JETTA SCHANTZ: EMPRASS OF THE AIR

On Aug. 19, 1994, Jetta Schantz was alone more than 32,000 feet above China Lake, Calif., when both propane burners on her hot air balloon extinguished due to oxygen starvation.

The temperature was 45 degrees below zero. Though she was using oxygen, as anyone must above 12,500 feet, she recalls, "I was very dizzy."

When the burners went out, the balloon began a spinning free fall of 1,500 feet per minute. She was unable to relight them until she had reached 18,000 feet.

At one point, she said, the balloon began oscillating and the envelop began to collapse.

"It was frightening," she said.

Schantz actually had flown 32,572 feet above the Earth, setting nine women's world altitude records. For that she received the Montgolfiere Diplome, the sport of ballooning's highest honor.

She decided to go after world records in answer to a challenge from her husband, Rob, who co-produces Balloon Tour America with her. The company is the organizer of the balloon festival.

In 1993 she set nine distance records for women by flying 292 miles in seven hours and one minute.

"I had so much fun I decided to go for altitude," she said.

She did not do so foolhardily. The world-record flight was preceded by one of 13,000 and another of 30,000 feet.

Schantz is the balloonmeister for this weekend's Balloons & Arts Festival '95. She will decide the launch location and task for each competition at the pilot briefing held a half-hour before each launch.