COMPLETED!
Thanks to a Groupon, we were able to book a flight in a Hot Air Balloon in Asheville, NC for half price. I scheduled this months ago and thought Labor Day in the mountains was the way to spend a long weekend.
We had to get up super early to meet the group by 6am. There were a good number of other people going up with us; in our balloon there were 8 total and a pilot. The other balloon was smaller, only holding 4 people and a pilot.
There’s a lot more to ballooning that I ever could have imagined! We made our way to a gas station with the pilot continuously checking technical looking equipment and gadgets and calling into aviation centers to get information about the weather, wind, cloud cover, etc. At the gas station they released two helium balloons and after staring at these for a few minutes, decided on a launch site, a church, a few miles away. Two more helium balloons were released but, based on the information of watching these two, it was decided this was not a good launch site. So we loaded up and headed to an alternative launch site, another church.
I guess I had never considered the technical aspects of hot air ballooning; I figured we’d just blow it up and we’d be off!
It took an hour to get the balloon unloaded and filled with air. The men in the group were asked to help and Alex got to assist in holding up the “envelope” (the balloon) opening while a motorized fan began to fill it with air.
Filling up the hot air balloon
After it was rather full, a few bursts of hot air made the balloon begin to rise and the basket, which had been laid on its side during this process, was righted.
Hot air into the envelope
They began filling up our balloon a good 20 minutes before they even started working on the second, smaller balloon and before ours was even done, our sister balloon was already in the air.
We were warned that the ride may take as little as 25 minutes but most take around 45 minutes and that our max altitude would be around 1,500 – 2,000 feet. We took flight, slowly climbing into the air at 500 feet a minute. We managed to hit 3,000 feet in altitude, much to the delight of our pilot.
I don’t know what I expected but I guess I’ve built up a tolerance to any kind of excitement. Perhaps I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie by this point. While the flight was certainly serene, there really wasn’t much to it. Because there was no wind, we really didn’t go anywhere; we could always see our launch site. You feel like you are floating and at no point did I even really feel like we were very high up in the air.
We spent the first 20 minutes getting to max altitude and then spent the next 45 minutes trying to find a place to land. While the pilot began the landing process, we took in the scenery.
We were in a valley with mostly residential areas; our first landing spot led us near a trailer park. Although you would think a balloon ride would be very quiet, the blowers for the hot air are actually quite loud. People came out of their houses to figure out what the noise was and, at least for two small children in their pajamas, I’m sure we made their day as we flew slowly just over their front porch.
Alas, something was wrong with this particular landing attempt and the pilot had to abort and begin again. This time we aimed for another backyard and landed gently with very little bump or noise. The ground crew, who the pilot had been talking to incessantly for the past 45 minutes in trying to figure out a landing site, were instantly on board to act as ballast. After some discussion with the home owners, the van and the trailer were backed into the yard and the team began the process of packing things up.
The whole process had taken five hours with the flight taking just over an hour. After we returned, we celebrated with a champagne toast and were given “flight certificates.” While the flight was certainly nice and I’m glad I said I’ve done it, I guess I expected something a little different. Maybe we should put jet packs on the basket so we can zoom around?
Hot Air Balloon Ride!
They attached a video camera to the outside of the balloon which will hopefully be an elapsed time video of our flight. When (if) this is posted, I’ll be sure to pass it along here.
Not having anything to do with going up in a Hot Air Balloon, I also finally made it to the Biltmore Estate after having lived in North Carolina all my life.
Jessica at the Biltmore Estate
It was nice but after hearing about it all your life, either there was no way it could live up to expectations or I had already heard about it in so much detail, there were few surprises. I did enjoy seeing the basement with all the laundry rooms, pantries and various other rooms that were required for the running of such a large estate.
So…good weekend all in all. Sometimes it’s just good to do things so that you can know for yourself and even if they didn’t meet your expectations, it’s still cool to say that you did it.
Have you ever been in a hot air balloon? What did you think? Ever been to the Biltmore Estate? Are you as gaga over it as everyone else seems to be?
January 18, 2012
