Topic: Fog and hot air balloon landing 3 August 2009

[Michael Bath]

Hot air balloons often pass along the Eltham Valley in front our place but in nine years of living here they have only landed twice. This one came out of the northwest in a very light airstream - hence the fog!

The support crew were quickly in place on my neighbour's place to pack up the balloon.

The webcam captured some of the flight too: click here

[Shaun Galman]

Now there's something you don't get to see everyday!

If you could be sure of wind strength and direction, I bet that would be a cool way to shoot a storm  

Amazing Shots MB!

[Richary]

I would assume that is all private property up that way - aren't they trespassing? What are the rules for landing hot air balloons on someone else's property and then recovering them?

Of course it is hard to make a balloon go where you want it. I guess I just always assumed they aimed for a target with the windspeed and had a designated landing area but that can't be right. If they get it wrong and land in somewhere with locked gates recovery could be fun.

[Michael Bath]

Yep, I imagine they will have to ask the property owner - in this case my neighbours were home.

The winds were exceptionally light that morning - normally those flights are supposed to land much further east. There is not unlimited time to get to the "normal" landing sites so they have to land short depending on the weather.