Hot Hare Balloon ‘energizes’ balloon fest
 “Glo” Kehoe has the perfect first name for piloting the 16-story-high Energizer Bunny balloon at the 2008 Pellissippi State Hot Air Balloon Festival: this year’s event features two glows—one on Friday and one on Saturday—both beginning at around dusk.
The balloon festival, the proceeds of which benefit the Pellissippi State Foundation, takes place 4-10 p.m. September 26-27 on the Pellissippi Campus.
Glo, short for Gloria, has been flying the Energizer Hot Hare Balloon for seven years. She’s one of six women in the U.S. working full time as a professional corporate balloon pilot.
The famous hot-pink bunny with black sunglasses, blue flip-flops and signature drum-and-battery pack will dominate the landscape during the glow. The popular event features an array of multicolored balloons choreographed to “flash and burn” in sync to a musical program of patriotic and popular selections.
During her 27-year career as a pilot, Kehoe has flown more than a dozen other hot air balloons—Shamu, the Swatch watch, Burger King’s Whopper, a balloon shaped like a birthday cake for Turner Broadcasting System.
Since its 1994 unveiling, the Energizer balloon has maintained the same, familiar design, says Kehoe. Because it’s an aircraft, it has to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Any major changes would require recertification, which is a long, expensive process,” she said.
Not surprisingly, the biggest challenge for such a big balloon is landing: “When you come in for an approach to land, you have to make sure those size 98EEEEE shoes and the tail clear any obstacle you fly over. And, of course, you need a field large enough to lay a balloon 16 stories tall on its side.”
The Pellissippi Campus is ideal for landing the Big Pink One, but weather will always be an unknown.
“Weather determines if we can fly or not,” said Kehoe. “It takes about an hour to prepare the balloon for flight and an hour to pack it up, plus any time that you want to be in the air. So we always get the latest weather updates possible, making sure we have at least three hours of good weather.”
Physically, the most demanding aspect of the job is packing away the 1,200 pounds of fabric.
“That’s why we need 15 to 20 volunteer crew members for each event.”
 At 166 feet tall—15 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty—the Hot Hare Balloon weighs 1,170 pounds. Its ears alone are 60 feet tall—the approximate height of an entire average-size hot air balloon.
Kehoe and her crew chief/backup pilot, Mark Yonker, travel with the balloon in their 15-passenger Energizer van and 16-foot balloon trailer. They participate in nearly two dozen events before the season ends in mid-October at home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the site of the world’s largest hot air balloon event.
“I’m very lucky to fly these huge aircraft,” said Kehoe. “Not many people get to do what they love as a profession.”
And like the Energizer mascot, pilot Glo Kehoe just keeps going and going and….
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