In the early 1990s, I heard of a small group of guys who were flying gas balloons filled with anhydrous ammonia, which is intended to be injected into the ground as a farm fertilizer. When I was just about to contact them, one of them phoned me. It was John Kugler, president of a company that produced anhydrous ammonia in central Nebraska. He invited me to come out and fly with him and his buddies.

 

This led to a flight with John, with help from fellow "fertilizer fliers" Tim Cole and Dennis Brown. At the time I had flown along as a passenger on hydrogen and helium gas balloon flights, but not as pilot. Ammonia ballooning would change this for me.

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