1. Christopher Williamson 46 years old is a Police Officer in Kent, England where he has worked for the last twenty years. He is now working at the Police College training colleagues how to interview witnesses and suspects, at different levels and now qualified to teach outside the Police service in the Big Wide World. The majority of his career has been in investigation of crime.

2. Barry Bower worked in Hong Kong for 23 years as a Senior Check Captain on the Boeing 747-400 before retiring in 1999. He has over 18,000 flying hours in various aircraft ranging from balloons, gliders, and light aircraft to jet aircraft. He also holds an aircraft maintenance engineer's license and has restored several classic light aircraft and has built and flown his own light aircraft.

Since 2004 he and his wife have lived in Italy in an old farmhouse which they had rebuilt and restored.

3. Graham Bell A retired Air Traffic Controller; in his teens and early 20's he flew glid ers and he now does most of flying in America, although has flown in countries as far apart as Australia, Japan and the Republic . He has also flown across the English Channel and has made a tandem para chute jump from a balloon, he has more take-offs than landings in his logbook.

4. Graham Luckett (U.S.A.) the pilot and owner of Windtracker Balloon Adventures LLC, his ballooning career has taken him to many different countries including Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Egypt and Oman. Having flown over 18,000 passengers during his 25 years as a hot air balloon pilot, his experiences range from flying a one-person (pilot only) cloud hopper to piloting large12-passenger commercial balloons.

5. Mark Stevens lives Warwick England where there is a busy Thai community. He has an interest in all the arts, architecture, painting, music, art metalwork design and manufacture [He has completed many gold and silver commissions] churches, boats, photography, Gardens, and landscape design.

He has sailed the Atlantic in tall ships, travelled overland in China, jumped out of a perfectly good aeroplane, flown hot air balloons for over 20 years in many parts of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as high as 21.000 feet, and across the English channel three times,    

6. Andrew Holly Andrew has been undefeated in the UK Counties Challenge competition for ten years, won several International gold medals, silver medalist in the 2006 Honda World Grand Prix and is the holder of several ballooning records, two FAI diplomas and a BBAC silver badge.

7. Alan Hall retired Managing Director and Chairman of Software Calay, He is the owner of charter ballooning Ltd which offers exclusive balloon rides in the South of England. He began flying in 1993 and acquired his commercial license in 2004. Prior to this he competed in motor racing for fifteen seasons with funding from his work in electronics and computer software.

8. Peter Meecham He is one of the top restorers of collector's antique clocks and watches in U.K. He became a balloon pilot in the early days of ballooning in England, in 1984, and regularly flies in competitions throughout Europe. Peter served in the RAF for a short time and trained on Chipmunks, Harvard's and T33s, (Silver Star jet trainers), in Canada . He later joined a club back in England and flew Tiger Moths. He is returning to Canada for a 50 year re-union in October.

9. Peter Mossman is an accountant having been in Public practice for 40 years. He sold his practice about 4 years ago and now works part-time from home for a small number of clients. He took up ballooning in 1982 and got his licence in 1987 and since then has travelled to many balloon meets around the world; this is his 4 th visit to Thailand . Other interests include motor racing, fixed wing flying, working for a couple of Charities and with gardening, d-i-y, a little bird watching and walking life is fairly busy.

10. Shaun Bradley has his own business specialising in the architectural design of residential and commercial buildings. He is also a chartered surveyor. His interests include open water diving (he is qualified to PADI advanced), cycling pub to pub and swimming. Shaun has flown hot air balloons in England , France , Italy , Russia , and India and now looks forward to experiencing the culture and hospitality of Thailand .

11. Crispin Williams is the Chairman of The British Balloon & Airship Club. He has been 8 times British Ballooning Champion and World Champion in 1985. His early career was in Royal Air Force serving as a Navigator in Phantom jet fighters. He is now self-employed as a balloon pilot, CAA pilot examiner and inspector. He flies in many Balloon competitions throughout the World and will be flying in Japan after this event.

