Still Flying

October is proving to be a good month for ballooning as we wind down to one flight per day due to lack of daylight!
The previous two weeks have seen flights on most days, sometimes having just an hour between finishing the morning flight and starting the evening flight preparations!!
This has been a record season for the pilot in terms of launches, over 120 thus far!, and personally, I have been involved in 80 so far this year, 22 up on last year and still 3 full weeks to go!
The weather has gone ' tits up ' for this week, but Friday looks good!.....so fingers crossed for a few more before winter takes over!

Keep Out!

Sunday morning brought us lots of sunshine for a Bath launch. The normal crew of two swelled to four as Chris came out to see if he could hack being a 'balloon chaser'. We were also joined by Pete, friend of the pilot, who is a qualified pilot working towards getting his commercial license, he also gave a hand.
Launch was 'normal' with a flight East/slightly South East. Pilot had trouble finding suitable field and ended up on the edge of firing range at Salisbury Plain! The range warden happened to be a 'jobsworth' who told the pilot that he would have to report the 5/10 metre infringement into the firing range which was not in use!!....but it seemed to be ok to go flying into the 'death zone' if you owned a quad bike and your name was Colin!!

Sunday afternoon was a Glastonbury take off in high cloud across the Somerset levels in light winds,landing near a river and having to cross four fields owned by four different owners!!!...lovely basket of passengers who thought I was very fit for a 50 something!!! :-D

Busy Busy Busy

Woooooooowhooooo .... what a mad couple of weeks......loads and loads of flying...from York..4 flights of 8 Virgin balloons taking off together from York racecourse on 18/19/20 September....then back for various local flights from Bristol, Monmouth, Cheltenham, Glastonbury, Bath over the past 10 days until the weather finally broke yesterday.....but Sunday is looking good and if we launch we will be putting a new recruit through his paces to join the ground crew.

Good Weather.....busy weekend

What a great weekend of flying......Friday evening, a gentle launch from Eastnor Castle near Ledbury in clear skies, landing in a huge cut field on an estate with a smashing gamekeeper allowing us to retrieve without any problems........Saturday evening gave us a fairly fast flight from Cheltenham, landing on a former RAF airfield, now used for gliders, Bannerdown Airfield. Conditions of permission to recover the balloon were that Nobby the pilot had to buy all the passengers a drink in the Gliding Club bar!!!!
Sunday morning was from Bath landing south of Chew Magna lakes, again with nice landowners allowing no less than 3 balloons to be recovered! The only upset for me was the verbal abuse given to me by a chap who thought that balloon crews were from Satanic lands and out to kill all livestock and rip farmers off!......Said chap was not a landowner and very lucky that I did not rise to his obvious bait for an argument....ever the diplomat!

Fair Weather....unfair winds!

The weather is good but the wind a tad strong.......launched from Kemble Airfield on Thursday morning at dawn......shot off to the SW at 20 kts and hit 30 kts at 3000 feet........managed a gentle landing at Marshfield in clear skies followed by an 'easy' retrieval from a half ploughed field.

The winds are pretty unpredictable at the moment, causing launches to be halted at short notice, a pain for passengers travelling to a site only to be sent home and a pain for the pilot and crew, who although loving the job, still need to pay the rent!! However, Safety is the key to this, and it is much better to be on the ground wishing you were up there, than being up there wishing you were on the ground(an aviation 'cliche!)

Back in Business

First flight for 10 days this morning.....Routine launch from Ashton Court in Bristol and a neat landing next to a road on Sodbury Common......weather is breaking for the better over the next few days...Wooooowhoooo.....

Bloody Weather

What has the August weather been like???????????......July was pretty pants and our hopes for August have been largly dashed, save for the odd couple of days here and there!......however this weather pattern is very similar to the past two summers, which became favourable in September...........so ever the optomist!!!

Back again

Well I am back in circulation, just, after moving from the shallow gene pool of Melksham to lovely Corsham!

Balloon flights have picked up again after a couple of very poor weeks due to the weather.....this last week I have been out on 7 launches from Monmouth to Glastonbury, Bath to Marlborough.....some with exciting take-offs..........others with dramatic recovery stories including a landing in Somerset where the police turned up to innvestigate a reported 'crash landing'.....until my colleague explained that balloons do land with the burner on to help slow the aircraft down, and do 'bounce' along before coming to a halt sometimes!

Thursday 16th July - Bristol

Early morning launch from Ashton Court during a 'weather window' took the big red thing over the city in a NE direction, clear skies for the flight and a gentle landing near a fishing lake......owners very helpful with the recovery!

