Pilots | Sanjay Gupta
Sanjay was born and bought up in New Delhi, India, where he lived till 1986. He then moved to the US for his masters in science degree, and was a resident of The Netherlands till 2006, till he moved to Australia in 2007.
Sanjay's interest in hot air balloons was kindled in 1975 (age 15) when his family got together to build the first hot air balloon in India, which was his first experience with hot air balloons. Once Sanjay finished his Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, he worked for a few years in India building and flying balloons. From 1986 till 1990, he continued to fly and design balloons during his Master's studies in the US, where he built many experimental balloons, and flew with commercial ballooning operations. He got his private pilot's license for hot air balloons in 1990 in the UK and subsequently in The Netherlands in 1992, and in the US in 1995. He flew his first Dutch National Championship in the late 90's. An accomplished balloonist, Sanjay has flown at a number of Dutch and German National Championships.
Sanjay holds a Dutch and Australian Commercial Pilot's License (CPL) for hot air balloons, a UK and US Private Pilots License (PPL) and has a Radio Telephony (RT) rating for UHF, VHF and HF. He is also a pilot instructor for the Dutch Civil Aviation Authority (RLD) for hot air balloons.
Sanjay lived and flew intensively as a commercial pilot in The Netherlands, and Germany till 2006, and joined Global Ballooning as a commercial balloon pilot in 2007.
He is an active member of the BBAC and DBCC (Dutch Balloon Competition Club).
As a technical advisor for a large balloon manufacturer, Sanjay is very involved in the latest technical and safety developments in hot air ballooning. As a professional business consultant, Sanjay has travelled and flown balloons in many countries in the world, which gives him a very broad overview of the new technical developments in the world of hot air ballooning.
Sanjay speaks fluent English, Dutch and Hindi, and has good understanding of Spanish and German.