Kasey Schwemmer

Wichita, Kansas

The Schwemmer family got involved with ballooning in 1993 while crewing for Jack Neal, and the 1994 Huff 'n Puff was the first balloon festival they attended.

Kasey got his student pilot certificate on his 14th birthday, even before getting his driver's license learners permit, and earned his private pilot's certificate in 2007 in the ballooning capitol of the world, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Not long after they began ballooning, Kasey started building tissue paper balloons.  He kept making them bigger and bigger until he eventually built a large remote controlled balloon out of scraps of nylon when he was only 13 years old.  After building several r/c balloons, he built himself 'Grynch', a 32,000 cubic foot single place ultralight balloon that uses a 96 gallon garbage bin for a basket.

After flying by himself for a few years, he purchased an Aerostar Aurora 54 that he named 'LeeLynn' by combining his parents' middle names, and is now able to have family and friends along for the ride.  He is currently in the process of building himself another balloon, this one a little larger still.