About Us

So we know you have questions!

• What is Balloons-andBeyond.com?
• Who is Balloons-andBeyond.com
• How did this begin?
• What can they do?

We understand in today's world that no one wants to blindly trust someone they do not know or place an order on a website without knowing a little about who they are dealing with.  WE COMPLETELY AGREE!

Hi,  My name is Jeff A Thompson.  I am the creator of Balloons-andBeyond.com.  You may also know me as the developer of the HotAirBalloonist.com site. In fact I have made over a dozen different websites over the years and many of them for our fellow balloonists.  But that is a whole different story.

Back to our family ballooning history!  For 50 years our family has been involved with the world of Ballooning.  We have 4 family pilots (Jeff, Jim, Jon & Tyler) spanning three generations.  We have been involved with the BFA and Pleasure & Sport ballooning as well as Competition, Commercial, & Corporate ballooning and the Balloon Ride industry.  I began my flight training at the age of 15 back in 1975 receiving my private LTA certificate before I had a drivers license.  My father soon followed in 1980 and brother Jon getting his certificate nearly at the same time.  We have flown competition at the highest level winning major events like the regional championships (in two regions) as well as state championships (6 consecutive FL state championships).  We have been involved with many different corporate accounts (Pepsi, Cuervo, Kellogg's, Children's Miracle Network AC Delco Buick and others.  We have operated ride programs (spanning more than 30 years) in Michigan, Florida, Phoenix, Colorado Springs and more.

During all of this time we continued to learn more and more about the design, construction, and operations of hot air balloons.  Attending the Aerostars Repairman's seminar twice in two different decades and maintaining multiple aircraft for more than 40 years we have now acquired the tools, skills and knowledge to fix, repair & construct just about anything you may need in the world of ballooning.

I (Jeff A Thompson) retired from commercial passenger flights in 2021 but have maintained the shop where we have produced so many items for the world of ballooning. From remote control balloons to cold airs, Tony the tiger heads to an 80 ft tall Christmas tree!  We have made envelop bags and basket covers, rebuilt envelopes and even bottom ends.  Pouches, storage bags, tank covers, tie down straps and so much more.  We now offer those services to the balloon community in general.  With an extensive list of products we are also open to creating custom items as the need arises.  Even if you have an item that is not listed as a current product in our store let us know.  Odds are we can create an item (for you) to fit or fill your specific needs.

We have also begun to do complete basket rehabilitation's.  We have taken baskets that were literally headed to a landfill and rebuilt them back to factory new condition.  Watch the video below of the re-birth of RWSW-212.

If you are curious what it would cost to freshen up or completely rehabilitate your basket we even have an online estimator you can use to get a ball park idea of what your basket project will cost.

Just so you are aware we take great pride in our work.  We make everything as if we are installing the item in our own balloon(s).  We have taken care of the balloons we have flown for nearly 5 decades and will treat your balloon as if it were one of our own.

If you have questions please use the form here on this page to contact us.  We are happy to answer any questions you have and look forward to helping enhance, improve and prolong your adventure in aerostation!