Tuesday Morning 14th July

Launched at 0620 from a maze field on the western edge of Bath....weather front was closing in from SW rapidly but managed a good flight NE at 7-8kts, landing at Sodbury Common before the rain caught up! Passengers were delighted !

Update

Got abit behind lately........packing up to move and working.......hey ho!!.....Saturday the 4th July, we launched early morning from Cheltenham racecourse, landing near Eversham in a wet field!.....tractor needed......pilot REALLY needs to improve his parking!


Friday 10th July.......early morning Bristol flight, yet again got the rig stuck in a 'spring' in the middle of a field at Priston Mill!....two landings.....two muddy recoveries!

Ben and Sunset

Pictures of Ben

Sunset at Glastonbury

Glastonbury Wednesday Night

Donna Hendra gets airborn......6000 feet at Glastonbury in glorious weather!...pictures to follow!.......Virgin Balloon Flights ROCK......especially their' ground crew'..... :-)

Bath AM 1st July

Nobody else wanted to fly this morning, so we led the way. Decided the weathermen may be over pessimistic. Lovely morning ....bit hazy at times but pretty good ballooning conditions.......good launch at 0710 from Royal Victoria Park, landing after a fairly speedy flight at 5000ft near Iron Acton at a lovely farm run by lovely people........what more could one wish for when asking permission to remove 2.5 tons of basket and balloon from someones field.....

Too Hot??????

Unstable air, thunder and variable winds are causing chaos to the ballooning world at the moment, lets hope it settles down soon...............

Friday night in Raglan

The thunder storms passed across the country faster than predicted so our intrepid aviator(pilot) called the flight on at 1600, informing the passengers to meet at 1900. The launch site was awash with blue sky and light winds for a great take off, gentle meandour to the East/NE, landing to the West of Monmouth, greeted by a stunning sunset, showing the eastern edge of the Black Mountains in all they're glory!!! That is why Wales is well known as 'Gods Country'!......hot weather to follow in the next few days......WoooooooooWhoooo!!!

Bath and Overcast

The Met Office got the forecast pretty wrong!!!.......Grey, overcast morning.........bit of drizzle.....delayed launch 'til 0810.........took off.......more drizzle!.....short flight West towards Bristol, landing at Saltford in cut field........yet again, no sign of farmer, so with local knowledge informing us that the farmer did 'contract' work and could be anywhere in Somerset or South Gloucester, we went on and retrieved. Pilot is now known as 'Rain Man'!!

Monday at Cheltenham

0400 hrs and we are off to Cheltenham Racecourse for the first launch of the day.......Launched at 0700 in light winds heading SW......landed on the Gloucestshire Way on common land in a pile of nettles!!! Quick retrieval and back at base by 1015!

Pm flight.......Took off in very light Southerly wind at 1900, lovely evening........landed in a cut field 20 minutes south of Cheltenham, could not find landowner so had to nip on to the field, causing minimum disturbance, and leave everything as we found it. (Locals confirmed that landowner lived many miles away and they had no contact no.)

Glastonbury

A warm and breezy evening saw us in Millfield School, welcoming an enthusiastic group of passengers. After layout and safety brief we had to wait until 2010 to launch because of a gusting breeze. The launch went smoothly during a lull between gusts!. Fantastic vis at 5000ft, travelling NE towards Wookey Hole, where a near perfect landing in a cut field was witnessed by a smashing landowner and half the village kids!!(who were put to work to help pack away) Passengers were so impressed they were very generous with the 'tips' box.....;-) Next few days not looking good weather wise:-(

Marlborough Monday Morning

Launched from airfield North of Marlborough in light winds NE over Swindon, landing in a field about a mile from the farm of the owners. They were very helpfull, the gamekeeper leading us through fields for about a mile to get to the basket..........which was in a 'cut' field surrounded by crop fields. Bacon Rolls on the way home!!!!

Busy Weekend

Slow start on Friday morning, Bath flight cancelled due to 'un-forecast' rain!......Friday night took us to Cheltenham College to launch under overcast skies which broke up nicely during the flight , landed high on a hill but luckily good access for retrieving and a co-operative landowner.

Saturday morning saw us at the racecourse for the next launch, having stayed in local hotel overnight. Threatening dark cloud caused concern initially.......soon broke up and sun came through to make the flight pretty impressive, landing NE of Winchcombe. The landowners were brilliant, offering FREE launch site with parking!, if we ever need it......It is amazing how generous people can be.......if you have read previous balloon reports on this site, people can be less than welcoming, however, luckily, the majority are smashing!

Another Bath Morning Launch

Another lovely morning flight, if slightly cloudy, on Thursday..........Landowner was great and recovery was quick and painless!!!!!!!............then off to Pembrokeshire to see Mum!

