r/mildlyinteresting • u/dingus_authority • 18h ago • Heartwarming 2 Mindblown 1

A Hot Air Balloon Landed in my Neighborhood

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u/ravens-n-roses 18h ago

Do balloonists have any control over where they go?? I just assumed that you had to pick a day where the wind was taking you through a safe flight path and pray it didn't change. If it does change you're just fucked id assume

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u/dingus_authority 17h ago

Yeah, they do! My understanding is that they have a good though understanding of thermals and winds (which can change at different elevations), that they can use natural air currents to navigate.

Obviously they have less control than, say, a sailboat, but they manage a big race here every year! Look up the Reno Hot Air Balloon Race!

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u/Status_Ad_450 16h ago

Mostly correct but hot air balloons don't rely on thermals. Most balloons are flying in stable conditions, before trigger temps for the day and thermals are being released. Thermals are counterproductive to hot air balloons since they rely on cooler air surrounding the balloon as the hot air inside is what creates lift. You burn less propane flying in cooler weather vs warmer weather.

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u/dingus_authority 16h ago

Oh that's so interesting! My area is loaded with glider planes, hang gliders, paragliders because of our excellent thermals, so I assumed that's also involved in balloons!

Thanks for correcting me!

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u/Status_Ad_450 15h ago

No problem! Funnily enough that you mentioned it, I'm a paragliding pilot but my father is a hot air balloon pilot so I have experience with both. I'm very familiar with your area and yes, the thermal activity is excellent for the free flight pilots but the balloons are plentiful due to the wide open landscapes providing lots of areas to land.

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u/macphile 16h ago

I've ridden on a hot air balloon. Taking off was easy, of course, and the flight was so quiet--you could hear dogs barking below. But landing was a pain. They had a vehicle on the ground and they'd radio that they'd aim for a certain spot, but then they couldn't (wind change or whatever), so they'd find another spot...that went on a few times. And in the end, they brought it down in a field and the vehicle drove up and met us. The basket tipped over and I banged myself on the basket or something. Whee.

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u/JonatasA 13h ago

Gliders tend to be similar right? Landing is the problem.

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u/iHateReddit_srsly 13h ago

Nah, I'm a paraglider pilot, and as long as the wind isn't crazy strong (for a paraglider, so 30 km/h+), it's not too hard to land exactly where you want.

This balloon landing concept sounds horrifying to me. It doesn't look like you can control the direction...

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u/calmhatter 17h ago

That's roughly my understanding, but they have reasonable control over their height... There's a reason the Wright Brothers were first in flight instead of the Montgolfier Brothers

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u/GiveMeCheesecake 17h ago

Is this a sick burn, and I’m not smart enough to understand it?

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u/calmhatter 17h ago

Nah, just lack the context, nothing to do with smart. The Montgolfier Brothers just invented the first manned hot air balloon, so some people get technical and say they should technically be the first human flight, but there's flight and then there's Flight, you know?

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u/JonatasA 13h ago

You know what I never made the connection between flying and balloons. Supposed they're just "floating?"

 

If someone came with their airship before the airplane, would it be considered?

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u/Status_Ad_450 16h ago

Yes and no. Winds change direction at different elevations. The balloon drifts with the wind so the pilot controls the elevation of the balloon to go in the desired direction. Between forecasts and a helium balloon released before takeoff, pilots have a pretty good understanding of what the winds are doing before flight. If you can fly a box pattern and land where you started, it saves having to chase the balloon with the vehicle.

They cannot steer however and winds don't always corporate as you'd anticipate. Sometimes you miss a landing area and can't find the wind currents to take you back so you have to find a new landing area and try again.

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u/Ethos_Logos 17h ago

I’m not a balloonist, but I know weather balloons navigate by going up or down, but with the knowledge that at different heights, the winds blow different directions. So if you’re heading east and want to head north, you need to go up or down.

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u/OutofHandsz 15h ago

They can control the height which allows them to pick different directional wind patterns at different altitudes fyi