Jump to content
GreaseSpot Cafe

Ballooning


Cowgirl
 Share

Recommended Posts

For what ever reason I have always been fascinated by hot air balloons. When ever there was a ballonn launch going on I would just drop everything and go down and watch, it was just awesome !! Quite a few years ago I even got to go for a ride in one, it started in a park and then way out to the countryside, talk about breathtaking !! Anyways I just wanted to share some incredible pics I came across.................

015.JPG

mostly%20orange%20balloon.JPG

albuquerque5.jpg

4446.jpg

new_balloon2.jpg

balloon_g3.jpg

pack%20up%201.JPG

800ph10.jpg

mtnitt-balloons.gif

balloons.jpg

Edited by Cowgirl
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Cowgirl...beautiful pics...I too enjoyed my "ride" years ago...especially the lift off...did you get to view your cows from the air?? (I'm assuming you have cows & live on a farm in Canada right??) I couldn't see our animals from our lift off point, but to me that would have been a cute sight!Unfortunately for me, the baloon was supposed to reach south of the city, which would have given us a view of the farm, but the winds didn't quite cooperate..JJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do a lot of weather briefings for our local balloon pilots, who can get pretty active when the weather is right.

Of course, they need pretty light winds, so that is usually the critical factor. That is, if it is raining or snowing or foggy, they usually don't need us to tell them, although often in planning ahead we do let them know if their planned time has potential.

About four years ago, I got first hand experience on the wind factor. One of our pilots gave me a ride, along with two others, on a flight in which he led a big balloon race. The idea is that he set the mark, and the others would vie to see who could land closest to him.

The weather was clear on a march morning that was cool at the surface ( about freezing) but warm a couple thousand feet up (in the 50s). The balmy effect is accentuated by the fact that, as you go up, you of course dont feel the wind much...you are riding with it. You just feel an occasional breeze as the wind shifts with altitude.

However, that morning, the winds in the cool air at the surface were picking up stronger than I expected, and we had to land in about a 15 mph wind...strong enough to scratch the flight had we known about it beforehand. Fortunately, it was a dry March, and we had lots od dry and relatively bare cornfields to choose from on landing. The only problems were avoiding the power lines on landing...and obviously the landing speed. My pilot friend put us two guys in the front (windward) so when we landed, and dragged some distance upon landing before the friction stopped us, the two of us were on the bottom in the tipped over gondola, with the two women on top of us. Kind of fun, but not something most balloon pilots want to repeat routinely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wwjesuslaughat.....Your idea is absolutely romantic but then again I am a romantic at heart! Hmmmmm, that gives me an idea with Goey love3.gif

Second James..... I can definitely relate to the lift off, quite exhilarating to say the least! Actually my balloon ride was a total surprise right up until the last few seconds. It was my birthday and some friends knowing how much I loved to watch the ballons take off suggested we go down and watch. When we arrived there I got talking to a guy who was just about seconds away from untying the tether to the balloon, he looked right at me and said "Aren't you coming for a ride?" Well without any hesitiation I jumped in, there was NO way I was going to pass up that chance of a life time!! The whole thing was totally awesome, the ride lasted about an hour and a half. The scenery was just like the one in the first picture of this thread.

Lifted Up.......Pretty interesting! I'm curious did you ever go contouring in the balloon (they lower the balloon to about 30 ft above the ground and follow the contour of the countryside)It's quite an adventure! I remember when we went to land the thing, and the guy warned me ahead of time to brace myself, it was going to be a pretty rough landing! I held on for dear life, what a shake up and drag out but I came out in one piece!

Cowgirl

baby_OneOutOfTheRemuda.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...