"Ballooning is also the ONLY form of flying that enables you to fly just a few feet above the tree tops either safely (slow) or without disturbance (no rotor downwash). "
Not quite true. The way that I got my one and only flight was that the baloonist previously landed in my pony paddock. In the process one of my dogs took fright and went missing for 4 hrs! The subsequent flight was a nice gesture in compensation.
The dog has never forgotten about balloons and stands outside barking at them whenever they appear on the horizon, which is quite often. Worse, it he sees one from the landrover, he will stand on the spokes of the steering wheel to bark at it. Awkward if moving.