Morning vs. Evening Flights

[Daniel Salters]

It seems as though nearly every article or caption I read about any aspect of ballooning in the Balloon Life archives or on here refer to morning flights. I know many climates do not allow for evening flights very often.

In being around ballooning for 20+ years, I can say that 95% of our flights have been evening ones. We fly around the St. Louis area and this seems to be the case for most those in this region as well. This is not to say that mornings are not suitable, but when we have a climate that allows for evening flights so often, it seems to be the preferred choice for many reasons. It works out best for crew, pilots, and passengers. You have all day to study the weather and know what to expect, and weeknights are much easier to work around work schedules for all of those involved.

Which other regions of the US and the world allow for fairly predictable evening flying?

[Mike Hernandez]

We get some really nice evening flights here in the North East!

[Daniel Salters]

Based on your group's pictures and photos, I figured that you guys had quite a few. I did see a decent number of morning flights mixed in too, so I wasn't sure quite how much. Glad to see others are enjoying that time of day!

[Mark Wunder]

I'm a crew person in Kansas - Evening vs morning depends on the day of the week. It's a lot easier for the pilots to get crews on weeknights than weekday mornings. Weekends, however, we seem to have a lot more morning flights. I'd say we're about 50/50 here. The problem with morning flights, however, are the chances of putting the envelope away wet.

[Mark Pluta]

Excellent topic.
Also from the North East, both mornings and evenings can be quite nice and both can also present their own unique challenges.

The plus's with the mornings around here is they are always calm so if you go to the field you are guaranteed to fly. Mornings are also usually always below 70 degrees, even on those hot summer days.

The down side to mornings is we do tend to have issues with fog from time to time. Especially if it is humid in the summer or in the fall when mornings get cold. Also, extra early mornings, such as in June when the sun rises around 5:30 means it is harder to get crew out to help.

The plus's with evenings here is the winds generally calm long enough to get a nice 1 1/2 hr. flight before sunset becomes a concern. Also, generally don't have to worry about a ripout landing as you almost always land in calm conditions. Fog is almost never an issue. And of course, it is always easier to get crew to come out and help as you don't have to get up at super early hours. It is kinda nice in the summer too when the sun sets late as you can eat supper then go fly.

The down side to evenings here is, sometimes the wind doesn't always calm early enough to allow for a safe flight with enough daylight to make it worth it. The reverse of that is, sometimes you can lose the wind altogether, a challenge especially when you are trying to make an approach and you can't move other than up and down. Also, more of an issue only in the summer when it gets hot and humid is 1. the heat and 2. popup T-Storms.

For the most part, we are lucky to fly in an area that allows for great morning and evening flights. It is nice to know if weather doesn't look good for one, there is always the other, such was the case this past Sunday morning when we were socked in with fog and low clouds but the evening cleared out for a great 1 hr. and 40 min. flight!

[James C. Kunze]

I fly in the midwest as well. I prefer morning flights for a number of reasons. There is more steering and generally lower wind speeds. Having said that, there are also a number of negatives to morning flights. The crew issue has been mentioned, (although I've been blessed with crew crazy enough to come help whenever I fly), Fog and dew are also issues to me. I don't use a tarp and discovered just how wet dew will make a balloon envelope. Because I can't be sure how long it will be between flights in the early spring, I tend not to fly in the morning in spring. Since this time of year, I never know which flight will be my last, unless I am sure to fly the same evening, I don't fly mornings in the fall because I don't want to store a wet envelope for the winter.