Boy trained to fly hot air balloon at four years old

June 05, 2011

oy is grabbing headlines worldwide after taking to the skies as the youngest solo balloonist in the world. we spoke with the young man and his family as they celebrated making history. bobby bradley9 year old balloonist jan stevensongrandmo ther jim johnsongrandfath er 9 year old bobby bradley is all over the web - and all over the world. he's known as the "real balloon boy" by some - and a hometown hero by those closest to him. i've been around ballooning all my life, i've been training since i was 4. he thought, when he was little, minute thumbnail 10:05 pm that everybody knew how to fly a balloon. his grandmother says it's in his blood - an inherited instinct witnessed the world over this morning near tome. he's got - he's 4 generations of ballooning families, both sides and i think that's just something that he couldn't wait till he was old enough to get a license. his parents are well known albuquerque balloonists troy and tami bradley. so, is this the start of a new upward trend of youngsters taking to the skies? according to his grandfather - maybe. i would imagine it will start a little bit of interest and it might be a whole new section of ballooning. because the feat was based on age -- guinness is not considering this a world record. and that's ok with bobby - he's working on that. i hope i continue in many various records. this afternoon nbc news called us saying they're interested in running this story on the weekend edition of the today show.