Take a trip in a hot air ballon


Hot Air Balloons

The Hot Air Balloon I went up in was aunder the open balloon. It takes a lot of
rainbow of colors, one of three owned andpractice to get the feel for achieving that
operated by a local ballooning company. Fornear exact balancing act between ascent and
$125.00, a ride of at least forty minutesdescent.
duration is promised and we were aloft for
just under an hour. It's certainly sereneThe growing popularity of ballooning is
when floating along through the air, but itreflected by the number of meets, the largest
is deafening when the pilot turns on the(certainly the oldest) of these probably
burners! A sharpening breeze blew ourbeing in Albuquerque, NM, where the meet has
balloon further adrift that expected and webeen in operation for thirty-four years. In
landed in a pasture amidst an interested herd2005 there were over 600 balloons
of Hereford steers. The chase vehicle soonparticipating, most from the western United
arrived, the pilot popped open a celebratoryStates, but also a few hardy souls who
bottle of champagne (as promised in theirshipped their balloons in from Australia, the
literature), and I inquired about bookingUK and elsewhere around the world.
another  flight!Officially termed the Albuquerque
International Balloon Fiesta, this year
Hot Air Ballooning is very popular nowadays,(2006) it will be running from October 6 -15,
with clubs and ballooning companies offeringwith  over  700  balloons  expected.
rides and even instruction for wannabe
pilots. However, the pastime is not new onAnother interesting aspect of hot air
the scene, in fact the very first hot airballooning is the advertising facet. Clever
balloon rose from the ground in 1783. Indesigners and fabricators have come up with
France, the Montgolfier brothers were theballoons that look like most anything that
early developers, sending up tetheredone can imagine. Last year at a local meet,
balloons with no passengers, thenI saw such oddities as Barney the Dinosaur,
experimenting with first geese and then athe Planters Peanuts man, a Shell Gas Pump, a
dog, and finally mustering the courage forsoft ice cream cone and Senator Foghorn the
two men to try it. The next step was anLeghorn from cartoons, just to name a few.
untethered balloon, which stayed up for 23Some of the larger ones, like Barney, seemed
minutes flying over Paris, landing in a parkquite unwieldy both to inflate and to fly.
in the Bois du Boulogne. They had littleBalloonists sell advertising or enlist
control over their balloon, a condition thatsponsors to underwrite their ballooning
exists to a great extent to the present day;activities and it seems to work out fairly
basically the pilot still goes where thewell  for  all  concerned.
breeze  blows  him.
Most balloonists I've talked to have a
If you actually need to get somewhere, a hotwell-developed sense of humor, a necessary
air balloon is a fairly impractical vehicle.asset when dealing with the vagaries of the
You can't really steer it other than risingprevailing winds. Our pilot told us this
or descending to find crosscurrents in thestory; mostly I think to divert our attention
wind, and it only travels as fast as the windwhile  passing over an open stretch of water.
blows. Hot air balloons are based on a very
basic scientific principle: warmer air risesA man is flying in a hot air balloon and
in cooler air because the hot air is lighter.realizes he is lost. He reduces height and
A cubic foot of air weighs roughly 28 gramsspots a man down below. He lowers the
(about an ounce). If you heat that air byballoon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can
100 degrees F, it weighs about 7 grams less.you tell me where I am?" The man below says:
Therefore, each cubic foot of air contained"yes you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30
in a hot air balloon can lift about 7 grams.feet above this field." "You must work in
That's not much, and this is why hot airInformation Technology" says the balloonist.
balloons are so huge -- to lift 1, 000"I do" replies the man. "How did you know?"
pounds, you need about 65, 000 cubic feet of"Well" says the balloonist, "everything you
hot  air!have told me is technically correct, but it's
no use to anyone." The man below says, "You
Inside the balloon's envelope there is amust work in Management". "I do" replies the
constant variation between the pressure ofballoonist, "but how did you know?" "Well",
the hot air against the top of the envelopesays the man, "you don't know where you are,
versus the pull of gravity. The pilot'sor where you're going, but you expect me to
objective is to maintain equilibrium betweenbe able to help. You're in the same position
the two forces through the judicious use ofyou were before we met, but now it's my
the propane-fueled burners, which are mountedfault.
on the gondola, which in turn is suspended



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