There are no companies in Bulgaria that have a license to offer the commercial activity of hot air balloon rides
Only two people are certified as pilots in the Civil Aviation Administration, but other licenses are recognized by law. It turns out that the control body very often receives reports of violations, but it is difficult to carry out inspections, writes BNT.
A used air balloon costs from BGN 8,000 to BGN 13,000. A check on one of the sales sites showed this. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, in most cases, balloon owners don’t even know they need to register and airworthiness. The process itself is not difficult and costs about BGN 1,500 in total.
“We do inspections, but the bad thing is that when we organize an inspection, information usually leaks from somewhere and by the time we get to them, they have already disappeared. That’s how we pursued the person who led to this tragic incident yesterday,” explained the director of Glavna Directorate “Civil Aviation Administration” Anelia Marinova.
There are no companies in Bulgaria that have a license to offer the commercial activity of hot air balloon rides.
“This activity is carried out on the edge of the law, it is related to a member that concerns the sports activity. Sometimes we argue with colleagues when we manage to establish a contact for the implementation of such an activity, how much it is a commercial activity, how much it is shared experiences. There is different ways in which they are really trying at the moment to continue their activity at the border of the law,” added Anelia Marinova.
Aerial enthusiasts can check whether a balloon is ready for flight on the civil aviation authority’s website.
“The easiest way is after seeing the registration of the balloon, you can check with us whether a similar balloon is registered and whether it is airworthy. We will try as quickly as possible to place information on our website about which balloons with Bulgarian registration they are airworthy and safe,” said Anelia Marinova.
A check of several sites shows that even though there is a large selection of balloon flights, nowhere in the listings is it indicated whether they are licensed and whether the pilot of the aircraft is certified.