Balloonists have their own complaints about landing in the laps of larcenous corn growers who demand an arm and a leg for a few damaged ears. Farmers are not the only ones who keep a cautious eye to the sky over Huntley. Jim Huseman had the "curse" descend on his brand new golf course north of town a few years ago. It landed near the third hole, took a couple of divots and nearly gave him a stroke, he said.

"They landed right near the green, skidded about 150 yards and tore two gashes in the fairway," Huseman said. "The guy was real nice about it. He offered me a free ride. I said no thanks; I charged him $50." Charlie O'Reilly, 40, is co-owner of WindyCity BalloonPort, and over the last 12 years, he has made more than 700 flights over the area, most of them with passengers who pay $125 for rides of up to 1 1/2 hours.

He knows every fact about hot air balloon history and stresses courtesy and consideration when ballooning and running his port, he said. In fact, not all area residents are antagonists, and O'Reilly said some actually request that balloonists land on their property because they enjoy the beauty of the sport.

But sometimes, even the most careful landing brings a sorehead. "I landed in a scrub field a couple of years ago," O'Reilly said, "and two guys came flying up in a pick-up truck. They said, 'Who gave you permission to land here?" O'Reilly told them that he thought it looked like a good place, considering it was just scrub land. "They said it was a horse pasture," he recalled hot air balloon history.

When one of the men demanded a cash payment, O'Reilly offered instead to work off any damage by shoveling horse manure, which seemed appropriate to him. "He said that would be fine, but I gave him my telephone number and I never heard from him," O'Reilly said. "I had worked my butt off to land safely in what I thought was a good spot and this guy came on like gangbusters. But it was his property, and I would have worked for him if he called."

O'Reilly got off easy in comparison to the punitive measures brought against a Palatine man who had the misfortune several years ago of coming down in the oft-targeted hayfield of one Rudy Koenig, who farms about 310 acres of rolling farmland outside Huntley.