or lighter-than-air free flight, is the passage through the air of a balloon of fabric or film containing a buoyant gas. Unmanned balloons can carry instruments and may be radio controlled. Manned balloons carry a basket or car for the pilot and passengers. By adjusting the ascent and descent of a balloon through the air, the pilot can take advantage of available winds to guide the balloon over the surface of the Earth. This element of control, or the lack of it, is the hallmark of sport ballooning.
Mankind’s first flight took place on Nov. 21, 1783, when two Frenchmen climbed into a wicker gallery suspended at the base of a beautifully decorated paper lined cotton balloon. The balloon, filled with air heated by burning straw, carried the men aloft for a 20-minute flight across Paris. Witnessing this ascension were King Louis XVI, members of the French Academy of Science, and multitudes of the public, including the American inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin. One cannot exaggerate the glorious impression that this feat produced on the world of the 18th century: Men had actually flown! Since that time the field of flight has been taken over by airships, gliders, airplanes, helicopters, and even rockets and spacecraft, but balloons continue to be used for recreation, competitive sport, and scientific exploration into realms unattainable by other aircraft.
Hot-air balloons may be used for short flights at low altitudes in the quiet of early morning or late afternoon, or they can be taken on “long jumps,” using stronger winter winds to travel a hundred miles or more at altitudes of up to two miles. Gas sport balloons can stay aloft for several days and travel hundreds of miles. Indeed, combination hot-air and gas balloons have crossed continents and oceans and have even circled the globe. For scientific research, special gas balloons can float in stable conditions for days or even months at a time, carrying instrument payloads through the upper reaches of the stratosphere.
This article surveys the principles and history of balloon flight and then describes the materials, structures, and methods employed in ballooning for recreation, long-distance flight, and scientific research.
by Don Piccard
©2005