How fast hot air balloon

Thank goodness for skilled and experienced pilots who can navigate these kinds of situations. Landing is already arguably the trickiest part of ballooning, but it becomes even more difficult once you introduce lots of wind.

So, yeah. Landing in the wind is the worst. In general, flying in too much wind is the worst. While ballooning is an incredibly safe activity , wind is the number one culprit when things go wrong.

You may be asking by this point why hot air balloons travel at the same speed as the wind. Only then can we answer why they travel at the same speed as the wind. If you want a more in-depth look at this fascinating subject, click here! This principle states that an object partially or completely submerged in a fluid liquid or gas is acted upon by an upward force equal to the amount of fluid displaced by the object. To illustrate this principle, consider a tennis ball and a led ball of the same size being placed into a pool of water.

Why is this? The tennis ball is much lighter than the led ball, so the buoyant force causes it to float. The led ball, being much heavier than the tennis ball, weighs more than the buoyant force and therefore sinks.

In other words, the air inside the envelope is less dense than the air outside and the balloon therefore rises. So how does that relate to their speed? As just repeatedly stated, the air inside a hot air balloon is less dense than the air outside of it. The denser air pushes the lighter balloon wherever the air is traveling!

The faster the wind travels, the more force it has, and the faster it pushes the hot air balloon. Hot air balloons are filled with less dense air, so the denser air in the wind pushes balloons along!

Well, as we already know, a hot air balloon can travel as fast as the wind, and the wind can travel really fast. And, as it just so happens, wind has a huge impact on anything that flies what a shocker. For example, a Boeing that normally has a top speed of miles per hour reached miles per hour when it got caught in a record-setting jet stream. This example in the context of hot air ballooning obviously raises the question: what is the fastest a hot air balloon has ever traveled? Before we answer that question, there are probably a few things you should consider that will give some added weight to the answer.

Hot air balloons are literally sacks of air connected to baskets or gondolas by chords. It is invisible hot air that holds the balloon in the sky. There are no engines or propellers that help with that. If the air gets too cool, the envelope tears, your run out of fuel, one of the gas lines starts to leak, lightning strikes, you hit almost anything, or you fly too low, then your flight comes to a sudden and painful end.

Hot air balloons are based on theories from the s. They are the oldest and still least advanced form of human flight. It all happened when Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand made the first ever trip across the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon back in The two broke several records during their historic trip, but my personal favorite is their record for speed, a record which still stands today.

In the almost thirty tears since, their record has gone untouched! Who knows, it could be you! You see, not all wind travels at the same speed. Each one of the streams will be heading a different direction heading at a different speed. In stormy weather, of course, all the wind will be too fast. Nylon works very well in balloons because it is lightweight, but it is also fairly sturdy and has a high melting temperature.

The skirt , the nylon at the base of the envelope, is coated with special fire-resistant material, to keep the flame from igniting the balloon. The hot air won't escape from the hole at the bottom of the envelope because buoyancy keeps it moving up. If the pilot continually fires the fuel jets, the balloon will continue to rise. There is an upper altitude limit, however, since eventually the air becomes so thin that the buoyant force is too weak to lift the balloon.

The buoyant force is equal to the weight of air displaced by the balloon, so a larger balloon envelope will generally have a higher upper altitude limit than a smaller balloon. Most hot air balloons use a wicker basket for the passenger compartment. Wicker works very well because it is sturdy, flexible and relatively lightweight. The flexibility helps with balloon landings: In a basket made of more rigid material, passengers would feel the brunt of the impact force.

Wicker material flexes a little, absorbing some of the energy. Piloting a balloon takes skill, but the controls are actually very simple. To lift the balloon, the pilot moves a control that opens up the propane valve. This lever works just like the knobs on a gas grill or stove: As you turn it, the flow of gas increases, so the flame grows in size. The pilot can increase the vertical speed by blasting a larger flame to heat the air more rapidly. Additionally, many hot air balloons have a control that opens a second propane valve.

This valve sends propane through a hose that bypasses the heating coils. This lets the pilot burn liquid propane, instead of propane in gas form. Burning liquid propane produces a less efficient, weaker flame, but is much quieter than burning gas. Pilots often use this second valve over livestock farms, to keep from scaring the animals.

Hot air balloons also have a cord to open the parachute valve at the top of the envelope. When the pilot pulls the attached cord, some hot air can escape from the envelope, decreasing the inner air temperature. This causes the balloon to slow its ascent. If the pilot keeps the valve open long enough, the balloon will sink. Essentially, these are the only controls -- heat to make the balloon rise and venting to make it sink.

This raises an interesting question: If pilots can only move hot air balloons up and down, how do they get the balloon from place to place? As it turns out, pilots can maneuver horizontally by changing their vertical position, because wind blows in different directions at different altitudes.

To move in a particular direction, a pilot ascends and descends to the appropriate level, and rides with the wind. Since wind speed generally increases as you get higher in the atmosphere, pilots can also control horizontal speed by changing altitude. Of course, even the most experienced pilot doesn't have complete control over the balloon's flight path. Usually, wind conditions give the pilot very few options. Consequently, you can't really pilot a hot air balloon along an exact course.

And it's very rare that you would be able to pilot the balloon back to your starting point. So, unlike flying an airplane, hot air balloon piloting is largely improvised, moment to moment. For this reason, some members of a hot air balloon crew have to stay on the ground, following the balloon by car to see where it lands. Then, they can be there to collect the passengers and equipment. A lot of the work in hot air ballooning comes at the beginning and the end of the flight, when the crew inflates and deflates the balloon.

