Have you ever dreamed of being carried into the sky by a giant bouquet
of colorful toy balloons?
That's the idea behind cluster ballooning. The pilot wears a harness,
to which a cluster of large, helium-filled balloons are attached.
Control is achieved by releasing ballast to ascend, or by bursting
balloons to descend.
The most famous cluster balloon flight took place in 1982. Larry Walters,
with no prior ballooning experience, attached 42 helium weather balloons
to a lawnchair, intending to go up a few hundred feet, but instead
soaring to 16,000. Surprisingly, Walters survived his flight. However,
both before and since Walters' adventure, experienced balloonists have
experimented with helium balloon clusters, some rising to even greater
heights.
My name is John Ninomiya. I have been flying hot-air balloons for almost
twenty years; over the last seven years, much of my flying has been in
single-person hot-air balloons called Cloudhoppers. Five years ago, I
decided to fulfill a childhood dream by learning to fly with a cluster
of large helium balloons. I have made twenty-three helium cluster
balloon flights since that time. All of them have been among my most
magical flying experiences.
http://www.clusterballoon.org/
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
