Hot Air Balloon

The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Annonay, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created on December 14, 1782 by the Montgolfier brothers. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being pushed along by the wind are known as airships or, more specifically, thermal airships.

A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries passengers and (usually) a source of heat, in most cases an open flame. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. As with all aircraft, hot air balloons cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom since the air near the bottom of the envelope is at the same pressure as the surrounding air. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex. Beginning in the mid-1970s, balloon envelopes have been made in all kinds of shapes, such as hot dogs, rocket ships, and the shapes of commercial products, though the traditional shape remains popular for most non-commercial, and many commercial, applications.

Read more about Hot Air BalloonConstruction, Safety Equipment, Maintenance and Repair, Licensing, Accidents and Incidents, Manufacturers

Other articles related to "hot air balloon, hot, balloon, hot air balloons, balloons":

Survivor: Africa - The Game - Episode 11: The Big Adventure
... with a bed, shower and good food, and a private hot air balloon ride the next morning all paid with Jeff's Visa credit card ... Tom are woken up to get ready for their hot-air balloon ride ... Soon after daybreak, Lex and Tom board their balloon and an English balloonist leads them up and on their way ...
Hot Air Balloon - Manufacturers
... The largest manufacturer of hot air balloons in the world is Cameron Balloons of Bristol, England, who also own Lindstrand Balloons of Oswestry, England ... Cameron Balloons, Lindstrand Balloons and another English balloon manufacturing company, Thunder and Colt (since acquired by Cameron), have been innovators and developers of special shaped balloons ... These hot air balloons use the same principle of lift as conventional inverted teardrop shaped balloons but often sections of the special balloon envelope shape make no contribution to the balloon's ...
Hot Air Balloon (rock Opera) - Character Sketches - Corrinado
... who bounced aimlessly from idea to idea, until he invented the world's first aircraft, the hot air balloon ... a service shuttling people across the sea in hot air balloons ... The business, called Hot Air Balloon Traveling, became successful and attracted the attention of Manilla Trane, the entrepreneur whose capital ran much of the town ...
Little Orphan Millie - Plot
... deep shade of hazel." An angry Bart soon discovers Milhouse plans to fly away in a hot air balloon with Zack ... Milhouse, Zack, and Bart take off in the hot air balloon and come upon an island, where a very much alive Kirk and Luann plan escaping with a nature-made hang-glider ... Kirk and Luann's hang-glider cuts the hot air balloon and soon, Milhouse re-unites with his parents ...
Sky Quest 5
... Bill Bussey launched an experimental "metal" balloon, and AX-6 hot air balloon, from Chanute, Kansas ... By the time the balloon landed outside Savannah it had been piloted 892 miles (1,436 km), setting records for AX-6, AX-7, AX-8 and AX-9 class hot air balloons ... first recorded the account of this historic journey in 1995 in Balloon Life magazine ...

Famous quotes containing the words balloon, hot and/or air:

    When I am on a stage, I am the focus of thousands of eyes and it gives me strength. I feel that something, some energy, is flowing from the audience into me. I actually feel stronger because of these waves. Now when the play’s done, the eyes taken away, I feel just as if a circuit’s been broken. The power is switched off. I feel all gone and empty inside of me—like a balloon that’s been pricked and the air’s let out.
    Lynn Fontanne (1887–1983)

    We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    I moved like a lobster,
    slower and slower.
    The air was tiny.
    The air would not do.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)