Thanks to my daughter’s birthday wish, I got to fulfill one of mine too and experience a new for me but very old form of transportation. She’d mentioned wanting to go up in a hot air balloon for some years, so 2023 it was, for her 43rd. This shows the balloon being heated up by the propane burners and beginning to rise. In a minute or two later we and six others clambered into the wicker basket on a clear and crisp Central Oregon morning.
Thanks to stronger winds than usual once aloft, we went further than this experienced pilot had ever gone before on one of these one-hour flights. Far enough to land at an airport, no less. Which took some skillful navigation, which is of course not exactly easy when you’re totally at the mercy of the winds.
It was almost exactly 240 years earlier that the Montgolfier brothers took to the air above Paris in the first manned hot air balloon. It’s hard to imagine what a paradigm-changing experience these first balloon flights must have been. Finally man takes to the skies. And only a few days later the first hydrogen balloon flight Tok place, which allowed vastly greater distances. It wasn’t long before intrepid balloonists took off from Paris or London and would finally come down somewhere in rural eastern Germany or such. Once can only imagine the shock and surprise the locals who first saw them arrive must have felt. Of course there were many accidents and fatalities along the way, but the lure of flying was to great to stop others from taking to the sky.
I read a wonderful book about the history of ballooning a few years back “Falling Upwards – How We Took To The Air; An Unconventional History of Ballooning“. I highly recommend it. And it gave me the urge to ascend.
This is how the balloon looked after it was first laid out on an athletic playing field in Redmond, Oregon.
It then got “inflated” with cold air by a large blower, in order that the propane burners can then be turned on.
Once it got heated enough and started straining against its restraining ropes. we climbed in and lifted off, in serene quiet and ever so gently. That’s the sports compound from where we took off. Snow-capped Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood can be seen in the distance.
Those are the two burners. The pilot turned them on repeatedly to maintain altitude as the hot air cooled in the cool air.
The gently breeze at ground level was coming from west-northwest, but once we got up to cruise altitude (a couple of thousand feet) the wind was coming straight from the north and at about 30 mph. That was quite a bit stronger than usual. Of course one doesn’t have any sensation of wind, as the balloon is moving at the same speed.
My daughter was loving it.
And so was I.
We were moving right along, heading straight for Bend, some 30 miles due south. I asked the pilot if this was a typical destination; he said no, that this is the furthest he’d ever gone on one of these one-hour trips, thanks to the 30 mph wind at the higher elevation. And he does these trips all the time.
I heard the pilot tell the ground crew to head down Hwy. 97 to Bend. I asked where he was thinking of touching down. He said: the Bend Airport. Really? The Bend Airport is a small general aviation airport, but it was clearly to the east of us.
But as he released some hot air and we descended the gentle ground-level western breeze now came in effect again, and sure enough, we started veering easterly to the airport (above).
He then radioed the airport to let them know we were incoming. We crossed the main runway with just some ten feet of clearance, and then…
…touched down just off to the side of one of the connecting taxiways. I was pretty impressed that he was able to bring it right on target like that by skillfully using the two different wind directions. The pilot warned us that we would likely tip over at impact, and sure enough, but no harm done. We climbed out and watched them fold up the balloon and stow it and the basket on a trailer behind his pickup. And then we all clambered into the pickup cab and covered bed for the ride home.
It was a highly memorable ride. What’s next; sky diving?
Congratulations on your balloon ride, we had the opportunity to have a ride in one a few years ago and the pilot also landed on an airstrip. Balloon rides are definitely something to experience…a great time for sure.
That sounds so cool Paul, and something that’s on my bucket list as well. For my 44th birthday, I went up in an old WWII trainer, the Boeing-Stearman Model 75 (N2S-3). That was one of the coolest things ever, and in that hour long flight, I got about 35-40 minutes of stick & rudder time.
How this relates other than I was one year older than your daughter at the time? This company also offers hot air ballon flights out of the same airport, Zero-Whiskey-Three (Harford County Airport in Churchville, Maryland).
I’ve always wondered how these guys control those balloons when they are at the mercy of the winds. At least in the Stearman, we had an engine and control surfaces to get us back to where we needed to go. 😉
Thanks for sharing this with us!
So glad you able to enjoy this experience. It must have felt incredible. Congratulations!
There’s a company here in Ottawa, that gives biplane tours of the city. I admit to being quite nervous several years ago. But it was worth the memory.
