Hot air balloon rides
Discussion
All
For ages I have had a bit of a yearning to go on one of these, especially to see sunrise or sunset on a clear summers day.I suppose it's the thought of the great views, and just drifting along peacefully that really appeals.
Has anyone been on one, or have any recommendations as to any good locations in the midlands where they have done one. There seems to be a lot of locations the Virgin ones fly from, but you only get about an hour in the air, and I thought the airtime might last a bit longer.
cheers
Ant
For ages I have had a bit of a yearning to go on one of these, especially to see sunrise or sunset on a clear summers day.I suppose it's the thought of the great views, and just drifting along peacefully that really appeals.
Has anyone been on one, or have any recommendations as to any good locations in the midlands where they have done one. There seems to be a lot of locations the Virgin ones fly from, but you only get about an hour in the air, and I thought the airtime might last a bit longer.
cheers
Ant
I went with a place in Northampton- even had the courtesy of landing a mile from my local!!!
Interesting for a very short time, until I realised I was standing in a picnic hamper, next to a bottle of gas, with no control of direction, or indeed, any landing gear.
Wouldn't want to repeat it to be fair, but can see the attraction if you have never done it
ETA-
http://www.the-balloon.co.uk/
Interesting for a very short time, until I realised I was standing in a picnic hamper, next to a bottle of gas, with no control of direction, or indeed, any landing gear.
Wouldn't want to repeat it to be fair, but can see the attraction if you have never done it
ETA-
http://www.the-balloon.co.uk/
Edited by Emsman on Monday 28th June 23:06
I used to fly as trainee pilot/crew with a few commercial outfits years ago, friend of mine still has one and we go occasionally.
An hour is about all you'll get , the one we fly now is smaller than those big commercial jobs , we tend to go for about 45 mins to an hour max.
Do it. Its a great experience. I personally prefer those early mornings followed by a bacon sarnie and mug of tea for breakfast and its still not even 9am ! I've been out of the commercial game for many years now so cant make any recommendations, but you'll get pretty much the same flight time whoever you go with so just pick one local to where you want to fly. Try and go from somwehre interesting so you have some good scenery.
My best ever flight was right across bath , although flying out of silverstone and right across the circuit comes a close second. You can steer a balloon, yes you have to go with the prevailing winds but the general rule of thumb is 'right with height' . So you go up a few feet to go right of track, down a bit to go left. This means you can generally aim for something interesting if its downwind/on track and you can definately choose the field you want to land in. They dont just randomly land anywhere, the spot is always carefully selected!
Those burners are very loud but its nice and quiet in between. You cant beat drifting across fields on a summers morning watching the deer, foxes, rabbits etc . Its also worth taking an OS map as you can look down and work out where you are and see that woods etc really are the exact shape on the map when seen from a few thousand feet.
If you are tall like me wear a cap or you will find your hair falling out from the heat.
ETA: in the commercial balloons you get your own small compartment , bt in the private ones its just 3 of you in a small washing basket. We always ask the passenger to stand to the front (direction of travel) on landing, so when it tips up we have something soft to land on
An hour is about all you'll get , the one we fly now is smaller than those big commercial jobs , we tend to go for about 45 mins to an hour max.
Do it. Its a great experience. I personally prefer those early mornings followed by a bacon sarnie and mug of tea for breakfast and its still not even 9am ! I've been out of the commercial game for many years now so cant make any recommendations, but you'll get pretty much the same flight time whoever you go with so just pick one local to where you want to fly. Try and go from somwehre interesting so you have some good scenery.
My best ever flight was right across bath , although flying out of silverstone and right across the circuit comes a close second. You can steer a balloon, yes you have to go with the prevailing winds but the general rule of thumb is 'right with height' . So you go up a few feet to go right of track, down a bit to go left. This means you can generally aim for something interesting if its downwind/on track and you can definately choose the field you want to land in. They dont just randomly land anywhere, the spot is always carefully selected!
Those burners are very loud but its nice and quiet in between. You cant beat drifting across fields on a summers morning watching the deer, foxes, rabbits etc . Its also worth taking an OS map as you can look down and work out where you are and see that woods etc really are the exact shape on the map when seen from a few thousand feet.
