All the Pilots with Rainbow are fully certified by the FAA. We pride ourselves on having full-time professional staff to take care of you. Our pilots have over 150 years combined experience in Ballooning and over 15,000 hours of flight time.

Scott Appelman- Pilot/ Owner

Scott Appelman graduated from University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management; he wanted to make his hobby of hot air ballooning into a career…. In September of 1984 Scott received his Commercial Pilot’s License, Lighter than Air rating.  Scott established Rainbow Ryders, Inc.  a commercial hot air balloon company offering rides, tethers, promotions, instruction and all sales aspects of hot air ballooning in 1984. Rainbow Ryders, Inc. has operated the Official Hot Air Balloon Ride Concession for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiestaâ since 1999 and maintains the contract through 2011.  He currently has 4200+ pilot in command flight hours, 700 tether hours, and is also a special shape balloon pilot.  Scott has been on the Board of Directors of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta ® (AIBF) 1986-1991, Chairman of the Board for the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau 2001-2002, Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau 1993 to current. He was the originator and organizer of AIBF’s “BALLOON GLOW” 1987 through 1992, AIBF’s “SPECIAL SHAPE RODEO” 1989 and 1990, and AIBF’s “ALBUQUERQUE ALOFT” 1991. Scott was also the President of TOP GUN, INC., a New Mexico competitive hot air balloon club, Top Gun Balloonmeister & Safety Officer from 1988-1994.  He currently holds the world record for highest altitude flight.  Scott operates Corporate and promotional balloons for the City of Albuquerque Tricentennial and “Q” Balloon from 2004 to present, Santa Ana Star Casino Balloon Program from 2003 to present, KOBTV, and many more. Rainbow Ryders, Inc. is celebrating its 26th Anniversary in 2009 and is the largest balloon ride business in New Mexico and amongst the largest in the United States. We operate 14 balloons year round doing over 1500 flights per year. We have flown in 45 states and manage events in Chihuahua and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Troy Bradley- Pilot

Troy received his private pilot certificate at age 16 and commercial pilots license at 18. He has flown over 5,000 hours and more than 14,000 passengers. Troy has flown in 45 states and 13 countries. He has flown commercial contracts for Century 21, Labatt’s Beer, Sears, Swatch Watch, Maxwell House, PSA Airlines, United New Mexico Bank, Breyer’s Ice Cream, Comet Cleaners, Fox Photo, Disney/Pixar, and RE/MAX. Troy also enjoys flying gas balloons; he has built 2. Troy’s accomplishments include 14 New Mexico State Championships, 2 North American Championships, 2 US Hot Air Team Nationals, the 1992 Chrysler Transatlantic Challenge flight with Richard Abruzzo, giving Walter Cronkite a lesson at Château de Balleroy in 1993, dropping a skydiver (Bob Martin) from 32,000 feet, then ascending to 34,000 feet, the 1996 America’s Challenge, landing in the Canadian wilderness and being rescued by helicopter, the 2001 Gordon Bennett, crossing the Alps from Germany to Italy with Earl Miller, Cluster flight for Disney/Pixar’s movie UP, flying over 4,000 feet sitting on a carbon fiber La-Z-Boy chair with 70 helium balloons, and flying over the unique rock formations, stunning valleys, and ancient cliff dwellings of Cappadocia, Turkey.

Phil Brandt- Pilot

Phil started ballooning as a crew member while in college in San Diego, CA. On his first day as a ground crew, he was taken along in the balloon (an unusual occurrence). Phil soon became addicted to the sport, and decided to make ballooning his career. In 1992, Phil became a student pilot,and attended Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta for the first time. That is where he met his future wife, Meghan. Her step-father had been ballooning for 20 years, so why not fall in love with a balloonist, too. By 1994, Phil had earned his commercial license, and he began flying for a large ride company in Del Mar, CA. Soon after getting married in 1997, and with their family growing, Phil decided to take up corporate balloon piloting. From 1998-2002, he flew a tennis shoe shaped balloon for Famous Footwear and a computer monitor for Viewsonic. In 2003 Phil went back to passenger flying, having spent most of those 5 years away from his family. Phil has flown in 32 states, and has over 3000 hours in balloons. Meghan and Phil now have 2 girls and 3 boys- all of whom love ballooning.