Morning Flights from Bath

Tuesday morning was beautifully clear and the launch went well, headed SW at 18 knots.......landing in a field riddled with cow pats!!!!....many of which I managed to kneel in while packing the balloon up!.....made it all the way to the west of Wells......so a long drive back in the bus, but the passengers were happy, giving us over £10.00 in tips!

Wednesday morning was also lovely but slightly hazy........heading was South towards Frome, chasing being difficult because of the morning rush hour/school runs/bloody road works!!!...Landed west of Frome, this time in a nice freshly cut field! Again, lovely bunch of passengers gave out £10.00 + in tips....must be my charm and wit!

Saturday Night

WooooHoooo!!............Flight on for Saturday evening from Marlborough!.....Went to collect passengers from the High Street, told by very official sounding Policeperson that the High Street was closed because of an 'INCIDENT'........could not bring himself to say there was a gas leak!!!
After herding all the passengers up and getting them on the bus, it was off to the launch site at Cleft Common Micro light airstrip.
What a lovely evening, launch was pretty smooth.....then as they ascended they went off to the West at 18kts........time to chase...fast....
Landed about 20 miles away at Keevil Airfield. Keevil is a civilian/military airfield where we have landed on many occasions..........Tonight we were not so welcome due to 'military operations' which banned any aircraft landing on Sat/Sun!!......Pilot was totally oblivious to this and landed gently to be met by a couple of guys who were obviously part of the 'operation'.....but looked and smelled like farmers......they agreed to open the gate, which was 'double padlocked!!!'.....but we had to retreave as fast as possible and NOT mention the fact that they had let us in.....so if you read this, remove from your memory, otherwise I will have to kill you!. On exit, pilot caught the gate with back of trailer and it took four people ten minutes of brute force and ignorance to straighten said gate!....so much for stealth!......silly to drive in the dark without your lights on!!!

Frustration!!!

Here we are then......wall to wall blue sky.......but the wind is too brisk.....OK, so it is a cooling breeze.......but too strong to launch!.......watch this space....

Bank Holiday Monday

Another launch from Glastonbury took us NW over the levels on a 'high cloud' morning, landing gently about 3 miles from Bridgewater....nice farmer, easy access, no problems!!!

Break in the Weather

Managed to get a launch from Glastonbury on Friday evening.......High cloud went a bit dark at one stage but no rain!,......Balloon flight went very close to the Tor and the passengers took some great photo's............Long flight.....1 hr 55 mins due to lack of suitable landing sites on the Somerset levels! Eventually had to land, because of sunset, in a vacant horse paddock! The owner of the land was charming but relieved that the horses were in bed when the balloon arrived!

Bank holiday looks good up til PM Monday.... so fingers crossed!

Bloody Weather

No flying at the moment due to crap weather.........luckily I have been at Chelsea Flower Show, helping build the stand for 'English Wirework', which puts bread on the table when the balloon can't go!.

Tried to launch from Cheltenham Racecourse on Saturday evening........wind refused to drop out......cancelled at 1930 with sadness! Hey Ho....there is plenty of summer to come!

Too Much Wind

Far too windy at the moment......hopefully dying down for the weekend!.....watch this space.

May Bank Holiday

Saturday morning was stunning....blue skys and light winds for the launch from Victoria Park.....headed East/S East landing at Semington.....Landowner was nice chap and the recovery was pretty normal for a change!

The evening flight was from Pandy on the edge of the Black Mountains.....bit windy at launch, but as soon as the balloon left the ground the wind dropped out!....Lovely evening flight NE towards Hereford.....landed in a field right next to the road with easy access.......Landowners were really excited that we had landed on their field.......and were only sad that they missed the site of a huge balloon coming into land!

Bath - 29th April

Early morning flight from Bath.......Bit of mist while setting up, but it soon cleared for launch. Had a new crew member join us, Andy, who also got to go up !.....Good flight but landing proved abit awkward because of a little mist appearing and landowner not over pleased. The lady of the manor was happy for us to retrieve the balloon, providing we did not take any vehicle or trailer on to the field!!!!! The pilot explained that the basket and balloon weighed about the same as a Landrover but she claimed that was OUR problem!....The gamekeeper appeared soon after, and put his neck on the block to help us out by unlocking the gate.......then the Lady of the Manor re-appeared!!!!.....spitting glass!!!.....the gamekeeper played diplomat and eventually the rig was recovered. Pilot gave said gamekeeper price of a few drinks for his kindness under such pressure from his employer!.......lets hope he still has a job! It should be mentioned that the landing site, although quite close to some stables, was a normal grass field with no livestock or crops growing, and the basket had landed very gently in light winds.

