frank Colver
