Cowgirl...beautiful pics...I too enjoyed my "ride" years ago...especially the lift off...did you get to view your cows from the air?? (I'm assuming you have cows & live on a farm in Canada right??) I couldn't see our animals from our lift off point, but to me that would have been a cute sight!Unfortunately for me, the baloon was supposed to reach south of the city, which would have given us a view of the farm, but the winds didn't quite cooperate..JJ
Gorgeous pictures! I love hot air balloons too. I've been up a couple of times in a tethered balloon, straight up a few feet, but haven't gone on a ride yet.
If I ever get married, I think it would be really cool to take off from the reception in a hot air balloon.
I do a lot of weather briefings for our local balloon pilots, who can get pretty active when the weather is right.
Of course, they need pretty light winds, so that is usually the critical factor. That is, if it is raining or snowing or foggy, they usually don't need us to tell them, although often in planning ahead we do let them know if their planned time has potential.
About four years ago, I got first hand experience on the wind factor. One of our pilots gave me a ride, along with two others, on a flight in which he led a big balloon race. The idea is that he set the mark, and the others would vie to see who could land closest to him.
The weather was clear on a march morning that was cool at the surface ( about freezing) but warm a couple thousand feet up (in the 50s). The balmy effect is accentuated by the fact that, as you go up, you of course dont feel the wind much...you are riding with it. You just feel an occasional breeze as the wind shifts with altitude.
However, that morning, the winds in the cool air at the surface were picking up stronger than I expected, and we had to land in about a 15 mph wind...strong enough to scratch the flight had we known about it beforehand. Fortunately, it was a dry March, and we had lots od dry and relatively bare cornfields to choose from on landing. The only problems were avoiding the power lines on landing...and obviously the landing speed. My pilot friend put us two guys in the front (windward) so when we landed, and dragged some distance upon landing before the friction stopped us, the two of us were on the bottom in the tipped over gondola, with the two women on top of us. Kind of fun, but not something most balloon pilots want to repeat routinely.
Wwjesuslaughat.....Your idea is absolutely romantic but then again I am a romantic at heart! Hmmmmm, that gives me an idea with Goey
Second James..... I can definitely relate to the lift off, quite exhilarating to say the least! Actually my balloon ride was a total surprise right up until the last few seconds. It was my birthday and some friends knowing how much I loved to watch the ballons take off suggested we go down and watch. When we arrived there I got talking to a guy who was just about seconds away from untying the tether to the balloon, he looked right at me and said "Aren't you coming for a ride?" Well without any hesitiation I jumped in, there was NO way I was going to pass up that chance of a life time!! The whole thing was totally awesome, the ride lasted about an hour and a half. The scenery was just like the one in the first picture of this thread.
Lifted Up.......Pretty interesting! I'm curious did you ever go contouring in the balloon (they lower the balloon to about 30 ft above the ground and follow the contour of the countryside)It's quite an adventure! I remember when we went to land the thing, and the guy warned me ahead of time to brace myself, it was going to be a pretty rough landing! I held on for dear life, what a shake up and drag out but I came out in one piece!
Nope, my flying experience is limited to a very few rides given by pilots who are grateful (I hope) for all the weather information we have provided to them over the years.
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yepper--come to the Ballon fiesta--700+ balloons last year
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Second James
Cowgirl...beautiful pics...I too enjoyed my "ride" years ago...especially the lift off...did you get to view your cows from the air?? (I'm assuming you have cows & live on a farm in Canada right??) I couldn't see our animals from our lift off point, but to me that would have been a cute sight!Unfortunately for me, the baloon was supposed to reach south of the city, which would have given us a view of the farm, but the winds didn't quite cooperate..JJ
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wwjesuslaughat
Cowgirl,
Gorgeous pictures! I love hot air balloons too. I've been up a couple of times in a tethered balloon, straight up a few feet, but haven't gone on a ride yet.
If I ever get married, I think it would be really cool to take off from the reception in a hot air balloon.
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Lifted Up
I do a lot of weather briefings for our local balloon pilots, who can get pretty active when the weather is right.
Of course, they need pretty light winds, so that is usually the critical factor. That is, if it is raining or snowing or foggy, they usually don't need us to tell them, although often in planning ahead we do let them know if their planned time has potential.
About four years ago, I got first hand experience on the wind factor. One of our pilots gave me a ride, along with two others, on a flight in which he led a big balloon race. The idea is that he set the mark, and the others would vie to see who could land closest to him.
The weather was clear on a march morning that was cool at the surface ( about freezing) but warm a couple thousand feet up (in the 50s). The balmy effect is accentuated by the fact that, as you go up, you of course dont feel the wind much...you are riding with it. You just feel an occasional breeze as the wind shifts with altitude.
However, that morning, the winds in the cool air at the surface were picking up stronger than I expected, and we had to land in about a 15 mph wind...strong enough to scratch the flight had we known about it beforehand. Fortunately, it was a dry March, and we had lots od dry and relatively bare cornfields to choose from on landing. The only problems were avoiding the power lines on landing...and obviously the landing speed. My pilot friend put us two guys in the front (windward) so when we landed, and dragged some distance upon landing before the friction stopped us, the two of us were on the bottom in the tipped over gondola, with the two women on top of us. Kind of fun, but not something most balloon pilots want to repeat routinely.
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Cowgirl
Wwjesuslaughat.....Your idea is absolutely romantic but then again I am a romantic at heart! Hmmmmm, that gives me an idea with Goey
Second James..... I can definitely relate to the lift off, quite exhilarating to say the least! Actually my balloon ride was a total surprise right up until the last few seconds. It was my birthday and some friends knowing how much I loved to watch the ballons take off suggested we go down and watch. When we arrived there I got talking to a guy who was just about seconds away from untying the tether to the balloon, he looked right at me and said "Aren't you coming for a ride?" Well without any hesitiation I jumped in, there was NO way I was going to pass up that chance of a life time!! The whole thing was totally awesome, the ride lasted about an hour and a half. The scenery was just like the one in the first picture of this thread.
Lifted Up.......Pretty interesting! I'm curious did you ever go contouring in the balloon (they lower the balloon to about 30 ft above the ground and follow the contour of the countryside)It's quite an adventure! I remember when we went to land the thing, and the guy warned me ahead of time to brace myself, it was going to be a pretty rough landing! I held on for dear life, what a shake up and drag out but I came out in one piece!
Cowgirl
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Lifted Up
Nope, my flying experience is limited to a very few rides given by pilots who are grateful (I hope) for all the weather information we have provided to them over the years.
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