If you are tall like me wear a cap or you will find your hair falling out from the heat.
ETA: in the commercial balloons you get your own small compartment , bt in the private ones its just 3 of you in a small washing basket. We always ask the passenger to stand to the front (direction of travel) on landing, so when it tips up we have something soft to land on
Edited by bigdods on Monday 28th June 23:37
I think you'll find the standard flight time 'is about an hour'. Total time start to finish will be nearer 3 hours once you've factored in the unpacking, setting up and launch, then landing and packing it all away again (they like you to get involved as part of the experience).
I've done it a couple of times with the same bunch as Emsman and enjoyed every minute. Launch site was the Swallow Hotel in Northampton. First flight ended up not far from Old Warden, so quite a distance. Second flight was becalmed and we ended up at Billing sewage works about 2 miles from where we started! - Pilot went for height to try and find some wind and we got up to 2500 feet IIRC. Curious feeling, standing in a wicker basket that comes up to your waist...
I've done it a couple of times with the same bunch as Emsman and enjoyed every minute. Launch site was the Swallow Hotel in Northampton. First flight ended up not far from Old Warden, so quite a distance. Second flight was becalmed and we ended up at Billing sewage works about 2 miles from where we started! - Pilot went for height to try and find some wind and we got up to 2500 feet IIRC. Curious feeling, standing in a wicker basket that comes up to your waist...
Been a private pilot for a while now. And crewed with commercial operators all over the world.
I come from a family of balloonists having my first flight at 9.
It is usually an 'experience' of 3 hours with a flight of an hour or so. The flight is much the same with most operators costs tend to vary depending on the size of balloon and the extras champagne etc.
It really is a privilege to fly in a balloon floating effortlessly along... then again I may be biased!
I come from a family of balloonists having my first flight at 9.
It is usually an 'experience' of 3 hours with a flight of an hour or so. The flight is much the same with most operators costs tend to vary depending on the size of balloon and the extras champagne etc.
It really is a privilege to fly in a balloon floating effortlessly along... then again I may be biased!
Emsman said:
I went with a place in Northampton- even had the courtesy of landing a mile from my local!!!
You weren't on this flight were you? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshir...
My brother recieved a hot air balloon trip as a wedding present. So they decided to do this over the lake district as it would probably offer best experience within a reasonable distance to Newcastle.
First booking was made, they booked a nice hotel and weeks holiday from work to make the most of it. Balloon company rang the night before to say they were cancelling it due to weather conditions.
Second attempt was going to be a day trip requiring a day off work. Same thing, balloon company rang the night before to cancel due to weather conditions.
Third time lucky - they get there, leaving home at 3am, completely shattered. Balloon takes off and a nice sunrise over the peak distrcit was expected. The wind blew them over the M6 and into penrith!
A great experience but too much hassle to do it again was the conclusion.
First booking was made, they booked a nice hotel and weeks holiday from work to make the most of it. Balloon company rang the night before to say they were cancelling it due to weather conditions.
Second attempt was going to be a day trip requiring a day off work. Same thing, balloon company rang the night before to cancel due to weather conditions.
Third time lucky - they get there, leaving home at 3am, completely shattered. Balloon takes off and a nice sunrise over the peak distrcit was expected. The wind blew them over the M6 and into penrith!
A great experience but too much hassle to do it again was the conclusion.
Bigdods has pretty much summed it up 
Pay particular attention to this bit of his post:
Pay particular attention to this bit of his post:
bigdods said:
If you are tall like me wear a cap or you will find your hair falling out from the heat.
I'm tall, and bald, and it felt like someone was playing a blowlamp over my head when he hit the burner !Torquey said:
My brother recieved a hot air balloon trip as a wedding present. So they decided to do this over the lake district as it would probably offer best experience within a reasonable distance to Newcastle.
First booking was made, they booked a nice hotel and weeks holiday from work to make the most of it. Balloon company rang the night before to say they were cancelling it due to weather conditions.
Second attempt was going to be a day trip requiring a day off work. Same thing, balloon company rang the night before to cancel due to weather conditions.
Third time lucky - they get there, leaving home at 3am, completely shattered. Balloon takes off and a nice sunrise over the peak distrcit was expected. The wind blew them over the M6 and into penrith!
