All things ballooning
Hopping Mad
The weekend saw the completion of my homebuilding project of the last 4 years. Well sort of......
When I built my little 35k balloon back in 2004 the plan was always to have a cloudhopper style bottom end for it. Until thet could be done, I used a rubbish bin. The bin was great fun, and a crowd favourite, but it was never what I had really planned.
In speaking about this with Aussie homebuilder, Nigel Flynn, he said he would be happy to help me and build the hopper frame for me. SWEET, as I have no welding skills, or any other skills for that matter. So it was settled.
I had purchased a second hand SupAir Altix paraglider harness for about $400 Aussie, so this was to be the base of the plan., Having done a bit of paragliding, I liked the harness idea, it is comfortable and easy to upright in for landing, it also doesn't strangle your nuts like a lot of traditional cloudhopper harnesses.
Anyway, long story short, Nigel had the frame all finished up for last weekend, I had the hoses and burner sorted, harness ready so i headed off for a weekend of flying in the new rig.
The setup was easy and the harness was very comfortable to sit in. Everything worked great and the flight was a ripper. I was hoping for a nice casula 5kts or so at the most as I wasn't sure about landing. It was calm on the ground when we launched, and at 100ft I was doing 11Kts!!! I had a significant sphincter tightening moment. The wind did not build and I popped in a couple of practice touch and go's at about 8kts. It was the easiest landing i have ever done in a balloon.
Final landing was about 8kts, and even at that speed I did not drag as I could control the balloon with my body weight while standing, I had never considered this would be an option. It was a GREAT flight, I absolutley loved it, and I cant believe anyone would fly a balloon WITH a basket, that notion seems completely ridiculous now :)
More pics of the flight are in the Photos area.
Big thanks has to go to Nigel for his fantastic help, and to our crew on the day who had almost as much fun as we did.
When I built my little 35k balloon back in 2004 the plan was always to have a cloudhopper style bottom end for it. Until thet could be done, I used a rubbish bin. The bin was great fun, and a crowd favourite, but it was never what I had really planned.
In speaking about this with Aussie homebuilder, Nigel Flynn, he said he would be happy to help me and build the hopper frame for me. SWEET, as I have no welding skills, or any other skills for that matter. So it was settled.
I had purchased a second hand SupAir Altix paraglider harness for about $400 Aussie, so this was to be the base of the plan., Having done a bit of paragliding, I liked the harness idea, it is comfortable and easy to upright in for landing, it also doesn't strangle your nuts like a lot of traditional cloudhopper harnesses.
Anyway, long story short, Nigel had the frame all finished up for last weekend, I had the hoses and burner sorted, harness ready so i headed off for a weekend of flying in the new rig.
The setup was easy and the harness was very comfortable to sit in. Everything worked great and the flight was a ripper. I was hoping for a nice casula 5kts or so at the most as I wasn't sure about landing. It was calm on the ground when we launched, and at 100ft I was doing 11Kts!!! I had a significant sphincter tightening moment. The wind did not build and I popped in a couple of practice touch and go's at about 8kts. It was the easiest landing i have ever done in a balloon.
Final landing was about 8kts, and even at that speed I did not drag as I could control the balloon with my body weight while standing, I had never considered this would be an option. It was a GREAT flight, I absolutley loved it, and I cant believe anyone would fly a balloon WITH a basket, that notion seems completely ridiculous now :)
More pics of the flight are in the Photos area.
Big thanks has to go to Nigel for his fantastic help, and to our crew on the day who had almost as much fun as we did.
Views: 1
-
Comment by Barb Smith on June 5, 2009 at 11:15pm -
Looks like great fun - great photos..... nice one.
-
Comment by Sarah Meers on June 9, 2009 at 10:54pm -
That looks awesome. I agree with Barb too, great photo.
-
Comment by Marty Miller on June 10, 2009 at 5:53am -
That's cool Adam!!! paraballooning could catch on! well done..
-
Comment by Angus Peart on June 12, 2009 at 7:38pm -
You got the mad bit right... and the hopping bit :-D
Looks great, looks like the frame has worked well. Do you just clip in at eh 4 points?
-
Comment by Scobie Peart on June 15, 2009 at 11:52pm -
All you need now is some ski's for a splash and ski, about 20 knots would be cool!
Comment
© 2012 Created by Andrew Robertson.
Powered by 
.
You need to be a member of Aunty Monkey to add comments!
Join Aunty Monkey