Born in the UK in 1962, Nick lived a great part of his life in Argentina, mainly Buenos Aires and Bariloche
in the Southern Andes. From a young age he became
a member of the Club Andino in Bariloche, where
he learnt to ski and took part in all mountaineering
and climbing activities. He later complemented this with Outward Bound courses in England and Scotland.

He learnt to fly aeroplanes and received his first licence when he was 19 years old. At 22 he graduated
as a trekking and mountaineering guide in the first course ever run by the Argentine Mountaineering Guide Association and worked for a few years as a guide
and outdoor activities instructor during the summer and on the ski slopes during winter.

This passion for altitude and flight eventually brought him to discover ballooning on a trip to England
at the beginning of the 1990’s where he learnt
to fly balloons in Bath with Terry McCoy. He later worked for Virgin ABC, then a company owned
by Richard Branson, where he learnt much
of the experience involved in using these aircraft
for advertising brands and products

Together with his wife, Cecilia Mugica, they initiated Garuda Vuelos en Globo in Argentina, a company which organises passenger rides and promotions with balloons. As well as flying over all of the major cities
in the country, he completed a series of 50 unusual and spectacular flights along the length of The Andes mountain range from Tilcara in the North to the glaciers of the South and flights over the Iguazu Falls
and the Jesuit ruins of San Ignacio. Over the years
he managed several international tours including
in 2002 a publicity tour in Mexico in which he flew over 37 cities and a documentary of the Crossing
of the River Plate on the centenary the first crossing.

In 2002 he moves to Melbourne, Australia,
on a contract with Balloons Sunrise, the oldest commercial balloon operator in Australia. Here
he is contracted to fly over the city with its high rise buildings and close to 4 million inhabitants.
He is trained by Chris Dewhirst who flew over Mount Everest in 1991. Melbourne has three airports, a large bay and extends for many kilometres in all directions.

Flying Brands is opened in Australia in 2004

Nick holds licences in England, Argentina and Australia. He is the most experienced mountain pilot operator
in South America and has been ballooning champion three times in Argentina. By 2007 Nick has accumulated 2000 hours flying both conventional and special shaped balloons and has flown over more than
a 100 cities all over the world. He has the unusual experience in that a very high proportion of his hours have been in flying inside airport controlled zones
and in technically difficult areas due to geographical
or meteorological reasons.