Hot Air Baloon?

[xbocax]

Anyone ever done this or know the specs of cost, convenience, and or speed? And please...no "I know you can go around the world in 80 days" cracks haha. I say that because I would say that.

 

[bote]

sorry to any hot air balloon purists, not going to start a separate airship thread

there are several airship (zeppelin) companies that popped up roundabout the recent skyrocketing fuel prices, trying to develop airships as an alternative to using pricey jet fuel.
It would be a lot slower, but can you imagine spending 3 (?) days crossing the Atlantic? I think it would be amazing, I imagine it kind of like a ferry, with common rooms and a bunch of sleeping pods/bunks, and prices similar to the bus.

as far as freight goes, this is very interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyHook_JHL-40

 

[xbocax]

sorry to any hot air balloon purists, not going to start a separate airship thread

there are several airship (zeppelin) companies that popped up roundabout the recent skyrocketing fuel prices, trying to develop airships as an alternative to using pricey jet fuel.
It would be a lot slower, but can you imagine spending 3 (?) days crossing the Atlantic? I think it would be amazing, I imagine it kind of like a ferry, with common rooms and a bunch of sleeping pods/bunks, and prices similar to the bus.

as far as freight goes, this is very interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyHook_JHL-40

Wow that looks awesome, I'd wait a couple years to see if anything blew up but I'd be up for the ride :].

And as for googling, I often seeing people hassling other people for not just researching online. This may not be the intent of others but for me I check online but still post the question here as well. This being because online you mostly find people of the trade talking in professional banter or the obvious ways of going about things. I feel i would get a response that i much more desire from STP. The people on this site have the DIY do it dirt ass cheap methods and i would love to get advice possibly saying something to the extent of "Yeah i mad this hot air balloon out of this and this and got free fuel like this and it took me this long ." Rather then "I bought this top of the line blah blah bought the best fuel money can buy and with my 200 HP engine(i know hot air balloons dont use these haha) traveled across the Atlantic in 1/2 a day"

All in all thanks for all the feedback though :]

 

[Deleted member 20]

Do you have to be registered with the faa, have lighting & or a license to operate a balloon?

 

[GutterGrayse]

You should try hot air balloon bungee jumping. that's intense.

 

[bote]

You should try hot air balloon bungee jumping. that's intense.

that would be intense, damn

 

[nickt29]

I wanna make a solid DIY ballon, perhaps with helium or hydrogen. 100% DIIY

 

[Pickles]

^ Holy Shit

That's insane. I'd love to do that.
Looks like something that would require a little past experience doing normal bungee jumping though.

 

[ghostsymposium]

in order to fly a hot air balloon you must first have your pilot's license. that takes 40 hours air time in the u.s. at least, tests, and lessons that cost ridiculous amounts of money because you have to pay for plane fuel, usage and the cost of an instructor. also, even if you somehow managed that, hot air balloons use tons of fuel and are really inefficient. and you don't really have accurate control of where you land (you steer by moving up and down and catching different currents), and people are typically followed by a truck or something since you can't put a hot air balloon in your backpack. hot air balloons were once really interesting to me, and they're still totally magical. but i think they're also just a hobby for rich folks. if you can get over that it's still totally worth going to a hot air balloon festival because it's incredibly memorizing

 

[BUMJUG]

yeah take a look at the post i made in "destinations"...free rides in the OC C.A. area...

FREE Hot Air Balloon rides - Squat the Planet Forums

 

[BobbieRKT]

so, i saw this thread and i had to tell you i've had dreams about escaping the zombie apocalypse in a rigged up hot air balloon, painted and graffiti defacement high and low, plus a couple of banners hanging down. i remember a long one that said "survivors." but how hard can the mechanics of a hot air balloon really be? man you've gotta be able to do it for less than that, i'm going to look into this. oh and at the flight school near me they give lessons for $50, so that part is possible, and since flyings not that hard and theres no traffic up there i believe you can get a license at 16? used to be 8 yrs old a few years ago.

 

[Lula]

That' would be a fantastic trip, i've often wondered what it would be like to get my own and move about selling short trips....I mean no bad....right...

 

[shwillyhaaa]

this would be a great investment and an awesome thing to brag about for sure...
but fuck that expensive and you have to get a license which means you have be sober and...eehh
hahash

 

[Siva]

i will build my own hot air squat and squat the entire planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD
and not be sober!!!!
maybe sometimes...

 

[misstinavicious]

If you look up online hot air balloonists in your area find a number to get a ride and instead ask the pilot if you can help them crew. Then you can help them set up the balloons and take them down and learn a little bit about them and then get into piloting. Hot air balloons are a bitch though. I've been working with them for about 7 years and it takes a lot of people to get them up and take them down. And the you have to be careful of so many things, like the weather, if it's too hot, or to windy, or not windy enough, or if the wind is heading the wrong direction. And landing is a pain too. You have to find a huge spot for them, I don't know if you've ever been close to one but they are HUGE. And you don’t want them snagging on trees or anything. So if you really want to think about investing in it I would recommend you start doing some crewing.