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!