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The first thing to do is call your local FAA office. While these guys and gals may not be that experience in balloon building, they know all the paperwork you have to do. It is best to start out doing the paperwork from the beginning. For some of the best homebuilding information, subscribe to the Balloon Builders Journal. Send $12 to: The Balloon Builders Journal You can buy back issues for $2 each. I recommend buying them! The price for this journal is very cheap compaired to the information contained within. Don Piccard is filled with information on building balloons. You might wish to e-mail him with details of your plan to build. I would recommend doing this before you actually start, because he excels in balloon design. If you want to design your own balloon, you can get the dimensions from Bob Nungester's program available at: http://www.jps.net/chuck1/empty_pockets.htm. I used this program myself. The spreadsheet I used to calculate panel sizes can be downloaded here. I would actually recommend getting ahold of Don Piccard and using curved panels instead of the straight ones that I used. For fabric, I would recommend calling Julie at Westmark. They have good fabric, and they are one of the few people that will knowingly sell to homebuilders. You can request a free packet with fabric samples and colors. I'm sure it costs a fair bit of money to put together, so please only do it if you are serious about buying fabric from them. Here is the contact information for them: Westmark Corp. For load tapes, you might want to look at Bally Ribbon Mills. I bought my stuff from Don Piccard, so I don't actually have any experience with them. They do have a nice free packet of information. Bally Ribbon Mills |