12. Austin Heginbottom first got interested in ballooning eight years ago and bought his first balloon second hand in 2003. His aviation background has helped me immensely as he is currently the Aerodrome Manager at an oil field desert strip in the Arabian Desert in Oman . His hobbies include travel, stamp and coin collecting and he is currently restoring a 1954 Green Goddess Fire engine.

13. John Wrigglesworth “Having worked in sales for twenty years he recently decided to start his own business, working as a distributor to the electronic manufacturing market and as he already had a balloon with a logo decided to name my business Brody Ltd. When not ballooning John took up Paragriding as a means of getting into sky on windy days. He is now a club pilot and have my own paraglider and love to spend my time soaring along the Somerset and Dorset ridges and coastline”

14. Justin Moore Aged 41 and single. He is a qualified chef and still cooks as a hobby when not flying balloons. He became interested in ballooning in 1980 and has since become a professional pilot flying full time commercially for the last seventeen years. He has flown in North and South America, Asia including China, Scandinavia, Europe and Australia. He now winters in Sri Lanka flying a Kavanah 350 over the jungle. At home in England he is chief pilot and MD of the family ballooning business. When not flying his main hobby is building.

15. Richard Gyselynck Now a resident of the Isle of Man, an independent state in UK . He used to own a flying school just outside London . Richard was trained as an accountant but much prefers the business scene and now operates a new company under the Virgin banner involved in providing adventure days out such as ballooning, 4 wheel drive school,

16. Geoff Lescott has been ballooning since the late 1970's and qualified as a pilot finally in 2000. He blames his good friend Yut akit Wanichanond for this as this is his 8th ballooning visit to Thailand , which he regards almost as a second home. His balloon is named "Heart of Gold”, h appy to fly abroad, she has graced the skies of France , Italy , Croatia , Dubai and Sri Lanka. Geoff lives in Oxford, UK and works in the Computing Services division for Oxford University as the University's Data Network Controller. A keen photographer he has his own web site including two Journals recording his previous ballooning adventures in Thailand . Visit:- http://users.ox.ac.uk/-geoff

17. Marija Miklousic (Croatia) is the first lady Croatian hot air balloon pilot. She grew up in Zagreb and has been a successful fashion designer for years before starting her balloon career. At the moment she is a professional pilot and Croatian national Champion. She also has numerous international achievements, for example, being 5th on the Ladies cup and winning some small competitions in all Europe.

18. Peter George began his career working in a variety of industries and eventually in Whitehall (the centre of UK Government) managing high security IT networking. Later he was Director of the Mobile Management Forum, a global consortium of 62 government and blue chip organizations dealing with globally agreed standards in mobile data and communications technology. Between 1996 and 2006 Peter serves as an Executive Board Director of the Mobile Data News and the Association, advising on Mobile Data Applications. He is the publisher of Mobile Data News and the Mobile Data Mini Directories and has recently written a Guide to Effective Wireless Working. In his spare time Peter enjoys flying his hot air balloons, photography, music and travel. In his spare time Peter enjoys flying his hot air balloons, photography, music and travel. 

19. Mikael Klingberg ( Norway) Oslo, born in Sweden 1947 Education: Engineering Occupation: Director at a hotel in Oslo (Hotel Voksen?sen) Earlier occupations as director at an oil company, as Swedish Trade Commissioner Etc. Lived in Norway since 1974.

20. Peter Bish Peter worked as an Air Traffic Controller in the control tower of London's Heathrow Airport for many years until his retirement in 2006. Since then he has continued to run a small company called Zebedee Balloon Service from his home at Hungerford in rural Berkshire . The company buys and sells balloons and accessories as well as running a repair station.

In his spare time, he enjoys flying his own aeroplane and travelling to different countries where he usually tries to fly a balloon. He is also an accomplished photographer and has written several aviation related books.

21. Don Conner (USA) has been a balloon pilot since 1971 and has flown commercially around the world. He and his wife Debbie operated for Gulf Air in Oman , Tanzania , Jamaica and have now a roaming commission for Gulf Air, spending his summers in Europe and flying in Asia in the wintertime.

