hot air balloon - Info and trivia

Hot air balloons are the oldest successful human flight technology, dating back to the Montgolfier brothers' invention in Annonay, France in 1783. The first flight carrying humans was made on November 21, 1783, in Paris by Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being carried along by the wind are known as airships or thermal airships.

There are many regular gatherings of balloons and balloonists around the world. Most of these events are held on annual basis. The festivities provide both a place for balloonists to interact as well as a venue for entertaining spectators. Events range in size from a few balloons and no spectators to hundreds of balloons with hundreds of thousands of spectators.

In order to relight the burner, in case a pilot light goes out and the optional piezo ignition fails, the pilot should have ready access to a flint spark lighter.

Many systems, especially those that carry passengers have completely redundant fuel and burner systems: two fuel compartment, connected to two separate hoses, which feed two distinct burners. This enables a safe landing in case of a clog somewhere in one system or if a system must be disabled because of a fuel leak.

Today, hot air balloons are used primarily for recreation. There are some 7,500 hot air balloons operating in the US.

A thermal airship is an airship that generates its lift via a temperature differential between the gas inside its envelope and the ambient air. (This is in contrast to the more common use of Helium to provide lift.) Currently all thermal airships use hot air, as used in a hot air balloon, as their lifting gas. However, an airship that uses steam would also qualify as a thermal airship.

Tethering
Sometimes, at balloon festivals or other special events, balloons will be flown while tied to the ground by ropes, referred to as tethers. This enables the pilot to provide shorts rides to many passengers instead of drifting with the wind away from the event with just one load of passengers. There are a variety of tethering techniques, depending on the balloon manufacturers instructions and current wind conditions.

Competition
In competition, pilots need to be able to read different wind directions at different altitudes. Balloon competitions are often called races but they're most often a test of accuracy, not speed. For most competitive balloon flights, the goal is to fly as close as possible to one or more exact points called "targets". Once a pilot has directed the balloon as close as possible to a target, a weighted marker with an identifying number written on it is dropped. The distance between a pilot's marker and that target determines his or her score. During some competitive flights, pilots will be required to fly to 5 or more targets before landing. To assist with navigation, topographic maps and GPS units are used. Another common form of competition is the Hare and Hound race. The Hare balloon takes off a set amount of time before the Hound balloons and typically flies with multiple altitude changes to make it more difficult for the chasing balloons to match its flight path. After a set amount of flight time, the Hare will land and typically lay out a target cross for the Hounds to drop their weighted markers near. As above, the distance between a pilot's marker and the target determines his or her score.

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