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From my walk this morning. Buncha crazy mofos up there.
I love watching them (safely, with my feet on solid ground)
Took a ride in one once.
You can steer. Just raise and lower the craft until you catch right air currents.
Looks like two of them are about to collide. Do they gently bounce off eachother like in a cartoon, or do cables get caught and twisted and everyone falls to their death?
That looks like a nice apartment complex next to a huge park. Nice neighborhood.
They occasionally do bump off each other, usually during mass ascent at the Balloon Fiesta.
Those are houses. About 2500 sq. ft., two floors, no basement.
It’s the biggest park in the neighborhood, mostly grass, plus a dog run area, and a small playground. The three smaller parks get many more visitors than this one. It’s a waste of space and water, IMO, because people don’t use it very much. Maybe there just aren’t many kids near it?
I dunno if you can find the video online, but many years ago, when I was on a balloon crew, a balloon (not “my” balloon) was up when it was too windy, and the envelope collapsed partway, the throat, where the fire shoots up, was closed, and the balloon was falling. Near the end, the pilot in desperation, burned, and snapped half of the cables holding the basket. The basket tipped, and they all fell to their death. So, yeah, like any transportation method, there are dangers.
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New Mexico
I feel like these guys severely skew balloon safety statistics.
Team Rocket are actually great pilots! The spots they can get that balloon into and out of are absurd. They can take it seemingly whatever direction they want, with people and critters jumping into and out of the balloon at random.
They could be professional aeronauts, but their boss keeps making them chase a living high voltage hazard and his balloon-wrecking friends.
You can actually steer them. Winds go in different directions in different heights.
Snail Mail shot a whole music video in a hot air baloon. It kicks ass
And Ben Böhmer did a whole DJ set in one.
Kriss Kyle did BMX bike tricks in a tiny skatepark under a hot air balloon. One of my #balloons posts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSVuDBKLC5A https://feddit.online/c/floatingisfun@fedia.io/p/1714852/dont-look-down-by-kriss-kyle
You can stop if you don’t like it, but you definitely won’t like how. (just jump out)
Jumping out of a hot air balloon can not just kill you, but also everyone else in the basket.
How so
It makes the balloon suddenly get one whole person lighter and shoot up in the air. The pilot has to prepare for this by being in a descent when the jumper jumps out. If the jump is unexpected, the balloon will climb so fast that the balloon collapses, deflating and falling out of the sky.
As other people have said, it can cause the balloon to collapse, if the pilot doesn’t prepare for it. There’s a video on Youtube where a guy explains why it’s a bad idea after some dude tried to jump out of his balloon (with a parachute) without permission.
You jump out, basket starts swinging wildly from the sudden shift in weight, balloon collapses, basket falls to ground.
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They are quite safe and you can land pretty quickly if need be, but yes steering is nigh impossible.
Not impossible if you know what way the winds are blowing at different heights
Yeah thats why i said “nigh”. Its not really steering because you cant freely decide, its more like choosing from a limited set of directional options.
omg, life is just a hot air balloon ride
Very zen.
Just depends how high you are
I have taken off in a hot air balloon a dozen times or so…
Not once did I land with it. Even good landings seem to leave some things to luck.
Edit: added forgotten T.
You never landed? You’re still up there?
I jumped…
Some say I’m still falling to this day.
In all seriousness, balloon jumps are a unique experience in skydiving… Because you go from dead silence to the rush of air at terminal velocity. Sure you can jump a helicopter that is hovering, but they are louder than airplanes.
Exits from a balloon also tend to catch less experienced jumpers off guard, because you can’t fly your body till the speed builds up. First timers tend to flail a little. By the second jump they do just fine.
Better still, how does taking off in a hot air balloon while you’re still in another one work?
