Hot Air Ballooning over the Australian Outback

#HotAirBalloonAustralia

The Beginnings
The Chinese invented the first Hot Air Balloons (which was thought to be thousands of years ago) which was on a much smaller scale, and that use was to send messages to their troops if surrounded
by the enemy

Animals First to Flight
Then the first recorded pioneers of manned flights were actually a sheep, rooster and a duck who flew 3.2kms (2 miles) in an experimental tethered flight over Versailles France, with the test being conducted by the Montgolfier brothers 

Then People
 Their ultimate idea of balloon flights for humans happened later in 1783 and was in a untethered Montgolfier airship, as the two passengers flew over Paris for around 25 minutes

Early Superstitions
The tradition of the balloonists prayer before flight (which is a glass of champagne) comes from a not so exciting history.
When the Montgolfier brothers were performing test flights, the local farmers were very suspicious as they thought they were dragons descending from the skies and bringing a danger to them

So nothing like alcohol to ease the tensions 😅 as then they would then give champagne to the farmers and thus continue to land on the fields with their balloons

Up Up & Away

We arrive early in our buses and get ready to soar with the birds in one of mankind's first way to fly.

 At first you don't realize how huge these balloon airships are, but once the propane is fired up to fill the bag or envelope (made of nylon fabric with the material closest to the flame is a fire resistant composite, plus Australian rules require that they meet the criteria of the Civic Aviation & Safety Code) you get a sense what it was like to be a pioneer back in the first days of flight.

 

 Our pilot must of  read the air currents better than our "sister ships," because within minutes we were up around 5000 feet and above them as we flew around this valley for some great views as you can see below 

   So as we get ready to land our captain asked if some of us guys would jump out of the gondola to guild it along (as the flatbed truck could not access  the marshy grounds) which then it would transport the wicker basket back to our original starting point

  After the pilot asked in typical Aussie humor if anything poisonous grabbed us while in the tall grass So i asked what kind of animal or plant that could that be? 

 Mate!! everything toxic in Australia, even the women 😂 (as he told me later he was going through a divorce)

Some Cool History of Hot Air Balloons; 

A) Napoleon brought balloons as a psychology warfare tool to frighten his opponents
 B) They were used during the US Civil War as reconnaissance viewing aircraft to report crucial information from their high perch.
 Then would then either telegraph data or use special flags to signal what they saw
C) Used by meteorologists for atmospheric early studies
D) Used for aerial photography, which helped enhance the accuracy that was obtained on ground level 

Flight Rules
One interesting fact is Hot Air Balloons are restricted to fly during wet conditions as it becomes much harder to control for the pilot.
 Why you ask; the rain would accumulate on the top which makes the balloon heavier, burns more
fuel thus adding up to perilous situation

Looking Down at the Outback 
 To be above the other Hot Air Balloons my pilot would of researched the local conditions from the nearby airports, weather stations and service forecasters to get to a proper air current update
 Then he would by controlling the temperature and volume of the heat to inside the envelope to
reach that level

The Decent
To return to earth he would open a large vent at the top of the balloon and valve off the excess
 heat, which all makes it heavier as gravity takes over

Old Folklore
Because balloons drift with the wind, pilots cannot steer them to a fixed runway
So when we finally touch ground and if on a private property, you technically become a
 "baron or baroness" of that specific land