Crane sailing
Correspondent • Published 25 Aug 2011 09:30
Take a large aluminium alloy tube, add a couple of engines and a good supply of highly inflammable kerosine, cram the void with as many seats, with people strapped into them, as is physically possible, and let it hurl through the air at around 500 miles per hour. This is what we, in the 20th century, consider to be flying.
Sir Richard Branson has an airline which does just this sort of flying. He also has an enterprise which provides a far more peaceful, serene and generally more relaxing way of getting from A to B via C, D, E or even Z.
Flying in a hot air balloon with the Virgin Balloons team has to be one of the most exciting things that can be done off the ground. I have often seen these massive airships in the Berkshire skies and looked on in awe. So when the opportunity to actually fly in one presented itself in the newsroom, I was the first to raise my hand.
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology and it is in a class of craft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, 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.
My trip started at Victoria Park, Newbury and the balloon arrived on the back of a trailer in a bag the size of my wife's holiday suitcase. When the 12 twelve passengers had rolled it out onto the park, our pilot Mark Shemilt, briefed us all on the flight ahead. During the briefing I was more than a little preoccupied with a number of large cranes involved in the construction of a new block of flats behind us, hoping the wind did not turn from its easterly direction.
A team effort was required again for the inflation process, with petrol fans blowing cold air in to inflate the massive Cameron 375 balloon envelope on the ground before pilot Mark turned the burners on and heated the air. In seconds the balloon rose majestically and we all climbed into the gondola (basket) which was divided into quarters.
With my eye still on the cranes, about 150 yards away, we lifted off. Take off was one of the best experiences of the flight, and, I need not have worried about the cranes as in 20 seconds of vertical take off we were at around 2000 feet. Others in the balloon thought the best part was the 'tree skimming' where the pilot flew just above the tree tops.
The balloon drifted west over the fantastic landscape of Newbury racecourse, Thatcham and Bucklebury before we looked for landing spots. Initially our pilot was planning to land near Douai Abbey but the wind was not favourable he made, instead, a textbook landing in an adjacent field South of the A4 in Sulhampstead near Ufton Court
My fellow passengers who hailed from Maidenhead, Newbury, Deepcut, Portsmouth and Southampton celebrated 'surviving' the trip with a glass of champagne before an eight mile taxi ride back to our cars in Newbury.
Some of my friends have said they would like to do the flight, but have never researched it. To quote a famous sports clothing brand slogan, my advice is to 'just do it'. It is a once in a lifetime experience. To hear the sound of dogs barking and goats bleating as you glide silently across the skies at 2,000ft, never quite knowing where or even when you will end up, is amazing, as removed as it is possible to be from the rat race. There really is nowhere else to go but where the beautiful red balloon takes you. www.virginballoonflights.co.uk or
Tel: 01952 212750 Mike Swift
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 01 Aug 11
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our The Guide archives.
