Your Consultancy
Gone-with-the-Wind (GWTW) was established in 1985 by Phil Dunnington, one of the world’s most widely experienced commercial balloon pilots and world record holder for flying balloons in 127 countries. His wife Allie became part of the team in 2003. She is now the sole director and manager of Gone-with-the-Wind, following Phil’s death from cancer at the end of 2021. When not travelling abroad, Allie is moving between Bristol and Sidmouth on the south coast of Devon.
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GWTW offers a high-quality consultancy to assist new start-up operations or for anybody considering a balloon-related event. The company owns a private fleet of various sized balloons to assist with initial trial flights, pilot training or filming.
Gone With The Wind - your consultant
Allie (Almut) Dunnington
Born in Germany in 1967, Allie has spent her life exploring the world — and taking others along for the ride. With a Master’s in Asian Studies and a PhD in Tourism and Anthropology, she’s been working and travelling across Asia since 1986 and has guided adventurous travellers for over 30 years.
In 2004, after marrying Phil Dunnington, Allie turned her passion for flight into a mission: to help more women take to the skies. She quickly rose to become one of the UK’s leading female balloon pilots, later breaking barriers as the country’s first female commercial flight examiner. Today, she holds a UK and EASA Group D commercial licence and is a qualified Part 66 engineer and instructor — a rare combination in aviation.
Allie is a dedicated board member of the General Aviation Awareness Council (GAAC) and proudly represents the British Women Pilots’ Association (BWPA). So far, she has flown hot air balloons in 120 countries (as of July 2025), covering every nation in the Americas and Europe except Monaco and the Vatican. Her next adventure? A six-week expedition across Eastern Africa as she works to beat her late husband’s world record of 127 countries flown.
To share her love of adventure with others, Allie and her friend Apryl Binuya co-founded gonewiththewindadventure.com — a boutique travel company offering unique small-group journeys that blend once-in-a-lifetime activities like ballooning, horse riding, and trekking with meaningful community support, especially for women and children. Upcoming destinations include East Africa, Oman, Japan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.
When she’s not soaring through the skies, you’ll find Allie outdoors — running, swimming, climbing mountains, riding horses, playing golf — or indoors playing one of her many musical instruments. She speaks six languages and is also a trained nurse, always ready for the next adventure, wherever the wind may take her.
Phil Dunnington
Phil, my husband for nearly 20 years, passed away during our trip to Jordan in November 2021.
Phil was a keen aviator all his life from his early start working for BOAC in Guyana then going on to work in management and sales for various aircraft manufacturers/lessors. He started his ballooning in 1971 as a founder of one or the oldest balloon clubs in the world, the DANTE group which is still going after 50 years. He also was a key player in the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.
Phil still holds the world record for most countries flown in by hot air balloon – 127 in all. Country nr. 100 was Libya and 127 (his last one) Mauritania. In order to achieve flying in one of the most difficult countries of the world, namely Cuba, he even bought a vintage Beech 18 to carry the balloon to Cuba. (see link to our documentary about our two expeditions in 2017/18)
The last years of his life saw the culmination of his aviation career: he was appointed by the UK Government as advisor to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of Transport on general aviation matters. Phil was a man of great knowledge, with strict but fair principles and a very kind and open, helpful heart.
Allie