Mike Collins- Pilot

His father was a fixed wing pilot and his whole family loved to fly anything, balloons or planes. Mike flies an average of 250 passengers a year here in Albuquerque, which is a great place to be a hot air balloon pilot. He has flown all over the United States and has participated in 16 straight Balloon Fiesta’s ®, attended rally’s in Bristol, England, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Mike’s favorite rally is in Snowmass, Colorado and he attends each year in September. He has flown many corporate balloons including Ocean Spray, Santa Ana Casino, City of Albuquerque Tricentennial, Q Balloon, Galles Chevrolet, and Isleta Casino. Mike has 16 years of experience as a hot air balloon pilot and over 2000 hours of flight time. His favorite part of ballooning is meeting new people everyday and sharing the magical experience of ballooning with them.

Jim Mitchell- Pilot

Jim has been involved in ballooning since the very first Fiesta in 1971 as a crew member. In 1983 after attending the Balloon Fiesta® , Jim and his wife Patty purchased a balloon and started taking lessons. Jim and Patty got their licenses over the summer of 1984 and the next summer Jim got his commercial license and has been flying ever since. Jim has trained other pilots, flown for corporations including Kodak, US Rentals, Southwest Airlines, IBM, and many others. Jim and Patty started a dealership selling the brand of balloons they were used to flying. Jim became involved with a local competitive flying club, Top Gun, which was to focus on pilot skills. They also got involved with the local balloon club AAAA. They have flown in almost every city's rally in New Mexico over the past 24 years. Jim not only has flown balloons all over southwest, but has flown in many other states, and around the world, in Dubai UAE for their 1st balloon event in December 2006 and in Mexico. Jim and nineteen other pilots set and unofficial altitude record at 24,100 feet MSL in 1986. In 2006 Jim began crewing for Rainbow Ryders and in 2007 became one of their pilots. Jim has almost 1,000 hours of flying time. Jim loves ballooning, meeting new people and sharing this wonderful sport with them.

Brooke Owen- Pilot

Brooke and his family got involved in hot air ballooning in 1979 while attending the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta®.  Shortly after that trip, his father got his balloon pilot’s license and Brooke took his first flight, at the age of 6.  Since then, the lives of Brooke and his family have revolved around the ballooning community. Brooke got his private pilot’s license when he was 21 years old and then his commercial license three years later. From 1995 to 2000 he competed in various national events and toured the country flying the special shape balloon for UniRoyal Tire Company and also was the pilot for the special shape space shuttle balloon. He also had his hand in balloon repairs as he was certified through the FAA as a balloon repairman. He started doing balloon rides in Dallas in 1998 and then moved to Albuquerque in 2000 and has been doing rides in the Albuquerque area since. He has flown over 15,000 passengers over the years and has over 2400 hours of flight time. Brooke has flown in 30 states throughout the US, in Canada, Switzerland over the Alps, and has flown many special shapes including Humpty Dumpty, Rubber Duckie, Canadian Maple Leaf, Space Shuttle, The Blue Flame Balloon, and the Pumpkin. Brooke has flown many corporate sponsors including, City of Albuquerque, Santa Ana Star Casino, Michaels MJ Designs, Ocean Spray, Lisa Frank, and Journal Pavilion. He is also an active member of Top Gun Balloon Club and the Balloon Federation of America.

Randy Rogers - Pilot

Randy Rogers started ballooning in 1979 by crewing for the Coca-Cola balloon. The owner of the Coca-Cola Co. then taught him how to fly. He then earned his private and commercial rating as a balloon Pilot in 1980. Flying for the Coca-Cola Co. taught him how to be part of a corporate balloon program. In 1984 Sid Cutter asked Randy to fly for World Balloon as a ride pilot. With World Randy trained pilots to fly as part of a FAA 141 Training School. He later got involved flying corporate balloons and started to fly special shapes like the Cow & Dinosaur. He has over 2200 balloon flight hours, loves to fly, and enjoys meeting new people in a positive environment.