I decided to take
advantage of my close proximity to the balloons inflating to try to document
the inflation process…..sort of!
The first set of
balloons to inflate is the balloons that are connected to the companies that
provide hot air balloon rides. The
baskets that the folks are in are much larger than the baskets the other
balloonists have – I have heard that about a dozen passengers and pilot are in
these baskets, shoulder to shoulder. The
other balloonists refer to these as cattle cars. As the balloons inflate, there is someone who
pulls on a sort of guide rope, to help keep the balloon in line so the
inflation occurs correctly. I was able
to get this shot and found the arms on this guy incredible – they were
immense!!!
The more normal sized
balloons start out looking like this.
The folks working on spreading out the envelope (as the balloon portion
is called) are unraveling and unfolding the envelope to get ready for the cold
air inflation. The cold air inflation
involves running big, huge fans and holding open the bottom portion of the
envelope so that the folds of the envelope can slowly open.
Here’s a fun shot of
inside a hot air balloon during the cold air inflation!
Once the envelope is
sufficiently open using only cold air, then the balloon pilot fires up the
engine (literally) to get some warm air into the envelope so that the balloon
not only inflates, but then rises up from the ground. I was able to stand about 10 feet away, so I
got a good view of the flame firing into the inside of the envelope!
Once there’s enough
hot air in the balloon, it tips up. At
this point, the crew begins to act as anchors to help keep the basket centered
and upright.
This is not an image
of the balloon that’s been inflating, but it’s a great shot of what this stage of
the inflation looks like. The pilot is scrambling to get into the basket and
the crew is working to keep it down on the ground.
Once the balloon gets
the ok to lift off from the Zebra (official who controls the ground – dressed
in stripes), the crew steps aside and the balloon lifts off. As you can see, thee balloons are much
smaller than the “cattle car” balloons!
And, here they are –
airborne!! Love the colors!
Enjoy!
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