Thinking about a Hot Air Balloon

It was fun reading your stories about this endeavor, but I understand and think y’all are making the right decision in selling it. I think hot air ballooning sounds fun in theory, but like you say, having no control as to where you end up doesn’t seem enjoyable to me. Plus, finding a day with the right weather conditions seems like it would be a challenge in itself. Take the proceeds from the sale and get started on that runway of yours! ;)
 
This might be in the last six pages. I love hot air balloons. Two of my friends bought one. The thing that sucks is going out at o dark thirty to help launch that thing. For a gee thanks. So for those thinking this would be great. Find your crew first. Get a bunch of gift cards to hand out. Because your friends may do it twice but then they'll be magically busy when you want to go for
 
RyanB said:
It was fun reading your stories about this endeavor, but I understand and think y’all are making the right decision in selling it. I think hot air ballooning sounds fun in theory, but like you say, having no control as to where you end up doesn’t seem enjoyable to me. Plus, finding a day with the right weather conditions seems like it would be a challenge in itself. Take the proceeds from the sale and get started on that runway of yours! ;)
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Oh, I've been working on the runway. I do need to keep working on it, though.

saracelica said:
This might be in the last six pages. I love hot air balloons. Two of my friends bought one. The thing that sucks is going out at o dark thirty to help launch that thing. For a gee thanks. So for those thinking this would be great. Find your crew first. Get a bunch of gift cards to hand out. Because your friends may do it twice but then they'll be magically busy when you want to go for
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To be honest, finding crew has never been that much of a problem for us. One suggestion we were given was to create a Facebook group (which we did) announcing when and where we were going to be flying the balloon. The concept of finding your crew ahead of time isn't very practical - lots of people will say they'll do something, and then you just have to see who will actually do it. That said, the gift cards to hand out is a good idea to keep people interested.
 
oh man...i am one email away from going to Albuquerque and doing the add on
 
I intend this as the last category to get a rating in. Seems like it will be fun.
 
tonycondon said:
oh man...i am one email away from going to Albuquerque and doing the add on
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If you buy our balloon to do your rating in, it'll save you money!
 
leah says get the rating first. and she must be obeyed ;)
 
tonycondon said:
leah says get the rating first. and she must be obeyed ;)
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Do the folks in ABQ actually offer a balloon to rent?

We had planned on renting a balloon to do our ratings in. What we found was that nobody would rent one to us locally, and when we talked to the folks in ABQ it was expensive enough that it was actually cheaper to buy a balloon and set it on fire when done. But, I could be mis-remembering some of the details, like we might've been comparing it to a less expensive Firefly.
 
A Balloon DPE could clean up, imagine the adventures that you could have ;)
 
Brad Z said:
I'm actually doing some balloon related work right now and would love to try my hand at hot air ballooning, but my location inside the Washington Flight Restriction Zone under the approach path to DCA might not be conducive to suitable flying. It looks like the nearest suitable areas for ballooning are at least an hour away.
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There is ballooning (and some years a festival) out near Millwood, Va. And we've seen them launch up near FDK on some nights when we've gone to a ballgame up there.
 
Ted said:
Do the folks in ABQ actually offer a balloon to rent?

We had planned on renting a balloon to do our ratings in. What we found was that nobody would rent one to us locally, and when we talked to the folks in ABQ it was expensive enough that it was actually cheaper to buy a balloon and set it on fire when done. But, I could be mis-remembering some of the details, like we might've been comparing it to a less expensive Firefly.
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Airborne Heat is the school that was recommended to me. They offer full service training. They provide balloon, instructor, crew, everything. It's not cheap. $400ish/hr. It is convenient. They are a Part 141 balloon school!
 
i'm on my second visit to ABQ and up to 7 flights and 6 hrs and change now. everything ted says echoes my experience. nothing that i learned over almost 20 years of flying airplanes has helped me fly a balloon. i couldn't believe on the first few flights how far behind the aircraft i was when it was only moving a few mph. my altitude control has improved significantly after flight 4 or 5, and i'm pretty well able to manage the assembly/inflation, lift off and simple approaches.

yesterday and the day before we had moderate winds resulting in a couple of rip out landings where the basket tips over. the first one was barely strong enough so it happened in slow motion which was good for me. yesterday was definitely not slow motion, we were doing 11 knots when we touched down. drug about 25 feet. not bad, kind of fun actually!

It's been a ton of fun learning the details and intricacies of a completely different way to enjoy the sky. i love the challenge of steering and all the planning that is required for a successful flight. i'll have several more trips back down here over the summer to finish up my add on.
 
tonycondon said:
i'm on my second visit to ABQ and up to 7 flights and 6 hrs and change now. everything ted says echoes my experience. nothing that i learned over almost 20 years of flying airplanes has helped me fly a balloon. i couldn't believe on the first few flights how far behind the aircraft i was when it was only moving a few mph. my altitude control has improved significantly after flight 4 or 5, and i'm pretty well able to manage the assembly/inflation, lift off and simple approaches.

yesterday and the day before we had moderate winds resulting in a couple of rip out landings where the basket tips over. the first one was barely strong enough so it happened in slow motion which was good for me. yesterday was definitely not slow motion, we were doing 11 knots when we touched down. drug about 25 feet. not bad, kind of fun actually!

