Brilliant Long Weekend

Thursday night and our 1st launch from Lydiard Park in Swindon....ending up in Ramsbury Estate!....Friday morning from Bath and then on to Raglan for the evening flight in light winds....stayed over for the morning launch and a huge breakfast at the garden centre!......Sunday morning from Swindon again...landing at Redlands airfield.....and finally Bath on Sunday evening for a short flight to Batheaston!......and now the weather is pants again!!!

A Week On.....

Sunday 26th and managed to launch from Bath for a smashing evening flight North of the city eventually landing near Wooton under Edge. Long retrieval due to pilot being a prat and landing 4 fields from civilisation!!

A failed launch on Tuesday morning....Met Office talking Bollocks ...again!....followed by a brilliant launch from Cheltenham Racecourse on the Wednesday morning....although landing was into 'enemy' territory :-D

Thursday morning.....Good old Ashton Court for a 0630 take off and cool landing on a sports field!.......3 flights in the same week....Oh JOY!!!!!

Bath Window

Managed a launch from Royal Vic Park in Bath on Sunday night ....lovely evening ....taking off with Baileys and Bath Balloons....landed gently at Colerne military base .....access made easy by the helpful RAF and Army security team....Cheers!

Another Window

Tuesday brought a fine day with an early launch from the 'Maize Field' and a gentle flight down to the South West of Keynsham, landing on a friends property!(no, not the actual building!!)

The evening flight was cancelled on site when the bloody wind INCREASED instead of dropping out!!! Sad passengers, even sadder pilot and crew.....

Busy Saturday

An 0615 launch from the 'maize' field in Bath started the day off with a cloudless flight down to Orchardleigh golf course near Frome....with a friendly welcome from one of the green keepers.....Because the weather has been so pants lately....and to get the mini bus to earn it's keep when flying is off, we do occasional work for a local taxi company under the 'Hotskies' flag....if they get a request to move large numbers for wedding parties, days out etc, we help out if available. Today, thinking the weather would be poo(which was forecast earlier in the week) we accepted a run to the local paintball centre....which fitted in between flights nicely if , as turned out, we were going to fly.....Finished that job and then straight down to Ashton Court in Bristol for the evening flight!.....Good launch over Bristol from West to East..ish...landing near Pucklechurch in the furthest field possible from the road!!...access via a slurry covered farmyard...love this job!

Wet and Dry

Forecast for Thurday morning was good with the threat of winds picking up fairly quickly...Pilot called the flight on for 0600 on the outskirts of Bath....it pissed down...Met Office got it really wrong again...I feel for the passengers who got up really early to disappointment. We try very hard to make the right call but unfortunately we have to make a decision at least 3 to 4 hours in advance for an evening flight and realistically about 8 hours ahead for a morning flight.....not easy rolling the dice against nature!

Anyway, we called the Raglan flight on for Friday morning for a 0600 launch(to beat the rain).......airborne by 0610...cracking flight out towards Monmouth, landing on a farm that breed 'Bison'.....big lads..not to be messed with! Good retrieval and passengers back to their cars by 0830.....some you win and some you lose!!(Balloon Team 1 - Rainfall 0)

Cheltenham Racecourse

Slightly windy launch from the racecourse on Monday night with a Northerly track to the West of Evesham.......landing two fields from the nearest road, friendly natives and a lovely set of passengers. The farmer could not remember the code for the gate lock!....so he led the rig in from the other end of Worcestershire to gain access :-D!!