| Hot air balloons are the oldest successful human | | | | Francois d'Arlandes successfully petitioned for the |
| flight technology, dating back to the Montgolfier | | | | honor. The first hot air balloons were basically |
| brothers' invention in Annonay, France in 1783. | | | | cloth bags (sometimes lined with paper) with a |
| The first flight carrying humans was made on | | | | smoky fire built on a grill attached to the bottom. |
| November 21, 1783, in Paris by | | | | They had a tendency to catch fire and be |
| šÃ‚¢tre de Rozier and the Marquis | | | | destroyed upon landing. |
| d'Arlandes. Hot air balloons that can be propelled | | | | The first military use of aircraft took place during |
| through the air rather than just being carried along | | | | the French Revolutionary Wars, when the French |
| by the wind are known as airships or, more | | | | used a tethered Hydrogen balloon to observe the |
| specifically, thermal airships. | | | | movements of the Austrian army during the |
| Attractive aspects of ballooning include the | | | | Battle of Fleurus (1794). Hot air balloons were |
| exceptional quiet (except when the propane | | | | employed during the American Civil War. Though |
| burners are firing), the lack of any perceptible | | | | the military balloons used by the Union Army |
| feeling of movement and the birds-eye view. | | | | Balloon Corps under the command of Prof. |
| Since the balloon moves with the wind, the | | | | Thaddeus S. C. Lowe were limp silk envelopes |
| passengers feel absolutely no wind, except for | | | | inflated with coke gas or hydrogen, the |
| brief periods during the flight when the balloon | | | | Confederate Army did attempt to counter with a |
| climbs or descends into air currents of different | | | | rigid Montgolfier style hot air, or "hot smoke |
| direction or speed. | | | | balloon." Captain John R. Bryant inflated his rigid |
| A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the | | | | cotton balloon with a fire of oil-soaked pine cones. |
| envelope that is capable of containing hot air. | | | | The balloon was soon captured by Union forces |
| Suspended beneath is the gondola or wicker | | | | as the Confederate's techniques of balloon |
| basket (in certain, long distance or high altitude | | | | handling were not competent. |
| balloons, a capsule) which carries a source of heat | | | | Revival |
| capable of producing a sufficient temperature | | | | The first modern hot air balloon was designed and |
| gradient between the air inside the envelope and | | | | built in 1960 by Ed Yost. He made the first free |
| the surrounding air mass to give enough lift to | | | | flight of such an aircraft in Bruning, Nebraska on |
| keep the balloon and its passengers aloft. Unlike | | | | 22 October 1960. Initially equipped with a plastic |
| gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be | | | | envelope and kerosene fuel, Yost's designs rapidly |
| sealed at the bottom since the rising hot air only | | | | moved onto using a modified propane powered |
| exerts pressure on the upper hemisphere of the | | | | "weed burner" to heat the air and lightweight |
| balloon to provide lift. In today's sports balloons | | | | nylon fabric for the envelope material. |
| the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric | | | | Today, hot air balloons are used primarily for |
| and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the | | | | recreation. There are some 7,000 hot air balloons |
| burner flame) is made from fire resistant material. | | | | operating in the United States. |
| Recently, balloon envelopes have been made in | | | | Hot air balloons are able to fly to extremely high |
| fantastic shapes, such as hot dogs, rocket ships, | | | | altitudes. On November 26, 2005, Vijaypat |
| and the shapes of commercial products. | | | | Singhania set the world altitude record for highest |
| History | | | | hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 meters |
| Unmanned hot air balloons are mentioned in | | | | (69,852 feet). He took off from downtown |
| Chinese history. Zhuge Liang in the Three | | | | Bombay, India and landed 240 km (150 miles) |
| Kingdoms era, Shu Kingdom, used airborne | | | | south in Panchale. The previous record of 19,811 |
| lanterns for military signaling. These lanterns are | | | | meters (64,980 ft) had been set by Per |
| known as Kongming lanterns (???). | | | | Lindstrand on June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas. |
| There is also some speculation that hot air | | | | The furthest that a hot air balloon has ever been |
| balloons were used by the Nazca Indians of Peru | | | | flown is 7,671.91 km. On January 15, 1991, the |
| some 1500 years ago as a tool for designing vast | | | | Virgin Pacific Flyer balloon completed the longest |
| drawings on the Nazca plain. | | | | flight in a hot air balloon when Per Lindstrand (born |
| The first clearly recorded instances of balloons | | | | in Sweden, but resident in the UK) and Richard |
| capable of carrying passengers used hot air to | | | | Branson of the UK flew from Japan to Northern |
| obtain buoyancy and were built by the brothers | | | | Canada. |
| Josef and Etienne Montgolfier in Annonay, France. | | | | With a volume of 74,000 m3 (2,600,000 ft3), the |
| They were from a family of paper manufacturers | | | | balloon envelope was the largest ever built for a |
| who had noticed the ash rising in fires. After | | | | hot air craft. Designed to fly in the trans-oceanic |
| experimenting with unmanned balloons and flights | | | | jetstreams the Pacific Flyer recorded the highest |
| with animals, the first balloon flight with humans on | | | | ground speed for a manned balloon at 245 mph |
| board took place on 21 November 1783. King | | | | (394 km/h). |
| Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned | | | | The longest duration hot air balloon flight ever |
| criminals would be the first pilots, but a young | | | | made is 50 hours and 38 minutes made by Michio |
| physicist named | | | | Kanda and Hirosuke Tekezawa of Japan on |
| šÃ‚¢tre de Rozier and the Marquis | | | | January 2, 1997. |