ballooninfo2.page

The Hot Inflation

    Sadly I don't have any pictures of the hot inflation. At that point I am normally feeling the heat quite literally because I always work the left side of the mouth, and we don't get to move when the pilot starts to burn! :) But what normally happens during this time is the pilot has already checked the balloon to make sure there are no tears or problems with the balloon, and also to make sure that the balloon is packed enough. Wind speeds are VERY important at this stage because one solid gust of wind will cause the balloon side to cave into the flame, not good. Once the pilot has determined that the balloon is ready, he takes his position kneeling behind the burners. (I say 'he' only because that is what I am used to, but there are female pilots) With the burners lit and on, and angled upward pointing into the center of the mouth opening, (with the mouth crew still holding on... ) he will give long burns to begin to heat the air in the balloon.
     These burners (Aerostar Zone 5 Turbo Dual Burner with a Glow Burner) can give off as much as 19.3 million BTUs, which is pretty hot! On average to fly, the temperature in the balloon will reach around 210. There are limitations on how hot the balloon can be because the material is only rated for 250 degrees F during flight, 275 degrees F for short bursts.
     The pilot will continue to burn at short intervals as the balloon begins to stand up right. Until he decides to launch, the balloon will be attached to two vehicles by teather lines. That way the balloon can't just shoot up off the ground.
     Once the balloon is standing up right, the pilot will call "weight on!", signaling all of the crew to grab the basket and add their weight. The flying is a ratio of the air temperature and the weight of the basket, so if we all put on our weight, the basket isn't going anywhere (hopefully!). The crown line is still out at this point, stabilizing the balloon. The pilot will tell the crown line crew member to bring in the crown line (which will be tied onto one of the uprights during the flight) right before he takes off. Now if any passengers are going up, they will get into the basket when the pilot is ready for them to, and then the pilot will have to adjust the temperaure/weight ratio again. He will become "light" when the temperature in the balloon is enough to lift the basket and people.
     One thing I forgot to explain, the outside temperature issue. People sometimes assume that if it is hot outside, we get a longer flight. Not so. Actually when it is hot outside, it takes more fuel (propane) to get the air inside the balloon to be hotter than that outside the balloon, therefore making it a shorter flight. If it is cold outside, the air is easier to heat up inside the balloon. So yet another ratio we have to worry about! :)

The Flight and a few manuvers

Not too much I can say about the flight, because mostly if you are a passenger, your job is to enjoy the scenery! :) If you are the pilot, you are feeling the change in the altitude (you can feel this) and the change in the wind direction (you can feel this very easily). I know because I was piloting the Saturday morning flight at Balloon Fest 2002! :-D But for the most part, the pilot wants to maintain a level or rising state unless landing. One special manuver that I have a picture of is called a Splash-n-Go (which you saw with the balloon on the first page). This is where the pilot lets the balloon 'land' on the water, then takes off again. This can be done on dry land also, called a Touch-n-Go. Many times a flight will be for a competition, but I won't go into that just yet.

This was taken at Camp Flight, a weekend get together where they just fly :) The rainbow balloon in the front is performing a Splash-n-Go, very nicely too I might add! Too bad it's in a triangle basket.... (balloonist thing)

The Landing and packing up

The landing can be as soft as just setting the balloon straight down, or it can be rather rough, with the basket dragging atleast 30 feet (been in both of those!) There are many factors determining the landing that you will have, wind speed, how fast you have to come down due to powerlines or buildings, etc... for the most part it is just the pilot pulling the top (the flap that velcros right inside the crown, sorry I have no good pictures of that yet) then burning so the balloon does not hit to hard. Once the basket is on the ground, the pilot gives the crown line back to the crew member who pulls the crown tight as the rest of the crew lays the basket over on its side again. The mouth is then closed off (by me!) and the balloon is 'milked' (all of the hot air is pushed out the top, starting at the mouth. Andy impressed many this way!). The job that really bites at that time is the crown line, because back there you have 200+ degrees F air rushing out towards you! Horrible for a summer day. Once the balloon is milked, it is put into a bag. Most people can not believe it all fits in a small bag! (There is a picture of this bag on the Balloon Fest 2002 page and you can sort of see it in the picture below, just to the left of the basket). The bag, the burners, the uprights, and the basket all fit back into the chase vehicle, in our case a Suburban. Then we chug water down after such a hard work out and head for air conditioning! :) A normal flight from set up to packing away can take an hour to 3 hours, depending on the flight.

Back to
My Ballooning Page