Carry over from yesterdays blog.... we were at the cold air inflation... pushing cold air into the envelope to "pack" it... Then we get the burner going and "hot inflate". Slow short steady burns from the main burner heats to cold air inside.. and as you know hot air rises..
the envelope starts rising..
Up off the ground. This is a time to be cautious for breezes coming up and making it possible to burn the envelope or throat. Balloons lay out downwind of their basket to enable the envelope to rise without being pushed up, over or around. That is why there is a crew member on the crown line attached to the top. To control the rise and shifting of the envelope as it rises ( comes up ).
Inside view of Patturns... You see the yellow circle at the top.. thats the full crown... It can be pulled down via the red line to open the top to let hot air out so the balloon can go down. The strange looking flaps at the middle bottom of the picture are the turning vents. One to turn clockwise and one to turn counter clockwise. You pull a green line or black line and this opens those vents ( which are really holes in the side of the envelope ) to exhaust air sideways.. causing a spin.
Off we go! Up and over... I believe we flew for about an hour. Two landings... here we come in for our final landing.... nice sign there...
Caught by the most wonderful crew you could ever ask for... totally caught me and set me down. After a quick touchdown and swap passengers they taxied me to the other side of the road.
Setting me down again softly...
The crew turn the balloon so that the envelope will lay down the road.
The balloon envelope is either pulled down or left to settle down with the crown line by a crew member. Again the envelope is directed with the wind going from the basket to the top of the balloon to help that big sail of fabric to settle safely down.
You can see the load tapes that the crown line is attached to on the left of the envelope.. like an point. There are two minds on how to drop an envelope.... if you ask I will tell you the difference.
Laid out and squeezed like a tube of toothpaste to get all the air out. There are many ways to do that too.. Ask away.. I promise I will tell.
Everything from here is backwards of the start... envelope is squeezed... then strapped ( sometimes ) then fed back into the envelope bag by the crew. They stand about 6 feet from each other and hold the envelope in their arms then stuff it in the bag.
Everything is packed up and put back in the trailer or truck and then everyone rides back to the launch site or other suitably nice place and tailgates. Initiations are done if we have new passengers. Food is eaten and drinks are..... swallowed....
At Fiesta everything is magnified. Including the tailgate spreads.... you never go away hungry or thirsty.
So there ya go..start to finish in pictures.... hope that helps you out with your idea of what goes into ballooning. Perhaps in the future I will go into detail on sections of the whole thing. We shall see.
Time for another subject. Or off subject.
Here are a few cool links..
770 KKOB is always a good place for info and fun... http://www.770kkob.com/
The Striaght Dope... great for a reality shaker.... http://www.straightdope.com/
And
Geek Stuff For You... U..... Fun stuff... http://www.geekstuff4u.com/
Quit looking at me that way!
