Ballooning!

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"

Dylan Smith wrote:

the balloon of course going straight downwind, and us
in the van having to follow the whims of the road.

Just out of curiousity Dylan, and to others with ballooning
experience.... Just what sort of receptions have you run into,
when landing on private property etc.

"Shiver Me Timbers" wrote in message
...
Just what sort of receptions have you run into,
when landing on private property etc.

In general receptions have been fine. Lots of interest. If we have some
propane left, we tether the balloon and take neighbors and kids up for a
quick trip. Also, if we land on private property, we give the owner a
bottle of wine and do the "ceremony" and explain a bit of ballooning history
and why we are giving the wine. Some people I have flown with also have a
little table, crackers and cheese. There is not much to complain about.
But, I do remember a guy crabbing about the burner waking him up -- he
turned down the offer of a free ride. If the owner appears before we land,
we always ask for permission and no one has ever declined. Sometimes they
actually bring out a pot of coffee.

There was a time when we had to do a rip landing in to this lady's side
yard. But that was after we spent a half hour getting out of the trees --
nearly out of fuel, we had used the drop line to catch a tree branch in
order to stop moving so we could get into the postage stamp yard. The
neighbors didn't know what to make of us up there trying to free the line.
They called the police who came and offered assistance, but we didn't need
it. But then they started ask, "are you legal?", "What's the FAA say about
this?". They were convinced we were violating some law but just couldn't
figure out what it was! We got down, put the lady in the basked with her
bottle of wine and took a photo. The local paper published it on the front
page.

In article , Shiver Me Timbers wrote:
Just out of curiousity Dylan, and to others with ballooning
experience.... Just what sort of receptions have you run into,
when landing on private property etc.

Most people are welcoming, a few are grouchy.

The ones who don't like balloons have their land marked in red on a
chart so we know not to land there.

--
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"