Journey to flight: Albuquerque native Tristan MacLean has spent a lifetime learning to pilot hot air balloons

As you look up to the sky during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, there will be hundreds of pilots in the air.

Each has their own story about flying.

For Albuquerque native Tristan MacLean, becoming a hot air balloon pilot always seemed to be in the cards.

“I got my first taste of hot air balloons from Richard Abruzzo,” MacLean says. “Ever since that moment, I couldn’t get away from it.”

MacLean will be one of the hundreds of pilots to take to the Albuquerque skies during the Balloon Fiesta from Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 15, as he flies the ExxonMobil hot air balloon.

It will mark his fourth as a pilot – though MacLean’s journey has been a lifetime of work.

As a child, Abruzzo piloted MacLean for his initial rides in a hot air balloon.

“I just really enjoyed it,” he says. “After that, Francine Stewart invited me out and introduced me to Tyler Young, who was crew chief. That was back in 2010. I started to crew for them.”

By 2012, Brad Rice became his instructor and crewed as much as he could.

In 2016, MacLean hit a milestone.

“I got a loan for a hot air balloon and I started flying,” he says. “Brad offered to be my teacher.”

Journey to flight: Albuquerque native Tristan MacLean has spent a lifetime learning to pilot hot air balloons

MacLean balanced his flying lessons alongside getting his education at Fort Lewis College in Durango.

“I would drive home on the weekends to do my training,” he says. “It’s an expensive hobby, but the ballooning world is so tight-knit. I had so many people helping me get the lessons and time I needed to get my pilot’s license.”

In 2018, while in college, MacLean participated in Fort Lewis’ Hawk Tank, where he submitted a business plan with a classmate called “Always Time to Fly.”

“It was a hot air dining business in the sky,” he says. “We won the event and was awarded $5,000. I had to open a business with the money.”

The next year, MacLean got his commercial pilot’s license and was immediately approached by XTO Energy to be their sponsored pilot for the Balloon Fiesta that year.

As a pilot, MacLean can be often seen with his team going over all safety precautions.

He wants others to know that flying a hot air balloon is a serious job.

He’s also on a mission to get younger people involved in the sport.

“When I first flew at Balloon Fiesta in 2019, I started bringing out more youth,” he says. “One of the struggles for me is trying to get more youth involved. I got my college friends involved, and I would take them to fly in Durango and in Albuquerque.”

Ready to purchase his second hot air balloon, MacLean turned to fellow pilot Doug Lindberg.

“I bought Time Flies from Doug,” he says. “It was meaningful to me because it came from him. He’s a close family friend. He’s always created some amazing moments and makes me feel at home.”

His mother, Susie, is proud to see MacLean accomplish a lot in the industry at a young age.

“Tristan’s innate ability to make everyone around him feel comfortable and included has contributed to his success,” Susie MacLean says. “From his crew to the passengers and spectators, he is always certain to make their experience memorable. Last year, when the balloons were not able to fly one morning, he and his team started a dance party with music, flickering burners and Tristan dancing in his basket! (We knew that theater degree would pay off at some point!).”

She says his love and passion for the sport of hot air ballooning is palpable.

“I once asked him why he loved it so much, and he said the feeling of freedom when he is in the air feeds his soul,” she says. “I would have to agree! I don’t care for heights however, floating over the city in a hot air balloon is an experience I would’ve never had without Tristan’s influence and ability to make me feel safe; it is like no other.”

MacLean now relies on his crew based in Albuquerque to help him be a successful pilot.

He knows it takes a team to be successful and is quick to admit that.

“The folks in my crew are something special,” he says. “The energy we bring is like no other. The thing that we teach our crew is safety. As young crew people, we’ve really got to be focused on it. We talk about safety and how we can be safer. The crew team makes me better.”