Ballooning

A couple months ago I went out for the first time with Michael Hill to go help crew for his hot air balloon flight. I had never done that before and I have some strange desire to try to learn random skills… just in case. I consider it 007 skills. I mean, what if! What if you just happen to find yourself needing to fly a hot air balloon, you may as well know how, right?

This time we flew Michaels new balloon. It was another new experience. These balloons seem so simple, but the devil is in the details. Yes, it is a simple balloon, yes it is a wicker (raton) basket and yes it is basically a bunch of strings wrapped around a balloon that makes this flight happen, but in order to make this all happen successfully you need to do everything in the right order, with the right technique. The toggles that hold the balloon seem very simple, but attach them correct and things go right, attach them incorrect and it is not ideal.

We ran a 7 mile flight in a perfect morning this week from Frederick Colorado. Take a look at some photos from the day.

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