Michael Glen, also known as the 'Rolling Pilot,' is the world's first paraplegic licensed hot air balloon pilot who will be flying the skies of Ammon, Idaho, during the city's 'Ammon Days' starting Friday.
AMMON, Idaho — In the penultimate day before its annual Ammon Days celebration, city officials hosted a keynote with a notable hot air balloon pilot who travels across the country sharing his experiences living with paraplegia.
Michael Glen, also known as "The Rolling Pilot," is the world's first paraplegic licensed hot air balloon pilot who will be flying the skies of Ammon during the city's celebration Friday through Sunday.Glen spoke to locals, city officials and media about his life and how an accident changed his life.He grew up in Roswell, New Mexico, where his father had been flying hot air balloons since the 1970s, and just two weeks after he was born, took his first flight.He said he was very active when he was younger, helping with the Special Olympics, playing soccer and volleyball and later attending New Mexico State, where he obtained a scholarship to play volleyball.In 1996, when he was 21 years old, during a Spring Break, Glen said he was out mudding with family and friends when a truck they were using got stuck. Unable to get the truck unstuck, they decided to come the next morning to give another attempt, but were unsuccessful. Deciding they needed help, Glen and his brother went in separate vehicles to find help.Driving down the road, Glen said the truck veered off the road, one of its tires blew, causing it to flip, and he was ejected from the vehicle while it was traveling at 65 mph.Glen sustained a collapsed lung, broke his T-11 and T-12 in his spine, and multiple rib fractures."Luckily, going back to the sports and all that, I knew how to fall," Glen said. "From that point, I lost the ability of my legs."Glen's brother was the first to find him after the crash, and Glen said that after two weeks in the hospital, he had to learn how to live his life in a wheelchair."In that rehab time, I decided I wanted to focus on trying to walk again, but I quickly realized that I wasn't necessarily in charge of ," Glen said.Looking at other things he could do, Glen said he wanted to become a hot air balloon pilot.It wasn't until 2006, after years of studying and adapting to life with a wheelchair, that Glen became a hot air balloon pilot to fly in a wheelchair.After accumulating more experience and having his trailer, where he stored his balloon, robbed twice, he was approached by another balloonist, Bob Romaneschi, to create Joelly.The Little Bees are a set of three bee hot air balloons, with Joey and Lil
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