For Mark Stewart, ballooning wasn’t part of a long-term plan – it was something he discovered almost by accident.

“I was 18 years old when I got my first ride,” he recalls. “A friend of my mother traded for it, and during that flight, the pilot offered to teach me. That was it—I was hooked.”

With his mother, Patricia Stewart, as his business partner, Mark entered the ballooning world early, eventually building a career that has now spanned nearly four decades. After starting in Missouri, where weather conditions often limited flights, he relocated to Sedona in the early 1990s – drawn by a more reliable climate and a landscape unlike anywhere else.

“The scenery and the weather here make it ideal,” he says. “You can fly more consistently, and every flight, even if it follows a similar path, feels very different.”

That variability is part of what keeps the work fresh. Ballooning is entirely dependent on natural conditions, meaning no two days—or flights—are ever the same.

“It’s one of the few experiences where nature is in charge,” Stewart explains. “You adapt to it. That’s part of what makes it special.”

Over the years, he has also come to value the human side of the experience just as much as the technical aspects.

“You’re meeting people on some of their most meaningful days,” he says. “Anniversaries, birthdays, even people checking off something on their bucket list. There’s a lot of emotion in that basket—mostly joy but sometimes even tears.”

For first-time passengers, Stewart understands that there can be some hesitation. But he’s quick to address the most common concerns.

“People say they’re afraid of heights,” Mark reports, “But what they’re really afraid of is falling. Once they realize how secure the four-foot-tall basket is, that usually goes away. And there’s no turbulence—you’re moving with the wind.”

Safety, he emphasizes, is always the priority.

“There’s a saying in aviation: there are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots,” he says. “You respect the conditions, and you make the right calls.”

That approach has helped Stewart maintain a long-standing perfect safety record, supported by experience, equipment, and a deep understanding of the region’s terrain.

Beyond the flights themselves, Stewart and his wife Amy have also built strong ties within the Verde Valley community—supporting local organizations, sponsoring Airport Day, the Red Rocks Trail Fund, and participating in regional events.

“We’ve always wanted to be part of the community we live in,” he says. “That’s important to us.” We raised our children here and feel a very close bond with our community and neighbors.

After more than 30 years, what continues to stand out most is the feeling of being in the air.

“There’s a moment when you lift off and clear the trees—it’s an adrenaline rush,” he says. “And then it becomes peaceful. You see people smiling, taking it all in. That never gets old.”

For Stewart, ballooning is more than a profession – it’s a shared experience, one that continues to connect people to the landscape and to each other.

“Overall, I feel grateful,” he says. “People trust you with something special. That means a lot.”