John Ninomiya of Solana Beach, Calif., will fly a helium cluster balloon

June 16 at the Thurston Classic.

There are only about a half-dozen such pilots in the world who use this

unique form of ballooning, according to Ninomiya’s Internet site

www.clusterballoon.org.

He wears a harness with dozens of large, helium-filled latex weather

observation-style balloons attached and has an emergency parachute for

safety.

Taking off with more balloons than needed to lift his weight, Ninomiya

releases water ballasts to ascend. To descend, he bursts or releases

balloons. He’ll use about 80 balloons — each ranging in size from 4 to 6

feet — at the Thurston.

Ninomiya is doing a project called “States of Enlightenment” in which he is

trying to fly with helium cluster balloons in all 50 states.