Hot air ballooning and the related sport of gas ballooning are unique forms of flying. Balloons stay in the air by the simple difference in density between hot air and cold air. Everybody knows hot air rises - right? This means balloons can do things no other type of aircraft can - hover completely motionless, yet creating no wind or down-draft like a helicopter. Being in a balloon is like being on top of the tallest sight-seeing tower, only this tower moves! The view never gets boring or stale, there is always something new coming into view.
This page is still under construction, but why not check out the BBAC web site below. Or read the F.A.Q. at the bottom of the page. In the mean time, here are a couple of pictures of me (I'm the one on the left in both pictures) flying a friends balloon INSIDE "Hangar 1" at Moffett Field, in Silicon Valley, California.
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You can visit the British Balloon and Airship Club page at www.bbac.org
Q: How big is the balloon?
Q: How long do you fly for?
Q: How far do you fly?
Q: How high do you go?
Q: Is it very cold up there?
Q: Do you carry sand bags and an anchor?
Q: Do you need lots of wind?
Q: How do you steer?
Q: Do you need a licence to fly one?
A: My balloon is what is technically know as a A56. This means it has a volume of 56,000 cubic feet (1,600 cubic metres). The 'A' means it has a smooth shape to it - a V56 only has 8 gores so looks slightly "bulbous". This is a small balloon. A more common size is 77,000 cubic feet. A large commercial passenger carrying balloon could be as large as 180,000 cubic feet. The volume of a typical 3 bedroomed house is only about 10,000 cubic feet. They are VERY big! For all its size, my balloon can only carry one passenger with the pilot.
A: On average, about 45 minutes from take off to landing. The shortest flight I was on was 12 minutes, the longest 1 hour 50 minutes.
A: This is extremely variable because it depends not only on the wind speed but the duration of the flight. The shortest flight I have been on - in terms of the difference between where I took off from and where I landed was 0! The longest flight was about 18nm (33km). The distance flown and flight duration are often not related to each other.
A: Generally, about 1,000 to 2000 feet (300 - 600m). We have to fly at 1500 feet or higher over towns and built up areas and we must not fly low over animals. The noise of the burners scares them. However, under the right conditions we fly at any height from tree-top to 10,000 feet or 3km without oxygen - higher with!
A: The actual air temperature can be very cold. The temperature drops at the rate of about 2 degrees Celsius per 1000 feet so if the temperature on the ground is 10C (50F) then at 3000 feet it is only 4C (39F). However, because the balloon is travelling with the wind, there is no wind-chill factor and there is a small amount of local direct heat from the burners - when they are on. This means that it is not as bad as it might first appear.
Q: Do you carry sand bags and an anchor?
A: No. Sand bags are only carried by gas filled balloons and people stopped using anchors many years ago - they make a terrible mess of tiled roofs! The sand bags in a gas balloon are required so that as the gas slowly leaks out, the balloon can be made lighter to compensate by throwing out sand.
A: Quite the oposite! The maximum recomended take off wind speed is about 15knts (about 18 mph / 27kmph). We normally fly in much less wind - about 5knts (6mph / 8kmph). Rain and fog are also conditions under which we can not fly - which in Britain means you don't fly that often!
A: Steering a hot air balloon is the hardest part. The problem is there is no direct way of steering a balloon - you go where the wind takes you. Which is not always where you would like to be! However, the weather being what it is generally provides you with a small choice of wind directions all going roughly the same way. The tricky part is finding these different directions. You are helped by the fact that in the northern hemisphere, because of reasons connected with the rotation of the Earth, as you go higher you tend to turn right (in the southern hemisphere you go left with height). Therefore you are afforded some control of direction by making the balloon go up and down.
Q: Do you need a licence to fly one?
A: Yes. In the UK you need to do a minimum number of hours flying under the supervision of a qualified pilot followed by 4 flights with a qualified instructor. Then there are written examination papers to pass followed by your General Flight Test with an Examiner. If you pass all that you get to fly solo and providing you don't kill yourself or anybody else, you hand out the (large) registration fee to the Civil Avaition Authority and they send you a Private Pilots Licence (Balloons and Airships) in the post. You are then free to fly balloons carrying (non-fare paying) passengers. To become a commercial pilot and do it for a living is more difficult and much more expensive!
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