About the webmaster

My first balloonflight!

On the 26th of July 1992, there was a local horserace in our town. There was a contest where you had to fill in the text of a comicbook. The 3 best would be awarded a balloonflight that same evening. As you can guess I was one of those 3. ;-)
Together with the 2 other winners and pilot Luc Smeets we took of just behind our house. After a flight of one hour and a half we landed softly. My first words: "I want more of this". I was only 10 years old at that time...

Balloon crazy

Since my first flight I was really obsessed by these huge balloons, and I started to collect all kind of balloon-related items (pins, stickers, pictures, ...) Everytime I saw a balloon in the air, I jumped on my bike and started to follow the balloon. When I returned, most of the times it was allready dark, so my parents often were worried... So, I suggested they would help me and follow the balloons by car, ... and after a while my parents became "balloon-crazy" too...

Our first balloon

In 1995 my father (Guy Geeraerts) became pilot and we purchased a second hand balloon, a Cameron O-90, registered as OO-BVW. A couple of years later, we started our company Rabbits Ballooning to organise passengerflights in Belgium. Our balloon has been rebuilt in 1999 and is now black and yellow.

Another "wasp" for Rabbits Ballooning

The year 2002 was a wonderful year.
We purchased our second balloon, a Cameron O-160 (OO-BVX), the "bigger brother" of the first one.
And on monday, the 27th of July, it was time for my practical exam to become balloonpilot, a flight with examinator François Schaut. The flight was excellent, so now I'm a real balloonpilot.

Our special shape: Funny Bunny

What started as a dream - having my own special shape - became true in the summer of 2005.
At the balloonmeeting in our own town Olen we presented our new balloon: "Funny Bunny".
Our Bunny also has his own website which can be visited at www.funnybunny.be

What comes next? Who knows?

You can contact me:

• by e-mail (bart@specialshapes.nu)
  
  
• at the following postal address:

  Bart Geeraerts
  Rode Driezen 13
  B-2250 Olen
  Belgium

All comments and suggestions are welcome.