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John McLeroy
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St. Cloud, FL, United States - Share
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- City, Country:
- St. Cloud, FL USA
- About Me:
- Newbie balloonist circa 2007, professional pilot, full-time goof off....
- Website:
- http://www.captainspeak.com
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David
The art of envelope design and construction is well developed and has plenty of successful amateurs.
Building your own burner is a different scenario. Only a handful have done it. When pilots set out to build their own airplane, none of them build an engine from scratch. They choose an engine and build a plane around it. I'd suggest you try this approach in building a hopper. There are plenty of good used burners available from several manufacturers with various characteristics and advantages. A lot safer and quicker for someone new to the sport.
If you really feel you must build your own burner, take a look at the Balloon Builder's Journal. This was a newsletter in the '90s that detailed all sorts of aspects of home building. I recall an article by someone who did build their own burner. You can get a CD of all back issues at http://www.proaxis.com/~bobledoux/ You'll find the Journal great background whatever approach you take.
Rick
Hoppers are really cool. I like them and the freedom the offer. I would strongly recommend learning to fly in a basket and then transitioning to a hopper. There are many subtle nuances to flying and landing that are best handled with an instructor at your side the first time you deal with them.
Your first balloon can still be a hopper. I'd take a look at the balloon building blog at www.xlta.org and see my article in the March/April issue of Ballooning magazine (about to be mailed). There is a cloudhopper mailing list and a balloon builders mailing list, both are excellent resources.
There are many experienced homebuilders that could guide you successfully. If you'd like a more structured option, Paul Stumpf in Vermont and Bert Padelt in Pennsylvania have repair stations that offer design and construction assistance and supervision in their shops. I've seen some nice craft built by amateurs with the help of both these guys.
Find all sorts of ballooning information at www.blastvalve.com including experimental sites and weather.
Congratulations on your decision not to be a basket case!
Rick
Send me an email address and we can discuss this at length. ksproul@skychariot.com
I have a couple projects in the works at the moment that you might be interested in:
http://www.skychariot.com/twopointchariot.html
Keith
cu
Jürgen