A great experience but too much hassle to do it again was the conclusion.
My Dad and Step-mum did one over London - notoriously known for cancellations apparantly and were warned that it was likely to be cancelled a few times before they got to go, however they were lucky and got to go on their first attempt - apparantly one group there had had their flight cancelled over 10 times!First booking was made, they booked a nice hotel and weeks holiday from work to make the most of it. Balloon company rang the night before to say they were cancelling it due to weather conditions.
Second attempt was going to be a day trip requiring a day off work. Same thing, balloon company rang the night before to cancel due to weather conditions.
Third time lucky - they get there, leaving home at 3am, completely shattered. Balloon takes off and a nice sunrise over the peak distrcit was expected. The wind blew them over the M6 and into penrith!
A great experience but too much hassle to do it again was the conclusion.
I treated my Mum to one last month for her 60th Birthday.
We left from Bath and over the course of the hour long flight we changed altitudes and directions several times, it was an excellent experience and one I'll definately be repeating.
We chose the dawn option, next time I think I'll try a sunset trip.
We left from Bath and over the course of the hour long flight we changed altitudes and directions several times, it was an excellent experience and one I'll definately be repeating.
We chose the dawn option, next time I think I'll try a sunset trip.
Make this part of your summer. Ive flown out of here a few times now. Launching with 100+ other balloons over Bristol is sensational.
http://www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk/
http://www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk/
andy ted said:
Torquey said:
My brother recieved a hot air balloon trip as a wedding present. So they decided to do this over the lake district as it would probably offer best experience within a reasonable distance to Newcastle.
First booking was made, they booked a nice hotel and weeks holiday from work to make the most of it. Balloon company rang the night before to say they were cancelling it due to weather conditions.
Second attempt was going to be a day trip requiring a day off work. Same thing, balloon company rang the night before to cancel due to weather conditions.
Third time lucky - they get there, leaving home at 3am, completely shattered. Balloon takes off and a nice sunrise over the peak distrcit was expected. The wind blew them over the M6 and into penrith!
A great experience but too much hassle to do it again was the conclusion.
My Dad and Step-mum did one over London - notoriously known for cancellations apparantly and were warned that it was likely to be cancelled a few times before they got to go, however they were lucky and got to go on their first attempt - apparantly one group there had had their flight cancelled over 10 times!First booking was made, they booked a nice hotel and weeks holiday from work to make the most of it. Balloon company rang the night before to say they were cancelling it due to weather conditions.
Second attempt was going to be a day trip requiring a day off work. Same thing, balloon company rang the night before to cancel due to weather conditions.
Third time lucky - they get there, leaving home at 3am, completely shattered. Balloon takes off and a nice sunrise over the peak distrcit was expected. The wind blew them over the M6 and into penrith!
A great experience but too much hassle to do it again was the conclusion.
An old boss of mine was a Sea Harrier Pilot who had started his flying career flying Sea King Helicopters off the back of ships like HMS Blake before converting to fixed wing. He had also had an exchange tour with the USN flying A7 Corsairs off Carriers with catapult launches & arrested landings. He was a very experienced aviator. However, his wife bought him a trip in a Hot Air Balloon ride for his 40th Birthday & he reckoned it was the most dangerous flying he'd ever been involved with!!!
Edited by andy97 on Thursday 5th August 10:39
andy97 said:
he reckoned it was the most dangerous flying he'd ever been involved with!!!
Thats a fairly typical reaction from other pilots when flown in a balloon. Being a pilot they dont like someone else being in control , then add that to the fact they they dont understand how the whole thing works it can all look very scary and dangerous. Its not.Pilot = control freak
Its good to see them scared once in a while.bigdods said:
andy97 said:
he reckoned it was the most dangerous flying he'd ever been involved with!!!
Thats a fairly typical reaction from other pilots when flown in a balloon. Being a pilot they dont like someone else being in control , then add that to the fact they they dont understand how the whole thing works it can all look very scary and dangerous. Its not.Pilot = control freak
Its good to see them scared once in a while.
The thing I remember most about it was all the dogs barking, apparently the burners drive them mad.
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