For the spectator, this is a much more spectacular show than the actual balloon flight. Once the crew has found a suitable launching point, they attach the burner system to the basket. Then they attach the balloon envelope and begin laying it out on the ground. Once the envelope is laid out, the crew begins inflating it, using a powerful fan at the base of the envelope.

When there is enough air in the balloon, the crew blasts the burner flame into the envelope mouth. This heats the air, building pressure until the balloon inflates all the way and starts to lift off the ground.

The ground crew members hold the basket down until the launch crew is on board. The balloon basket is also attached to the ground crew vehicle until the last minute, so the balloon won't be blown away before it is ready to launch. When everything is set, the ground crew releases the balloon and the pilot fires a steady flame from the burner. As the air heats up, the balloon lifts right off the ground. Amazingly, this entire process only takes 10 or 15 minutes. The landing process, combined with deflating and re-packing the balloon envelope, takes a while longer.

When the pilot is ready to land, he or she discusses possible landing sites with the ground crew via an onboard radio. They need to find a wide open space, where there are no power lines and plenty of room to lay out the balloon. As soon as the balloon is in the air, the pilot is constantly looking for suitable landing sites, in case there is an emergency.

The balloon landing can be a little rough, but an experienced pilot will bump along the ground to stop the balloon gradually, minimizing the impact. If the ground crew has made it to the landing site, they will hold the basket down once it has landed. If the balloon isn't in a good position, the crew pulls it along the ground to a better spot. The ground crew sets out a ground tarp, to protect the balloon from wear and tear. Then the pilot opens the parachute valve all the way, so the air can escape out the top of the balloon.

The ground crew grabs a cord attached to the top of the balloon, and pulls the envelope over onto the tarp. Once the balloon envelope is down on the ground, the crew begins pushing the air out. When the balloon is flattened, the crew packs it into a stuff sack. This whole process is a lot like packing up a giant sleeping bag. Before launching, pilots will call a weather service to find out about climate and wind conditions in an area.

Cautious pilots only fly when the weather is close to ideal -- when skies are clear and wind conditions are normal. Storms are extremely hazardous for hot air balloons, because of the danger of a lightning strike.

Even rain is a problem, because it decreases visibility and damages the balloon material of course, it's not much fun to fly around in wet weather anyway. And while you need a nice wind current to have a good flight, very strong winds could easily wreck the balloon. Pilots also call the weather service to get a rough idea of which way the balloon will travel, and how they should maneuver once they're in the air.

Additionally, a pilot might send up a piball short for pilot balloon. A piball is just a balloon filled with helium that the pilot releases to see the exact direction of the wind at a prospective launch site. If it looks like the wind would take the balloon into prohibited air space, the crew needs to find a new launch spot. In the air, the pilot will use an onboard altimeter , variometer and their own observations to find the right altitude.

Reaching the right altitude is pretty tricky because there is at least a second delay between blasting the burners and the balloon actually lifting. Balloon pilots have to operate the appropriate controls just a little bit before they want to rise, and shut them off a little bit before they want to stop rising. Inexperienced pilots often overshoot, rising too high before leveling off.

Controlled operation comes only with many hours of ballooning experience. Now that we've seen how a hot air balloon flies through the air, let's look at the forces that make this possible. As it turns out, hot air balloons are a remarkable demonstration of some of the most fundamental forces on earth. One amazing thing about living on earth is that we are constantly walking around in a high-pressure fluid -- a substance with mass and no shape. The air around us is composed of several different elements in a gaseous state.

In this gas, the atoms and molecules of the elements fly around freely, bumping into each other and everything else. As these particles collide against an object, each of them pushes with a tiny amount of energy. Instrumentation consists of altimeter, variometer measures vertical speed , and envelope temperature indicator. Most balloons operating in Australia are VHF radio equipped and also carry a transponder in accordance with standard airspace requirements.

As previously discussed balloons have zero airspeed therefore they cannot turn to avoid obstacles or other aircraft. They can, however manoeuver vertically provided there is sufficient time and advance knowledge of an obstacle.

Most balloons operating in Australia have maximum legal climb rates of 5 metres per second. Descent rates may be similar but pilots will typically climb and descend at a maximum of 2 metres per second. Whilst these quite fast rates can easily be maintained, there is a little time lag between initiating a climb and it actually happening.

A reasonably large balloon will contain 10 tonnes of hot air. This added to a payload of over a tonne gives a significant aircraft mass and despite the enormous energy output of the propane burners, it may take up to 30 seconds to get this mass moving rapidly in a different vertical direction.

The simple answer is that a person should not be surprised to see a balloon almost anywhere although geographic and regulatory factors result in the favouring of certain locations. The regulations provide for commercial licences and private certificates.

There are certain restrictions on where private balloonists may operate such as around airports. The two most likely areas aeroplane and helicopter pilots will encounter balloons are as follows:.

Firstly, over or around the capital cities, particularly Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne and the Western suburbs of Sydney. Separation will be provided by Air Traffic Control if the balloons are operating in controlled airspace over the cities but particular attention should be paid by pilots operating outside controlled airspace.

Secondly, around smaller inland country towns within a few hundred kilometres of the capital cities. Towns with a reasonable surrounding road network will be favoured as this makes it easier for retrieve vehicles to collect the balloon and pilot from its inevitable outlanding.

Coastal towns are less appealing because flying is restricted in the case of an offshore breeze. Coastal terrain is also generally less balloon friendly, with more hills and forests than inland areas. Balloons will regularly operate up to feet but they should be expected up to 10, feet. They will rarely fly above this level because of the inconvenience of arranging oxygen and special approvals.

In fact, balloonists delight in low level flight and may spend entire flights brushing through the tops of trees.