Hot Air Balloons
 

has anybody ever been up in one of these

I was thinking of buying a ride in one by way of a christmas present to be used
in the springtime


any thoughts or ruminations on the said adventure?

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

a close mate of mine has been in one and said it was totally amazing , the only problem he had was waiting for a day to take off , he was cancelled due to the weather , he reckoned it was well worth the money
:)

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

do you know what sort of money you would be looking at?

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

i must admit i dont , i will try and ring him later and see if he can remember :)

i have just done a quick google and you are looking at least £100 / person , not cheap but there you go :)

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

Have a look at red letter days or virgin balloons

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

You can get a ride in a microlight plane ......much more exiting :)

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

Me and my wife did this in the days before we were married - it's brilliant and I would advise anyone to do it.

An added bonus for us was that we flew over the house where we still live so I got some great ariel photos of it, I still have one on the wall today.

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

Balloons are cool. I want to get my operator's license, but I don't have money yet. Rides here are about 60 pounds to 100 pounds. Definitely worth it.

Gliders and ultralights are worth it too, if you have the money. Heh.

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

How does that work? Is it similar to a PPL? Harder/Easier?

You have little control over your direction (once airborne). I assume it has some serious stuff on flight plans,weather management and avoiding controlled airspace, also radio skills but what else? Landing truely is a controlled crash!

Is there a 40 hrs min flying time to qualify? Do you need to keep hours up in the same manner. Are licences issued by the CAA (or US/Canadian equivilant).

I saw one being launched from my local common on Sunday and noticed it had a call sign on the side which got me thinking about such matters. Strange this thread then took such a direction.

Re: Hot Air Balloons
 

cheers
will probably book one for the springtime


you can have champagne on board I noticed too

which I thought would be kind of kinky