In article , Michael wrote:
gerrcoin wrote
Oh, now I'm intrigued. How did you manage that; parachute

Yes, of course. Safest way to terminate a balloon flight, IMO.

I have taken a balloon flight. When I lived in Houston, if it was a nice
Sunday, sometimes I'd get to do three categories of aircraft in a day -
early morning, crew my friend's balloon, then fly the C140 to the glider
club and go soaring. Best way to spend a Sunday, IMHO.

I did get a ride in the balloon, and it was good fun. The landing was a
non-event because the wind wasn't strong. But I've seen the other side
of the balloon ride...

Balloons have very low windspeed launch limitations - usually around
8-10 knots or so. I was crewing for a student balloon pilot one morning,
and the wind was around 10 knots. She decided it was too much. However,
one of the Alvin ballooners only flies when it *is* windy. Carla decided
to fly with him to get the experience of high wind flight.

Normally, balloon chasing is more
balloon-sitting-in-a-gas-station-and-drinking-coffee. You drive the van
a mile or so and get out the Thermos, and wait for the balloon to drift
by. Then you start up, drive a bit more, and wait again. The pilot
normally radios you when she's about to land, at which point you stick
with the balloon.

Well, there was no coffee this morning. After a rather frightening
launch (we started tethered to the van, and the huge sail area of the
inflating balloon seemed to want to take the van with it), off they
went. Balloons look weird when they launch when there's a bit of wind -
they sort of oscillate and billow like a vast blancmange for a while.

Then the chase was on. The winds aloft must have been in excess of 40
knots. We couldn't keep up - the balloon of course going straight
downwind, and us in the van having to follow the whims of the road. We
were doing over 60 most of the time, and the balloon was still getting
away from us. We got to the field they landed in after the fact, and
there were deep drag marks in the grass for quite some distance. No one
fell out of the basket. Carla said it was "exciting".

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"