Fantastic! I won a hot air balloon ride some years ago (the one and only time I ever won anything in a contest) and tremendously enjoyed it. I too was amazed at the pilot’s ability to “navigate” at all. I was also fascinated and entirely charmed by just how quiet it was up there…except or the periodic roar of the burners. But aside from that it was eerily quiet and very very cool.
I somehow never even contemplated ballooning, although I’ve always found looking down from great heights alluring so I’d probably like it. Yeah, skydiving is on my to-do list too.
I have never been up in a balloon, but think it would be a fabulous experience. And it is good that you were able to land in Bend and didn’t float all the way to the land of Oz. 🙂
My only balloon experience was when I was doing a 3-leg cross country solo flight as a requirement for getting my private pilot’s license. I started on a sunny day and put on my prescription sunglasses – and it was only a minor annoyance when my regular glasses got broken somehow. Then it turned overcast and I got news on the radio that there was a group of hot air balloons in the area that I had to watch out for. I found a small private airport, landed, and went in and asked for some tape to fix my glasses, because wearing the sunglasses on the increasingly overcast day was becoming a problem. I was fortunate to avoid a near-miss with any of the balloons.
Took a ride in one in Missouri when I was a lad. Flat around St. Louis so not much to see but still fun.
Wow, looks like so much fun ! .
I bet the quietude is really nice .
I can’t imagine jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane (SP !) but if it’s on your bucket list, DO IT .
-Nate
Cool, that put you right in my neighborhood, since I live on the East side of Bend, Was the sports ground you launched from the High Desert Sports Complex? I’ve biked the Radlands trails next door, and heard machine gun fire from the Biak Training Area by Redmond Airport.
Yes. It gave us a good view of the many encampments in those pines along the way, east of 97. Some are quite extensive. Is that all public land?
Yes, most of the open land around Bend and Redmond is BLM, Juniper Ridge north of Bend is the main camping area where the RVs from Hunnell Rd. were displaced to after a brush fire and a lot of crime. There are also a lot of camps in the National Forest land along China Hat Road that are periodically cleared.
Tante Ju
I was born in 1943. It was now early 1993 and my 50th birthday was on the far horizon. A magazine I bought had an article on the South African Airways Museum Society. There were pictures of their old aircraft and information on each one. There was also an itinary of their next outing where they were selling rides on a select few of these grand old ladies.
I showed my wife the article, she read it and asked me if I could fly on any one which would it be, I said Tante Ju. The Junkers JU86 were affecionatly called Tante Ju. The First one arriving in South Africa during 1937. This old lady was would be 56 years old on my birthday.
My birthday arrived and there was two envelops from my wife, one was a beautiful birtday card and I wondered what was in the other envelope. It was a ride on Tante Ju in 3 months time. SAA would fly certain planes only twice a year. This ride would be from Lanseria Airport ne my home in Midrand.
The day arrived and I went to Lanseria and there she was in all her glory. Tante Ju looked like a big tin fish, all corrugated sheeting down the sides.
We were shown aboard all twelve passengers and we even had an air hostess whold would serve os cold orange juice.
I sat three rows back from the two pilots and each had a massive half yoke and two great pedals to operate.
With a massive loud roar and a couple of back fires the one engine started in a great cload of smoke followed by engine No2. The old lady shuddered and shook for a while and the the pilots nodded to each other and we started moving. The runway looked smooth to me but it felt very bumpy. We ambled along all the way to the end of the runway, we turned aroung and then all hell broke loose, the engines roared and the plane shuddered and suddenly the plane lurched forward. Slowly she picked up speed, we almost reached the end of the runway when we had ‘Liftoff” The pilots were pumping the pedals and working their yokes. We travelled towards johannesburg and flew slowly over the suburbs.
We could see people swimming in their backyard pools and they waved to us. We were probably about 500ft up. The hostess served us cold orange juice, Baie lekker! We then turned back to the airport.
What a wonderful ride! Thanks wife, you’re special, that’s why we will soon celebrate our 60th.
Sounds like a great flight! I’d love to do that myself.
Nice story!
Good for you and your daughter Paul!
We have regular balloon flights here in Charlottesville, VA, especially in the fall, when the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains are ablaze with color.
Here’s an example from a few years back, where the local school athletic field was used a launching point.
I haven’t worked up the nerve to take a flight.
Really great article. Thanks. And now, for a little giggle.
Always wanted to have a go at this, but we need some dramatic scenery to make it truly worthwhile, which eastern England doesn’t offer. May be France?
In France, we saw the world ballooning championships (as it was billed, essentially a gathering of balloons with some endurance and demo flights). Watching them go up in the evening sunlight was truly great
Now with photo!