22. Chris Davies and his wife, Sue , operate The Dragon Balloon Company from their Peak District office. Chris and Sue joined the Dragon Balloon Company in 1992 as pilot and crew. Chris is company Chief Pilot and has over 1600 hours flying experience, most of which he has gained in Dragon Balloon Company balloons. Together Sue and Chris have flown in many interesting places including most of Europe, America , South America , Mexico , Morocco , Burma , Japan , South Korea , Thailand and The Philippines.

23. Dave Johnson , 54 years of age lives in Bromley, Kent, England. He is a self-employed electrical contractor and work within London and the south-east of England . Interests, apart from ballooning, are Formula 1 motor racing, gardening, walking and photography, although there is not a great deal of time for any of these in the ballooning season.

24. Chris Sanger Davies 43, qualified as a Building Surveyor in 1989, but since 1994 has been a Commercial Balloon and Airship pilot, based in the UK. When not flying passenger balloons, corporate balloons or airships around the world, he works for balloon manufacturer Lindstrand Balloons. Chris has been flying for 20 years, and enjoys the opportunities to travel and fly and regularly flies in the Austrian Alps. He has also flown airships in Mexico . Chris has three children, is married to Caroline, and in between flights is currently building a house.

25. Tony Brown following a British Airways 5 year Aeronautical Engineering Apprenticeship obtained Aircraft Maintenance Engineers License. 1973 Started flying as a Licensed Flight Engineer B707. 1977   Transferred to Concorde where he stayed for 23 years until taking early retirement just after the Air France Concorde accident in Paris when all Concorde's were grounded in 2000. 1981 Obtained fixed wing PPL 1982 First balloon flight 1984 Obtained PPL balloons

He has 2,000 flying hours with over 8,000 supersonic hours and 2000+ hours in balloons.

He has a commercial flight organization for public transport called “Reach for the Sky Limited” operating balloons in all groups including special shapes and carrying from 1 to 20 occupants.  Operate UK 's largest passenger transport balloon.

26. Nick and Sarah Bettin Both involved in ballooning since 1989, and are commercial balloon pilots. Sarah has worked for Reach for the Sky since 1994 running the office and doing some flying as well. Reach for the Sky flies passengers over the Surrey countryside operating the largest balloon in the UK .

Nick runs the family business with his brothers, which was started by their father over 40 years ago. They build and maintain swimming pools. Nick's other passion is Skydiving and he has made several balloon jumps.

27. David Baker has been flying Hot Air Balloons for over 20 years and has more than 750 hours as pilot in command and has flown in over 30 different countries around the World including North America, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Japan, and many other European and Asian countries. This is his third visit to Thailand , one of his favourite countries. Ballooning has given him the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people across the World and develop such good and lasting friendships. His Ballooning activities have enabled him to raise money for several charities over the years, and this has been very satisfying.

28. Peter (Woody) Woodward Woody' has always lived in the country and works as a Project Manager for a manufacturing company who are making licensed goods for Disney and many of the high street shops in the UK. He is a qualified ECB cricket coach and has been coaching youth cricket for about 5 years. He lives in a lovely village called Drayton with his girlfriend Alex .

29. Bart Sebregts , (Netherlands), 49 years old married to Annelies. He is working as a Senior Project Manager for the Dutch telecom operator KPN with projects mostly in the mobile telephone business. His work varies from implementing international roaming up to implementing HSDPA on the national 3G-network.

When we are not active with ballooning they like to travel a lot, to the Southern part of Africa, Australia , New Zealand , South America and some Asian countries.

30. Martin Cowling Born in the UK in 1956, in Lincolnshire but as soon as he got a motorbike he settled in London running furniture / joining business. He then worked for the best part of 15 years in Dubai where he did interior design for major national retailers like Armani, and worked on the design of Dubai International Airport .  Now back in the UK and about to move to Italy next year where he is going to renovate a tobacco drying kiln.