World champion balloon pilot fears his wings will be clipped this year

It followed his three times in a row British championship crown, putting him right at the top in the ballooning world.

The coronavirus pandemic grounded him and others across the world and now, despite the easing of restrictions and competitions starting again, Dominic fears competition will be out for him this year.

Now 27, the Shropshire balloon pilot says travel restrictions in the UK means he is unlikely to be able to get to competition venues such as Poland and Hungary.

But Dominic says he is delighted to be back in the skies, as a pilot for Virgin Balloon Flights in the county.

He says he loves being able to share his passion for ballooning with those he takes on flights from various venues in Shropshire.

"It is a very different type of flying to competition," he said.

"My aim is to give the passengers a wonderful experience and help them to enjoy the magic of being in the air and to be able to see something of the wonderful countryside."

Two of his latest passengers were grandfather and granddaughter, Ern Griffiths and Laura Hockenhull from Crudgington.

Neither had flown before and Ern, in his 80s, said it was a wonderful experience.

"It is great to pick out the different villages from the sky," he said.

Laura said seeing the crops from the air was fascinating.

Flying is definitely in Dominic's blood. His father, David, was also a champion hot air balloon pilot in 1997 and 2002. Dominic took his first flight when he a very young boy and he was just 16 when he got his own pilot's licence.

"When you take part in competition it is all about accuracy," he said.

"You are given a serious of points that you have to fly to and the nearest to those points wins the most points," he said.

"The only think you are in control of in a hot air balloon is your altitude. For everything else you are dependant on the winds, their direction and their speed."

Dominic said the skill of a balloonist was reading those winds and understanding how they behaved at what height.

"When you first ascend you get a feel for how the winds are behaving and that sets the tone for the rest of the flight."

He said the success of a pilot was dependent on the team behind him or her.

"It is very much a team sport, even though you may be the only one in the basket." he said.

Although he said he loves Shropshire for flying, his sport had taken him across the world.

"My biggest highlight was in Argentina, when we flew through the eclipse of the sun. It was a surreal experience," he said.

People can book flights with Virgin through virginballoonflights.co.uk