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Lindsay Muir - Champion Hot Air Balloon Pilot
 Lindsay Muir was educated at Edgbaston Church of England College for Girls and went on to obtain a degree in Applied Biology at Bradford University (2:1). Following a short period working for a pharmaceutical company she went on to study for a PhD in Biochemistry at Bath University. It was while she was at Bath that she first became interested in ballooning and where she trained for her PPL in hot air ballooning. Despite spending too much time flying balloons and too little time in research she did obtain her PhD. After working as a research biochemist for a few years she decided to give it all up to become a full time hot air balloon pilot in 1989.
Since 1989 Lindsay has mainly worked at a commercial hot air balloon pilot in the male dominated business of passenger flying and has worked for a number of companies in the UK, Australia and Sweden. In between running Aerostationery, she flies large (16-man) passenger balloons for Virgin Balloon Flights and is chief pilot for Three Counties Ballooning in Herefordshire.
Lindsay is a British Balloon and Airship (BBAC) approved instructor and is actively involved with a number of ballooning committees both in the UK and Internationally. For a number of years she was both the Chairman and Membership S ecretary of the BBAC Competitions Club.
Lindsay is currently one of the worlds leading balloonists and the most successful female competition pilot. In 1988 became the first (and only) female pilot to become British Champion a feat she repeated in 1996. In 2006 she won the UK Grand Prix series beating twice world champion David Bareford. Lindsay competed in all the World Honda Grand Prix since it started in 1999 and in 2002 was place 3rd in the event in Motegi, Japan: probably the toughest competition event in the world. She has competed in most World and European Hot Air Balloon Championships since 1989 where she was often the only female competitor. Lindsay has been Ladies World Cup champion 4 times. In 1995 she was placed 6th in the World Championship; in 1997 was placed 2nd in the 1st World Air Games Hot Air Balloon Championship and in 2008 she was once again in the top 10 in the World Hot Air Balloon Championships (9th). Lindsay is also the holder of various British and World ballooning records. She is the only female balloon pilot to gain a gold CIA badge solely for hot air ballooning. She has been awarded the Adams Sparks trophy by the BBAC, a silver medal by the RAeC and the “Freedom of the City of London” (2008) for her achievements in ballooning.
One of these days she hopes to master the art of flying balloons.
Lindsay has been married for 25 years to Graham Hallett and has a teenage daughter Chloe Hallett – a budding champion balloon pilot.
ACHIEVEMENTS
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