Ballooning!

I had the joy of logging my first 0.2 hours in a hot
air balloon last weekend

Whew! I thought this was going to be another commentary on my landings ;-D

"Tony Cox" wrote in news:2BL8c.885$Dv2.625
@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:

"lance smith" wrote in message
om...

Good post! Are you taking lessons in ballooning? Keep us tuned in,
this was a very informative post and I'd like to learn more.

I'm probably not going to get rated. It's hard enough to
find the time and money to enjoy my 182! Perhaps when
I retire.

The ballooning crowd are quite a sociable bunch. It's not
surprising really -- you need to have a ground crew unless
you are real hard-core. That's how I got my ride - I crewed
a couple of times after helping when one landed behind the
house. I'm exchanging plane rides now - both folks can
learn a lot from each other. Did you know that a balloon
can easily outclimb most GA planes? Nor did I, and they
get to have the official right-of-way! Sheesh. And I swear
none of them have ever seen a sectional. Scary.





HA! your in trouble now.... exchanging plane rides (thing of value) for
baloon rides (thing of value) part 135 right??? ;-)




--
ET --- (ducking and running)


"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

Yes! And, although you might invent reasons to fly airplanes (commute,
work, etc), none of these stand up to analysis.

Hmmm. I can't say as I would agree with that assessment.

I can justify flying airplanes in many ways, not the least of which is
transportation. The ability (and knowledge that I can do so) to be in
Florida in 6.5 hours is worth a lot to me.

Not to say that ballooning doesn't sound like a great way to spend the day!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:l1n9c.109154$Cb.1326630@attbi_s51...
Yes! And, although you might invent reasons to fly airplanes
(commute,
work, etc), none of these stand up to analysis.

Hmmm. I can't say as I would agree with that assessment.

I can justify flying airplanes in many ways, not the least of which is
transportation. The ability (and knowledge that I can do so) to be in
Florida in 6.5 hours is worth a lot to me.

Not to say that ballooning doesn't sound like a great way to spend the
day!

But ballooning is not quite the thrill as a hop in a Waco YMF-5! :~)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:l1n9c.109154$Cb.1326630@attbi_s51...

I can justify flying airplanes in many ways, not the least of which is
transportation. The ability (and knowledge that I can do so) to be in
Florida in 6.5 hours is worth a lot to me.
You have a nice (fast) airplane.

Not to say that ballooning doesn't sound like a great way to spend the
day!
Usually we lift off at sunrise and we're back for breakfast around 8:30 AM

gerrcoin wrote
Plus I had the opportunity to witness one of those things landing near
my house once. They got pulled through two sets of trees, plonked on
the ground and fell over, after which the basket got dragged for a
further 30 or 40 ft. All part of the magic I guess.

I've seen some balloon landings. When I finally got the chance to go
up in one, I took it, of course - but I elected not to stay for the
landing. And that's all I have to say about that.

Michael

Michael wrote:
gerrcoin wrote

Plus I had the opportunity to witness one of those things landing near
my house once. They got pulled through two sets of trees, plonked on
the ground and fell over, after which the basket got dragged for a
further 30 or 40 ft. All part of the magic I guess.


I've seen some balloon landings. When I finally got the chance to go
up in one, I took it, of course - but I elected not to stay for the
landing. And that's all I have to say about that.

Michael

Oh, now I'm intrigued. How did you manage that; parachute, James Bond
style fall stopped by the timely intervention of the millenium dome
(sorry, was watching that last night), Indian rope trick.....

You can't just tease us like that.

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'm not really joking, either. Those balloon landngs are scary
looking. Not saying I wouldn't do it as a pilot - they also look way
cool, and a balloon rating sounds like fun - but to go along for the
ride as a passenger? Nah. Not for me.

Michael

I flew hot air balloons for 12 years and never had a scary landing, but some
were quite interesting! I've landed in open fields, peoples back yards,
golf courses, tops of trees, even on a boat once, but I never felt there was
any real danger of serious injury.

Landing a balloon, like landing a fixed wing aircraft is all about energy
management. You want to dissipate that energy slowly, and a balloon has a
LOT more energy to dissipate than a light aircraft because it has more
weight. No way you say? Let me explain.

The balloon I flew had a gross weight of 1660 pounds. Takeoff weight with
me and 3 passengers was usually at least 1550 pounds, similar to a light
aircraft. So we fly for and hour or so and burn off 125-150 pounds of fuel.
Still sounds about like a light aircraft huh? What about that bag of hot
air over your head? My balloon's volume was 90,000 cubic feet, that almost
4 TONS of air thats moving with you. So when it comes time to land and
bring this thing to a stop you aren't trying to stop a 1500 pound aircraft,
you're trying to stop over 9000 pounds!!

Time to land, so we look for a decent field (actually we've been looking
during the entire flight). Lets say its an afternoon flight and the wind
is still 5 knots when it's time to land. We were hoping the wind would
disipate as sunset approached, but these things happen. Ideally we try to
find a landing spot sheltered by trees, but lets say we can't. We find an
open field and decend slowly, after all 5 knots is only a brisk walking
pace. When the basket touches down it stops, BUT the envelope (the balloon
part) continues to move. Just before the basket touches down we pull the
line attached to the parachute shaped valve in the top of the envelope to
allow the air to start to escape, reducing lift (kinda like dumping the
flaps on a short field landing). The basket tips and drags as we dissipate
energy, all the while the envelope continues to deflate. Maybe we drag
through some grass, bushes, or what have you but we are all safe and sound
in the basket. Rarely would you drag over 50 feet.

Most of the time though the wind has died down during the late afternoon
flight and the conditions at ground level are near calm. A perfect stand up
landing (ballooning equivilant of a greaser) or one or two little hops of
the basket before stopping.

Try it sometime, you might like it.

Rick
Commercial Pilot, ASMEL, Instrument

On 2004-03-31 16:50, wrote:
I flew hot air balloons for 12 years and never had a scary landing, but some
were quite interesting! I've landed in open fields, peoples back yards,
golf courses, tops of trees, even on a boat once, but I never felt there was
any real danger of serious injury.


-snip-

Try it sometime, you might like it.

Rick
Commercial Pilot, ASMEL, Instrument


A now retired workmate told me about when he got a balloon ride
ticket, and had a nice flight; only when they were to land in a small
field, the pilot had to keep away from some wires & set the balloon down
a bit harder than intended.

As the pilot had climbed up to pull the ripcord to open the balloon,
he didn't have a secure footing and fell out of the ballon on touchdown.
The balloon then bounced and plonked down the basket with a all
passengers still inside, right onto the pilot, knocking him out.

The pilot was unconcious, but the pax & balloon were all ok.
Someone called paramedics but forgot to find out their landing
location so the SOS switchboard was thinking it was a hoax...
` -What do you mean, you don't know where you are???'

The balloon-recovery cars appeared soon enough to help out.
(Pilot recovered OK, if slightly worse for wear.)
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I wouldn't hesitate taking a ride, seems safe enough unless you climb
out of the sardine box...

/Rolf