Several hundred hot air balloons take off on the Chambley tarmac during the Grand Est Mondial Air Ballons (GEMAB). One of them is in the colors of the city of Thionville. He is among the last to take to the skies. “I prefer to wait until the others are gone. This allows you to fly away more serenely. To see where they are going. Gloves on his hands, to protect himself from the heat, Benoît Péterlé, a GEMAB veteran, guides this canvas giant through the air. “I started by chance, in 1989. A beekeeper friend asked me to help him sell his honey on the first fruits of Chambley, in Louvigny. We had not put down the pots that we were asked to come and lend a hand as team members. “
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“I do between 10 and 15 flights per year for the city”
The experience is reproduced “from Chambley to Chambley”, changing positions over the years until 1997, when Benoît obtained his pilot’s license, “when I knew I could finance this sport. A friend, Maurice Ottin, asked Philippe Buron-Pilâtre, director of Mondial Air Ballons, if he had a balloon for a young pilot. I did a test on an event organized by Benoît Pelard. After seeing me, Philippe called on me in case of need. He was also the one who put me in touch with the town hall of Thionville. “This is how the ball with the” T “was entrusted to him in 2002.” Since then, they trust me. The canvas belongs to them, the rest belongs to the A hot air association. I do between 10 and 15 flights a year for the city. »In 2012, a new canvas was put into service. “Of the two, we only had two repairs. One here, in Chambley, a barbed wire remained on the ground, and the second time at the last Montgolfiades in Metz. There, it was a piece of junk in a field, on the landing. “
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Manufacturer and competitor
Benoît’s career as a balloonist does not end there. “I am also an amateur builder with a friend, Sébastien Rolland” and this since the beginning of the 2000s. “It allowed me to get to know another regional builder: Jacques Loppis who taught me the tricks of the trade. “
A first balloon, then a second, are produced “as well as a gas balloon”. A hydrogen aerostat used in competitions such as the Gordon-Bennet. Benoît made his debut there in 2010, in Bristol. “Just before, I took part in the Marie-Marvingt challenge. The Gordon-Bennet, we did them all in tandem with Benoît Pelard. He was just replaced by Hervé Moine at the start of that of Nancy, in 2013. Also with Benoît Pelard, after I helped him on previous editions, we took part in the America’s Challenge twice. In the last one, two years ago, we finished 3rd. We are going back there at the beginning of October, to defend our place. For the time being, the pilot is enjoying the Mondial Air Ballons with particularly honored passengers. “Flights were offered to volunteers at the Thionville vaccination center, in order to thank them. ”
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