Jon Radowski, the owner and chief pilot of Apex Balloons, has been involved in ballooning essentially his entire life. His interest took off at the age of two when attending a balloon festival with his family. Jon knew from a very early age that he would become a balloon pilot as soon as he grew old enough.

 

After the magic of his first flight, he became a student pilot at the age of 14, designed and constructed his first hot air balloon from 16-17 years old, earned his private pilot certificate soon after, and became a commercial pilot at 19 to begin ballooning as a full-time career. In addition to flying balloons, Jon is an FAA-certificated hot air balloon repairman/inspector, and still designs and builds hot air balloons and airships. 

 

Jon now has more than 24 years of experience flying hot air balloons of all shapes and sizes. For years, he commanded one of the world's very tallest hot air balloons, the Space Shuttle Patriot. Towering at a height of nearly 190 feet and with a wingspan of 115 feet, the shuttle balloon is three times taller than most balloons and twice as wide! Jon has flown many of the largest hot air balloons in North America, corporate balloons, and numerous special shape balloons.

 

In addition to balloons, Jon is also certificated to fly single-engine and multiengine airplanes, hot air airships, and gliders (as well as glider tow planes). He also flies powered paragliders, and is a B-licensed skydiver, with many skydives out of hot air balloons. He has flown hot air balloons in over 22 different states as well as Canada, Mexico, Australia, Switzerland, and India. He has a natural skill at flying balloons and takes considerable pride in his unblemished safety record, with over 17,000 happy passengers flown without a single injury. Jon is also a hot air balloon flight instructor and has trained several students through to their private and commercial hot air balloon pilot certificates.