The forgotten side of aviation...

[masmith]

Hi all,

This year and last ive been crewing for the Royal Engineers balloon team at the Bristol balloon festival, (basically everything apart from the flying, Inflation, Deflation recovery etc)...you may think ballooning is nothing like flying...your correct about all they have in common are Pilot briefing Met etc and the fact you go up and down...but little control over the left and right part of it

The only bad part was getting up at 5am

Anyhow here are the photos from 2007

First day, about 7:00

135 Balloons here this year

The bit you dont see, chasing the ballon with its trailer

For my effort and work I got a flight

Burner

Early bird

Criticism Comments Welcome

[Mictheslik]

Lovely shots...I've chased a few balloons before....when family members have been aboard

Missed it all but the last day this year....when I saw the small mass ascent on Saturday evening

.mic

[Ravang]

That looks pretty fun, but what happens if you drift over the landing field  :-/

[masmith]

You don't have a landing field...you just land were ever but mainly on recommended sites...as on the ballooning maps there are areas listed to avoid angry framers etc...

[beaky]

That looks pretty fun, but what happens if you drift over the landing field  :-/

That's half the fun, or so I hear... you never know quite where you'll end up. Some directional control is possible, but only by ascending or descending to take advantage of favorable winds. that and of course, trying to descend in time when you find a suitable place.

It's not "really" flying ( ), but it's piloting, for sure... and I'd love to try it sometime, or at least go for a ride.
 Been to a balloon fest, and it's just a lot of fun to watch them.

[BigTruck]

I agree, I gotta try that some time (not the actual driving it, just want to ride)  ;D  It looks so calm and relaxing.

[Mictheslik]

You don't have a landing field...you just land were ever but mainly on recommended sites...as on the ballooning maps there are areas listed to avoid angry framers etc...

In fact this year a few balloons came down in the middle of Bristol, on streets, with one even landing in the avon...ouch I bet that cost a bit

.mic

[FsNovice]

Missed it this year, what a bummer, normally though in Portishead we see the ballons in the sky, but the winds were more northerly so they went the complete opposite direction. Beautiful shots, especially the one from the basket, with the wispy cloud below you.

[Jared]

nice set up of shots