The Two Bath Launches

Stunning, cloudless Tuesday morning in Bath, bit of breeze for launch to the west. Steady 10kts at 2000ft sending them to Melksham for a nice landing at Forest Farm(ish), rounded off with Bacon butties at Neston Farm Shop!.

The evening flight was a bit more of a challenge, the wind was up at 8kts for launch, but dropped out nicely before actual takeoff. A couple of photo journalists asked to take some shots of the launch, so I should be in 'Hello' for the next print ... Another marathon flight ending at Market Lavington, south of Devizes on a building site! We took a wrong turn to the landing site but some great reversing of the trailer by Steve got us back on track!.

Sundays' Mixed fortunes!

Morning Flight in Bath cancelled on site......wind and cloud outside operational safety limits, so Ben and I benefited by getting a retainer for doing 'diddly' and the added bonus of getting back home in time for the F1!!!.

By lunch time the weather was looking very good for the evening launch, so off we went to Millfield School to meet the passengers at 1730. Stunning evening, clear sky with light winds, landed near a firing range(closed) and the owners were fine, although the cows were a bit spooked and legged it back to the milking parlour, from where they had just been!. The farmer was cool about it, especially as they(the cows) had not stampeded!! He was happy with his wine and very co-operative about the recovery of the basket........

Weather Check

Weather looking good for this coming Sunday, hopefully get 2 flights in.....Bath in the morning and Glastonbury in the evening!.......It's been a good start to the season, lets hope it continues......

Mad Monday

Easter Monday morning....0700 start...off to Kemble airfield for a morning launch and the fog is in being foggy mood!! Met passengers at 0800 and sent them to the wonderful 'AV8' cafe for breakfast whilst waiting for the fog to lift. The staff at AV8 were ace, opening early just for us!! . At 0945, visibility was poor but being the optomists that we are, we started to lay out the balloon...just in case the fog cleared.....good move....1000 the sun started coming through and we went for it!......launched at 1030(late in balloon terms) and went off North towards Cheltenham. By 1100 there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the pilot had 16kts pushing him along. Finding a suitable landing site proved a bit tricky

so on they went.....and on....and on.....eventually landing NW of Winchcombe at 1215......marathon flight!!!!!.... and the pilot was really pleased that he still had a whole tank of gas left!!...fairly easy recovery on dry field....very happy passengers on the return to Kemble. It was 1400 before the passengers were dropped off and we were due to launch from Cheltenham. The pilot had a cunning plan.....Him and Ben would stay in Cheltenham, refuel, fix the trailer wheel and fill their bellies......whilst I drove back to Bath, collected more champagne, the new passenger manifesto and a 'mars bar' and 'cola' and return to the launch site at Cheltenham racecourse, just in time to meet the evening passengers at 1745!.

The wind was blowing steady at 9-10kts, just outside our safe launch limit which is 8kts. We laid out and waited for a lull ........if we launched , we had to be on the ground by 2005(sunset). At 1850, pilot decides to go for it, after discussing with the passengers that it may be a shorter flight than normal because we may have a bit of a struggle launching at 8kts. They were happy!.......Needless to say it was an 'exciting' launch, at 1915, the pilots' skills being used to their full potential!!

A flight North of about 10 miles was completed by sunset, with a gentle landing in a nursey about 200mtrs from the owners house, who was happy to receive a landing fee of £25.00 for her troubles!......A very long, but brilliant day.......

Monmouth-Sunday Evening

What a bummer....got to Monmouth, lovely evening.......laid out the balloon,started cold inflation...........wind changed by 180 degrees..'sea breeze bump'!....again, same weather conditions as last night in Bath.......third failed launch in three evenings.....glad we have mornings in this world!!!

Easter Sunday

Launched from Bath at 0755, light winds , much more stable than last night!
Gentle flight SW towards Radstock, landing in a nice dry field belonging to a smashing farmer whom we had met last year.
After dropping the passengers back to their cars, it was off for bacon rolls and steaming coffee at a local farm shop......hard job but someone has to take it on!!!!

Hopefully off to the Breacon Beacons for the evening flight.....fingers crossed.....

Mad Winds!

Saturday evening flight was aborted during inflation(very rare) due to weird wind patterns over Bath. These were due to a sea breeze from the Bristol channel colliding with warm winds over Bath. A few very dark clouds materialised and thermic activity caused wind direction to change dramatically. Two balloon had already launched when this event started and the pilots had to use all their skills to land safely!.........Never a dull moment in the Ballooning world!.............

