Balloon licence lifts woman back to the skies after loss

Laura trained for three years before getting her pilot's licence in July

"I had the sensation of just floating."

This is Laura Davies' recollection of the first time she went up in a hot air balloon.

The pilot was her boyfriend Arwel's father, and it was the first time she had been introduced to him.

Hot air balloon rides then became a staple of family life, until the devastating loss of Arwel in a car crash in 2021.

At first, Laura couldn't face being in one without him, but now the 41-year-old pharmacist has just gained her pilot's licence.

She is believed to be the first woman to wholly train and complete this process in Wales for 40 years.

"I don't know if it was a test or not," she laughed, thinking back to that first flight.

"I was incredibly nervous because I had no idea of what to expect.

"I remember Arwel being with me and giving me reassurance, 'you are going to enjoy this!'.

"It was just an incredible flight."

The pilot of her first balloon trip, Eirion Davies, later her father-in-law, was "infamous" in Carmarthenshire for being one of the first to fly there, and was one of the founders of the Llandovery Hot Air Balloon festival.

But Laura's first flight with him was his last carrying a passenger.

Some time after he retired, Arwel was offered the chance of getting a balloon of his own along with training from the former owner, and in 2011 he started learning to fly.

Laura has taken to the skies solo in memory of Arwel

Laura says: "It was a very exciting time for us with a new family and something that we could all enjoy."

Taking along their young son Owen and daughter Sofia, they attended festivals, and took family and friends on flights locally.

They even turned the isolation of a lockdown Christmas in 2020 at their home in Llanwdra to their advantage.

"It was whilst there were restrictions on the rest of the world due to Covid so we weren't allowed any visitors," remembers Laura.

"So we thought if we're not expecting any visitors Christmas morning, why not take advantage and go up in the hot air balloon.

"So we did that before Christmas dinner."

Laura's balloon displays the colours and symbol of the Welsh flag

But fate was to prove unkind, and in 2021, Arwel and daughter Sofia were involved in a car crash.

Despite the best efforts of Wales Air Ambulance staff, Arwel died from his injuries and Sofia, then aged seven, had to be flown to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, where luckily she was found to be physically unharmed.

Arwel's death changed everything, and Laura couldn't face being in a hot air balloon without him.

But on the anniversary of his accident, something changed, and she thought "he'd want the balloon back in the air".

Three years ago, she began the journey towards solo flight.

Learning to inflate the balloon herself was one of the elements of Laura's training

She explains: "There were five theory exams - air law, navigation, balloon systems, human performance and the weather, meteorology."

Laura also needed to gain 16 hours flying experience, inflate the balloon herself, and fly at different altitudes.

The hardest part was learning to land the balloon safely, she says.

"When you see the ground coming closer to you, your natural instinct is to want to go back up and burn and get yourself out of that potential danger."

Three adults are usually needed to help rig and pack away the balloon

Her longest flight has been about 10 miles (16km) along the Towy valley, and even though she may be flying solo, it is very much a team activity.

She says: "I've got some wonderful crew that follow me on the ground and retrieve for me, and sometimes they're even in the field before I've come down, so that's how good they are at predicting where we land."

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, there are currently 366 licensed male balloon pilots in the UK and 59 female pilots.

Laura says traditionally it has been "quite a male-oriented sport", but she added: "I think women are just as capable of flying a hot air balloon as a man."

Getting her pilot's licence is not her only way of keeping Arwel's legacy alive.

After the original Llandovery balloon festival "came to an abrupt halt" in 2001 with the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, it had been his ambition to revive it.

In 2022, she helped launch Ar y Gorwel [On the Horizon] hot air balloon festival in Llandovery in his memory.

Hot air balloon pilots that had flown with Arwel or met him are invited to take part.

"It's a special way of bringing everyone back together, remembering Arwel, enjoying flying in such a beautiful part of Wales and also it helps us raise awareness and money for the Wales Air Ambulance charity," she explains.

This has led her in another new direction since losing Arwel, as she adds: "I'll always feel completely indebted to the Wales Air Ambulance, as a result of their actions on the day, but also for the care that we've received since."

The revived balloon festival raises money for the Wales Air Ambulance in memory of Arwel

The family has received specialist aftercare support from the charity, and had the chance to meet the crew and see the helicopter involved.

"It's all very, very helpful in helping us process the accident and the aftermath," she says.

Laura has done a lot of fundraising, and was asked to become a trustee of the charity.

It is a role she took up last year and one she finds "incredibly rewarding to be part of something so special".

She doesn't think her family's involvement with flying will end with her either, and has no doubt Owen and Sofia will "take over the reins themselves flying one day".

When she took her flying test in July - on the fourth anniversary of Arwel's death - and came home telling her children she had passed, she says her daughter's face lit up.

"She was overwhelmed and she said, 'Mami, I didn't believe girls could fly a hot air balloon'," Laura says.