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