Adam Magee earns National FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year!

The Balloon Training Academy founder and President Adam Magee was recently awarded the National Federal Aviation Administration Safety Team Representative of the Year Award by FAA Administrator Steve Dickson.

At 30 years young Adam became the youngest recipient of this award. The FAA Safety Team is comprised of volunteers in the aviation community who work with their local FAA FSDO office to promote aviation safety through outreach. Adam, who works with the Des Moines, IA FSDO, has been a FAA Safety Team Representative for three years and is a Lead Representative for the office.  Adam was first awarded the District FAA Safety Team Rep of the Year and then the Central Region FAA Safety Team Rep of the Year before winning the National award.

Adam’s passion, knowledge, ideas, ability to work with everyone, and leadership has made him an expert. Adam has devoted thousands of volunteer hours towards promoting safety and education in the hot air ballooning community. What’s even more impressive is that Adam’s career is outside of aviation. Everything he has done within aviation is purely a passion for safety.

Adam walks the walk when it comes to hot air balloon safety. Growing up ballooning, Adam saw a need to raise the bar on hot air balloon education and training. Balloon education was hard to find making knowledge weak. That weakness leads to accidents which leads to decreased participation. A student of aviation, Adam crafted a solution from observations of the aviation industry. The Balloon Training Academy, a 501c3 non profit organization was born! There is little doubt of the vast impact The Balloon Training Academy has had on ballooning. It has become a brain trust of balloon knowledge. It has raised the bar on hot air balloon education and training. New pilots now have more knowledge than ever before. The Balloon Training Academy has also raised the bar on education for certificated pilots. The educational resources available have refreshed knowledge and pushed the sport forward. Adam has shifted the safety culture of ballooning.

Adam has worked tirelessly with the FAA to improve safety in hot air ballooning. From manuals, handbooks, and certification standards, Adam is advancing the sport by promoting safety. He constantly analyzes new and better ways and implements those new ways into teachings and standards. We haven’t met a balloonist with the same passion, drive, and great safety mind as Adam. Which is probably why he was named the 2021 National Federal Aviation Administration Safety Team Representative of the Year.

You can read more about Adam’s bio here and the front page news article here

We are incredibly proud of the impact Adam has made to improve aviation safety and are amazed everyday what he has been able to accomplish. He is a deserving recipient of this award. We cannot wait to see what Adam has in store for the future to improve aviation safety.