hotairballoonist

Bluff Balloon Event

96th Annual Windsor Harvest Festival

http://havasuballoonfest.com/schedule-of-events/

http://www.hotairjubilee.com/ 225 N. Jackson St. There is no admission fee for The Hot Air Jubilee thanks to the generosity of our Sponsors.

Winter Haven Heaven

Often it is very hard to get the air out and the balloon into a bag but, there are many more factors to think about when it comes to a good balloon bag. Temperature outside! Your balloon will pack up differently depending on the time of year. Can your balloon bag compensate for this? In the winter months the air is cold. Cold air is dense and thick and does not want to come out of your balloon so you need a bigger bag. In the summer months the air is warm and warm air is thinner and will leak out of your balloon easier so the balloon will pack up more compact. Therefore you will need a smaller bag. How often do you fly? Does your bag have a vinyl bottom? What about the sides of the bag? Think about this, do only your feet get wet? Or sometimes are your pants wet up to your knees! If you have a bag, and the only part of the bag that has vinyl on it is on the bottom you run the risk of getting the balloon wet when you are packing it up. If you do not fly often you will need to get the balloon back out and dry it out or run the risk of mildew on your envelope. There have been some balloons get wet from the dew on the test inflation at the factory and then show up looking like a tie dyed shirt from the 70’s Can you carry it? How many handles does your bag have? Are they real handles or just a strap that is sewn in a few places? If it does have handles can you get your hand in them? Sometimes the handles are sewn on with a small gap and many men cannot get a hand into the handle comfortably. How many handles does the bag have? 4, 6, 8 or more! More handles means less work for each person who is helping to carry your envelope. How wide is the handle webbing? A “1” inch webbing can hurt your hands where a 2 inch webbing handle with a soft nylon it won’t hurt your hands. Handle Placement! How many rows of handles? One? Where is the row of handles placed? Near the bottom of the bag? Near the top of the bag? If the row of handles is near the bottom of the bag then the shorter crew cannot carry the bag since the tall crew will have the bag too high off the ground for them to help. On the other side of things handles mounted near the bottom of the bag will give your taller ground team a back ache. Another thing to think about is getting the balloon out of the bag. Handles placed near the top of the balloon will cause the balloon to scrape the lip of the bag as you pull it out. Handles placed nearer the bottom of the bag will allow the balloon to flow out of the bag with less resistance. How well does the bag fit the balloon? A loose fitting envelope bag is a nightmare. Many pilots will run the draw string (Rope) thru some of the handles in an attempt to tighten up the bag more on the balloon. A tight balloon envelope bag will roll like a doughnut and not need to be carried. The Balloon Works bag allows the bag to be tightened up very nicely to accommodate the balloon at all times thru the life of the balloon as well as for different ambient temperatures. However, the strap with O-rings can be very clumsy to use and time consuming to lace each time. Do you have a rope in the top of your bag? Is there a loop tied into the end of the rope that the other end of the rope pulls thru when you tighten up the bag? That will break in time. Each time you tighten that rope the rope wears on the inside of that loop and will give out when the crew gives a good pull. When the crew falls over backwards because of the sudden breakage of the rope let’s hope they don’t hit their head on the trailer or truck or tommy lift! At the very least tie a metal ring on the end of the rope that you cinch the bag with. So what is a good bag? • Slightly smaller in diameter and slightly taller. This allows the bag to be condensed downward as needed for the conditions. • Three sets of handles. Two sets of 8 handles located 1/3rd up from the bottom and 1/3rd down from the top of the bag. Then 4 more handles located on the top rim of the bag. You can use the upper set of handles to draw the top of the bag down even tighter. (See Video) • Vinyl bottom and at least 1/3rd vinyl up the side of the bag. The Bottom and first 1/3rd of the bag should be double lined! At least 2 layers thick and with a heavy 18oz per yard vinyl. • A good draw rope on the top. Not a small ¼ inch rope that will hurt your hands but at least a 3/8 to ½ inch rope to make it easier to tie and untie. • The top ½ -2/3rd of the bag should be made out of a heavy canvas that allows the balloon to breath. If you pack up a balloon quickly the balloon will retain some of the heat from the flight. This heat will help “Bake” out some of the moisture the balloon may have picked up from the landing site. The canvas will allow the moisture to evaporate and leave the balloon • Handles located near the bottom of the bag for easy drag out! 8 handles on each row is optimal. Remember when you are pulling out your balloon you want two or three people on the same side of the bag. Having only four handles makes this difficult. We hope we have given you a few things to think about. Remember safety is in the DETAILS. No detail is too small to think about. A good envelope bag can save your back, make things easier on the crew, make it less abrasive on your balloon and keep the balloon dry and mildew free. I am unsure how many people actually think about the bag your balloon goes into but next time you will sure look at yours. If you need a new bag we have them available in the store in the Product Category “The Pilots Flight Bag” Please fly safe and have fun. Jeff.