In Cappadocia, one of the tourism centers of Turkey famous for its fairy chimneys, hot air balloon pilots start their difficult shifts at midnight in changing weather conditions to create a visual feast in the sky.
NEVŞEHİR (AA) – FATMA SEVİNÇ ÇETİN – In the third part of the news file prepared by AA about the events behind the challenging professions, in Cappadocia, which is on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List with its natural, historical and cultural values, with a hot air balloon on days when the weather conditions are suitable for flight. The working hours of balloon pilots who provide services to tourists were discussed.
In Cappadocia, which hosts visitors from all over the world every year and contributes greatly to the country’s tourism, an average of 250 balloon flights are made annually.
Balloon pilots may face great difficulties while ensuring the safe flight of the colorful balloons that adorn the sky in Cappadocia.
Pilots, who safely carry tourists who want to witness the sunrise into the sky, start working at midnight and prepare for a long and careful flight.
Pilots, who meticulously set up balloons weighing tens of kilos before each flight, monitor the weather conditions in different parts of the region with the delegation formed by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation.
Since weather conditions in the region change rapidly, balloon pilots make great efforts to ensure the safety of passengers in challenging conditions such as risks arising from sudden changes in the wind, transitions between low and high air currents, and geographical obstacles.
Pilots, who enable tourists to fly safely at meters high, determine their direction with a single rope against the wind, as balloons do not have a braking system.
On the one hand, the pilots, who also introduce the region to tourists, try to prevent approximately 150 balloons from touching each other in the narrow space in order to prevent a possible accident, and constantly communicate with the surrounding balloons and the ground crew.
Pilots, who undergo continuous training and have to have various certificates to ensure flight safety, also have to cope with increasing costs day by day.
– “Flying with a balloon is like taking off on a balcony.”
Tankut Demir, who left engineering due to his passion for aviation and returned from Istanbul to his hometown Nevşehir, is also a pilot in the balloon visual show of Cappadocia.
In his statement to AA correspondent, Demir said that after graduating from Başkent University, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, he worked as an engineer in different provinces, and in 2016, he and his wife decided to move from Istanbul to Cemil village of Ürgüp, his ancestral land.
Explaining that he worked as an occupational safety specialist in various hot air balloon companies in Ürgüp until 2019, Demir stated that he could not stop his passion for aviation and decided to become a hot air balloon pilot.
Expressing that the region is very unique, Demir said, “Although I do this job almost all year round, I can still encounter things that fascinate me on every flight. “My interest in aviation reinforced this.” he said.
Demir evaluated that flying with a balloon is like “flying in a dream” or “taking off on the balcony” and stated that he prepared his guests for the flight in this way.
Demir stated that flights are made approximately 220-250 days a year, and that these flights are decided by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation and experienced pilots in the region, and that the remaining period of the year is the days when flights are canceled due to adverse weather conditions.
Pointing out that flights start half an hour before sunrise, Demir continued his words as follows:
“Our job is not limited to just flying the balloon in the sky. Actually, we start by preparing the balloon. From the moment we wake up in the morning, we are in the exact terrain due to seasonal conditions. One of the difficulties of our profession is working so early that it can be called night work. Our pre-flight preparations can sometimes be challenging for us. More than 150 balloons in the sky move together like an orchestra. Therefore, our takeoff and landing areas are changing. We usually do not land in the area from which we took off, so we plan the landing taking into account safety. “We fly within a certain air traffic.”
– “We create a flight plan by following the winds in different layers.”
Demir stated that the flights were carried out in accordance with the conditions called “visual flight” and pointed out that wind, rain, snow and fog were factors that prevented flight.
Stating that tourists generally stay for a short time, Demir said, “We have difficulty explaining this to the guests when they are not fit for flight. Our first goal in this business is 100 percent security. “In such cases, some of our guests extend their stay.” he said.
Underlining that the control mechanisms of balloons are limited because there is no system such as anchors or brakes, he said, “On the day we fly, we create a flight plan by following the winds in different layers, with different directions and speeds. “These are the parts of our profession that are both difficult and challenging and make flying unique.” he said.
Stating that one of the difficulties of the job is the tourists who are afraid of heights during the flight, Demir said that in such situations, they first intervene in the situation by maintaining their own calm.
Pilot Tankut Demir stated that the region is protected by UNESCO, but despite this, some insensitive citizens throw excavations and garbage into the region, they can see them more clearly from the air during the flight, and that they have difficulty explaining these to tourists, and asked citizens to pay attention to this issue.