It's been a ton of fun learning the details and intricacies of a completely different way to enjoy the sky. i love the challenge of steering and all the planning that is required for a successful flight. i'll have several more trips back down here over the summer to finish up my add on.
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Paul and I went to AZ Soaring today. I tried my hand at gliders. It wasn’t as far of a stretch as I thought it would be, balloons Should be similar right ;)
 
tonycondon said:
i'm on my second visit to ABQ and up to 7 flights and 6 hrs and change now. everything ted says echoes my experience. nothing that i learned over almost 20 years of flying airplanes has helped me fly a balloon. i couldn't believe on the first few flights how far behind the aircraft i was when it was only moving a few mph. my altitude control has improved significantly after flight 4 or 5, and i'm pretty well able to manage the assembly/inflation, lift off and simple approaches.

yesterday and the day before we had moderate winds resulting in a couple of rip out landings where the basket tips over. the first one was barely strong enough so it happened in slow motion which was good for me. yesterday was definitely not slow motion, we were doing 11 knots when we touched down. drug about 25 feet. not bad, kind of fun actually!

It's been a ton of fun learning the details and intricacies of a completely different way to enjoy the sky. i love the challenge of steering and all the planning that is required for a successful flight. i'll have several more trips back down here over the summer to finish up my add on.
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I found the same thing to be true when I started my airship training. Nothing I knew about airplanes really transferred over, other than starting the engines.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
I found the same thing to be true when I started my airship training. Nothing I knew about airplanes really transferred over, other than starting the engines.
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Where are you doing airship training? My understanding was that the only alternative was to go work for the blimp company.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
Where are you doing airship training? My understanding was that the only alternative was to go work for the blimp company.
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I did work for an airship company. Thankfully, it was a few years ago, and I'm not doing it anymore.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
So you did not like flying airships? Seems intriguing to me.
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I mean, it was fun for a time, but not very long. It was a means to an end, it wasn't a job you could have a family with, at least where I worked. It would be fun to do a couple weekends a year, but not as a daily job.
 
tonycondon said:
i'm on my second visit to ABQ and up to 7 flights and 6 hrs and change now. everything ted says echoes my experience. nothing that i learned over almost 20 years of flying airplanes has helped me fly a balloon. i couldn't believe on the first few flights how far behind the aircraft i was when it was only moving a few mph. my altitude control has improved significantly after flight 4 or 5, and i'm pretty well able to manage the assembly/inflation, lift off and simple approaches.

yesterday and the day before we had moderate winds resulting in a couple of rip out landings where the basket tips over. the first one was barely strong enough so it happened in slow motion which was good for me. yesterday was definitely not slow motion, we were doing 11 knots when we touched down. drug about 25 feet. not bad, kind of fun actually!

It's been a ton of fun learning the details and intricacies of a completely different way to enjoy the sky. i love the challenge of steering and all the planning that is required for a successful flight. i'll have several more trips back down here over the summer to finish up my add on.
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Midway through trip #3 to Albuquerque. Today I made my first solo in the Balloon!

We've had much calmer wind conditions this trip. Surprise Surprise (sarcasm) compared to March & April. Have been working on navigating to landing on a predetermined point, emergency procedures, etc. Today I finished our 1hr 15 minute flight with about 25 minutes of solo time. Great Fun!
 
tonycondon said:
Midway through trip #3 to Albuquerque. Today I made my first solo in the Balloon!

We've had much calmer wind conditions this trip. Surprise Surprise (sarcasm) compared to March & April. Have been working on navigating to landing on a predetermined point, emergency procedures, etc. Today I finished our 1hr 15 minute flight with about 25 minutes of solo time. Great Fun!
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uhhh - you got a 1.25 hour flight with 25 minutes of that flight being solo?
 
GaryM said:
Instructor fell out.
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that's the first thing I thought.

That reminded me of a flight a number of years ago. I was renting a plane used a lot for flight training. It was parked on the ramp next to an identical 172 also used a lot for training.

I stopped to talk with the CFI in plane #2 and one of the line guys came over to ask about something, then left. The CFI and her student took off in plane #2 and I left in plane #1.

When I got back, plane #2 was still out on their lesson. The line guy came over to ask about something else, and was looking for the CFI. That look on his face when he was SURE I had taken off with the CFI and landed without her was pretty dang funny.
 
After the third dual landing, my instructor got out. Smartasses.
 
Congrats, Tony!

Curious, how many hours of dual did you have to get to your "first solo" in the balloon?
 
Had a good flight today. Picked a launch point to fly to a target. Overflew the target. After two months off didn't forget how to fly the balloon. Made a nice landing.
 

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Totally looks like a pumpkin.
 
Congrats, Tony! Out of curiosity, how many hours did you end up having in to your add on?
 
Checkride was my 22nd flight. I had 20.3 hours before the checkride.
 
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