Think of it like H.G. Wells' the Time Machine, but only stranger and filled with odd things about Light Sabers, I find it a scary place to visit. Have you been following the story of our missing hot air balloon and pilot in the news?

 

Did he not come down?

 

No it was a bad deal, they found his remains this afternoon, if anything he died a hero because he found an area for the five skydivers he was carrying to safely jump into before the balloon went out of control.

Is it wrong that as a pilot, I'm feeling some anger and frustration because it didn't need to happen, and the guy knew better than to launch near thunderstorms?

 

Is there an NTSB report yet?

(This is why I won't carry jumpers. When a jumper leaves the basket, the balloon becomes super buoyant and pops upwards like a cork being released from under water. It is recommended that you are in a descent [flying heavier than air when jumpers exit to counter the the weight lost as they exit] to counter the change in buoyancy. This leaves the envelope "soft". If he was either in an ascent or at a neutral buoyancy and shot into an ascent the pilot may have had the balloon get caught in a thermal and released too much hot air from the top of the balloon. Once clear of the thermal the balloon would start into a terminal decent and the pilot lights for the burners could have been blown out by the wind stream coming up over the basket as it fell.

I won't even THINK about a flight with T-Storms within 100 mile radius. things can change too fast in the skies

"I'd rather be on the ground looking to the skies and wishing I was in the air than in the air looking for a landing zone and wishing I was on the ground")

 

No NTSB report yet, as of late this afternoon they were still searching for more of the envelope I believe its called, the debris is scattered over 12 square miles of heavily wooded territory. Here's a link to the local coverage....

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/201...alloonist.html

There were storms in the area when he launched, and looking back at the radar from that time, I would have had to divert in a fixed wing aircraft....it was no time to attempt a balloon flight.

Why do experienced pilots do such odd things?

 

17000 ft?

(That's 7 k above mandatory supplemental O-2. 10k MSL and we are required to have and use O-2. He could have passed out.

I know commercial pilots that push limits for the all mighty dollar. 5 jumpers... that would be like loosing 1200 or so pounds of weight. The envelope would have been very soft and the balloon would have gone super buoyant even if they jumped one at a time.

Not anything I would attempt.)

ADDED:

I thought the pilot's name was familiar... I met him in Statesville at a Balloon Safety Seminar 10 years or so back.

He flew the Norman Special Shape balloon.

 

Supposed to be over 80 again today in Detroit. Did Spring really just begin, or have we skipped right on through to summer?

 

That depends on whether or not what's here is coming your way, it's in the thirty's with gusts to 50mph. It should not take long to get there. Want to trade ??

 

No thanks, but could I offer you some excess pollen to make it feel more Spring-like?

 

Amazing how messy plants are when having sex, They get us all involved. California duster getting clogged?