The ongoing federal government shutdown means half the typical number of federal safety inspectors are on the field during the world’s biggest hot air balloon rally taking place in Albuquerque this week, according to a Fiesta spokesperson and a retired federal aviation official.
James Malarsie retired earlier this year in Albuquerque after nearly 30 years as an inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, and worked the Fiesta with the FAA every year since 1995. That meant approving balloonist applications, doing equipment spot checks and roaming the launchfield with a team to search for blatant safety violations, among other duties.
He’s experienced several threatened, partial or full shutdowns during his long career, he told Source New Mexico on Wednesday. If this year’s ongoing federal government shutdown is anything like the one in 2013, the FAA will scrap certain tasks like in-depth crash investigations, last-minute pilot certifications and safety inspections outside the launchfield.
In years when the federal government is functional, 12 FAA inspectors are on the ground at the Fiesta each day, according to Malarsie and Tom Garrity, a Fiesta spokesperson. Six inspectors are on the ground during the Fiesta this year, Garrity told Source on Wednesday afternoon.
One typical duty for the inspectors is to divide the launchpad each day into a grid, Malarsie said. Inspectors then claim a square on the grid and fan out to see balloon crews are making safety errors. Some of the hazards FAA inspectors key in on are whether balloons are tethered to trucks during static displays; if a person is safely manning the dangerous inflation fans; and ensuring no one is smoking cigarettes at an event that runs on highly explosive propane.
“This year, it’s going to be pretty sparsened,” he said of the FAA inspections. “They’re going to look at it as, ‘What is the minimum we can get away with?’”
Still, Malarsie emphasized that Fiesta-goers should be confident about safety this year, despite the shutdown and mass furloughs of federal aviation employees. He said the Fiesta administrators and pilots themselves take safety seriously, and he described the FAA’s role as important but not the first line of defense in keeping the public and passengers safe.
“It’s not like the FAA is the magic component to make it work. We’re like a speed camera on the side of the road. We do our best to catch the flagrant,” he said. “For the most part, the balloonists are willing and able” to keep themselves, their passengers and the public safe.
The FAA did not respond to Source’s request for comment about the potential impacts of the shutdown on the Fiesta. According to an auto-reply email, administration is unable to respond to news media requests due to the shutdown, and the FAA office in Albuquerque is unstaffed, according to a pre-recorded voicemail message.
Tom Garrity also told Source the decreased number of inspectors won’t influence the event’s safety.
The biggest impact of the reduction is on “ramp checks,” Garrity said, which the FAA inspectors and Fiesta officials conduct each year to ensure pilots have the necessary documents to fly, such as safety inspections, federal airworthiness certificates, medical clearances and other necessary approvals.
“If you and I were going to a checkpoint, they would be asking for a driver’s license. Can I see your insurance?” he said. “That would be the equivalent.”
Fiesta officials have all the necessary training to do the checks without the FAA, Garrity said. So he thinks they’re still being conducted sufficiently to ensure pilots are safe to fly.
James Malarsie retired in January after nearly 30 years at the FAA in Albuquerque, where he did inspections every year during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. (Courtesy James Malarsie) “Safety is the first and foremost priority for Balloon Fiesta,” he said.
Because the Fiesta occurs each year in early October, it sometimes coincides with threatened or real shutdowns, Malarsie said. The federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and carries a deadline for Congress to pass a spending package to fund the government.
In 2013, the last time the government fully shut down in October, no FAA inspectors were on the field, he said. While Malarsie recalls that the event went off without a hitch, he said the federal Transportation Department in subsequent years developed a better plan to ensure the most vital FAA functions remain unaltered if a shutdown and the Fiesta coincide.
“As time progressed and the agency got more used to dealing with the politics of a shutdown, it kind of made a determination of what was ‘essential,’” he said.
That means, in 2025, a “small cadre of inspectors” flew in from another FAA field offices, likely from Lubbock, Texas, he said, based on a recent conversation with a current FAA official. They’re here to shore up a short-staffed local field office and will be dedicated solely to “safety oversight.”
“All they’re doing is direct surveillance of the event,” he said.
Also, in typical years, the FAA is sometimes the first on the scene to investigate hot air balloon crashes, because the National Transportation Safety Board delegates some investigatory steps to the FAA. But during other shutdowns, Malarsie recalls investigations being delayed because the FAA could not immediately start examining the causes of crashes.
Two hot air balloons have struck powerlines during the Fiesta this year, according to media reports, though no one was injured.
Malarsie abruptly retired early this year just shy of his 30th Fiesta, he said, due to a conflict over whether he’d be granted time to go on a “once-in-a-lifetime” oryx hunt in White Sands. But he said he misses being at what would have been his 30th Fiesta. He’s quoted in an FAA article about the Fiesta last year:
“You can feel the heat from the burners on each balloon, hear the roar of the flames, see the balloons inflate, and hear the crowd cheer, as lifeless balloons awaken in the early morning and evening hours,” he said.