Up we go

Saturday morning, 12 hours since failed launch.........and its all systems a go!

Launched in light winds and headed south over Bath with fantastic views across the Bristol Channel as far as the Brecon Beacons!

Landing site was bit hard to find, but after 1hr 20 mins landed in a sloping field bit near to a stable block. However the owners were fine providing the vehicles did not make too much noise passing though the yard! Bit of trouble getting out of the field, trying to keep the revs low so as not to spook the horses, and trying to keep momentum to get the 3 ton trailer over the rise!.....Horses are funny things.....did not spook them at all when I reversed the bus through the yard with the warning beeper going BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!.........BACK TO BATH LATER FOR THE SECOND LAUNCH OF THE DAY(WEATHER PERMITTING)........

Failed Launch

Good Friday...not so good!.....Met at Victoria Park with 3 other Balloon teams for an evening launch.......weather front was moving very slowly and raining.....failed to clear by 'cut off' time and so it was disappointment all round.....try again in the morning!

Weather outlook

Looks like improvement on the weather front(get it!).......need the wind to slow up though!............

Damn That Weather

Weather crap for the next few days at least!.......Hopefully might get off the ground before the end of the bank holiday.........

Monmouth ...Again

Different day.....different direction........different windspeeds.......different landowner.......Launched at 1720 and set off at 18kts towards Ross on Wye, meaning a chase up the dual carriageway where we promptly lost sight of the balloon! After a cunning manouvre to high ground we spied them looking to land just South East of Ross, missed , carried on at a fair rate until finally dropping down North of Ross, at Court Gardens .......beautiful Tudor Mansion with surrounding farmland........exciting landing.......taking half a field to come to a stop!....Landowner was smashing chap, who was happy that the pilot had skillfully missed his recently planted wheat and asparagus crops!!!

Monmouth

Breezy launch from Monmouth(Dog Poo Park)........and set off SE to fly over Raglan Castle eventually landing to the West of Usk in an irate farmers field, who is now on the 'don't land here' map which all pilots have, the information does not always get round to all the pilots and can cause a bit of bad feeling with landowners, who have the final say on whether a balloon or any other form of transport can land on their property. It must be said that the vast majority of pilots respect the wishes of the landowners, and in the case of our balloon, of 97 flights last season, only two landowners were upset at our arrival. Most landowners are very happy to see us, their children love to 'help' pack away and often get a small gift for their efforts, whilst the owner gets a cracking bottle of wine/pre-agreed landing fee.

Cheltenham

Took off from the racecourse at 1725 with very light breeze.....wind direction before launch was West to East........post launch it had turned to North to South, sending them very slowly over the town!.......after one aborted landing attempt into a playing field, finally landed in the rough above the 16th hole of a local 'hilly' golf course just South of Cheltenham. Took a little time to recover the basket, but no damge to the fairway!...very considerate pilot....not landing on the 16th green!

Glastonbury

Launched Sunday at 1710 from Millfield school driving range! No one practicing! Gorgeous evening with light winds.......went South initially, turning back to NE and eventually landing at the Glastonbury festival area at a neighbour of Micheal Eavis! Nobby met a long lost cousin who had booked on the flight......AAHHH.....

Weather improving!

Looks like the weather is improving from tomorrow........Hoping to launch from Millfield school near Glastonbury during the afternoon!......Oh Happy Days....

Pants weather at the moment.......watch this space......lets hope spring returns soon........meanwhile I shall be a good citizen and do my end of year tax.........creatively!!!!!(only joking Big Brother)

Pandy Launch

This is without doubt my favourite launch site, it is in Wales!!!!

The launch field is right on the edge of the Black Mountains, 6 miles north of Abergavenny, in the shadow of the wonderful 'Skirrid'.

Saturday morning was mainly clear with a bit of haze and zero wind for take off......picked up some breeze with altitude and headed SE..........after chasing through miles of single track road we caught up with them some 7 miles on.......ready to land in a nice dry field........could not contact the landowner, but having confirmed the farmhouse with a neighbouring farmer, left a bottle and polite note.......Event free flight.....but this pilot must learn to drive!!!!(gate removed from post!......repaired though!)

First Weekend of the Season

Well, we are off to a good start........Launched our big red Virgin on Friday at about 4.45 into clear skys above Bath......went NE for about 12 miles and landed safely in a chaps front garden!(actually it was a field, but positioned where a garden would be.....)......No mishaps or drama apart from the pilot nearly hanging himself during pre-flight safety checks when he got caught in the parachute lines!(not a conventional parachute, its the bit at the top which lets the hot air out!)