Up, up and away! KC hot air balloonist, a world champion, to vie for 2nd crown
Send your good wishes skyward to Cody Robinson and his “Grand Banana 2.0.”
Beginning Saturday, and for the following eight days, Robinson, 34 of Kansas City, will be competing for his second consecutive world championship in the high plains of Albuquerque, New Mexico, at what is touted as the largest annual hot air balloon festival in the world.
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is celebrating its 51st year.
Robinson last year took first place overall in the balloon racing competition. Now, the married father of two, a software engineer for e-commerce company, Shopify, will be going for his second title.
“In a balloon, there is no steering wheel. There are no flaps or anything like that in an aircraft,” said Robinson, whose U.S. Air Force veteran grandfather and grandmother began ballooning in Albuquerque before Robinson was born.
His grandfather’s balloon was dubbed “Dad’s Gone Bananas.” His grandmother named hers, “I’m Bananas II.”
“I knew from a young age I wanted to be a pilot,” Robinson said.
As a grandchild, he followed suit, calling his first hot air balloon, “Grand Banana.” His second, and competition winner: “Grand Banana 2.0.”
.png "1000001061 (1).png")
KC balloonist competes in Albuquerque
Although the competition is called “racing,” Robinson, a 2009 graduate of Platte County High School, explained that it is not about speed. It is about precision and control.
From inside wicker gondolas, balloonists can only control the up and down movement of the balloons, which rise, full of propane-heated air, 75 feet above their heads. To move left and right, a balloonist must rely on their judgement of winds at different altitudes.
“What you are doing,” Robinson said of the race, “is you are testing your navigation.”
The goal is to swoop a balloon in as low as possible to drop a marker onto a target.
Some 600 balloons fill the air above the fiesta. About 200 take part in the competition, which lasts four days. The winning balloonist is the one who accumulates the most points over the course of the competition by dropping their marker closest to the targets.
In 2021, Robinson came in fourth. Last year, he won.
Hot air balloon competition
More than 800,000 spectators attended the fiesta over its nine days last year, bundling against the October morning cold of the high desert. Robinson’s parents, with his wife, Cassie, and children, Cora, 5, and Corbin, 11, will travel with him to, hopefully, see Robinson reclaim his crown.
“’Run it back,’ as the Chiefs saying goes,” Robinson said.
Weather permitting.
“Ballooning is very weather-dependent. Extremely,” Robinson said.
No flying in the rain or with any risk of lightning. The wind can’t be greater than 11 miles per hour.
When Robinson isn’t winning or ranking in competitions, he can often be found flying in his balloon year-round around Kansas City, lifting off from Johnson County Executive Airport.
“I’ve gone all the way up to 10,000 feet,” Robinson said, conceding, “that’s not a normal flight.”
“Even I, at 10,000 feet , go ‘Huh? I’m in a little wicker basket.’”
The Albuquerque Internatonal Balloon Fiesta ends Oct. 12.
.jpeg "Screenshot 2025-09-30 at 9.08.30 AM (1).jpeg")
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
