Saturday, September 24, 2011

Inflation & Deflation

You have to be an early bird to participate or attend a balloon event.
Here a group is testing their balloon's torch and propane tanks 5 a.m. in the morning. All around the open field, pockets of torches light up the darkness.


It takes a team to inflate a hot air balloon.
The flames from the propane gas is hot and scary. Once the temperature reaches 200-300 degrees Fahrenheit, the air rises inside the balloon and makes it stand upright.
Anticipation for a great flight builds.


The fun ends when the balloon touches down. Here the "Wells Fargo Bank" stagecoach balloon comes to a halt and is being deflated.
Again, it takes a team to get the air out of the balloon and then fold it back up. You get a sense of how enormous these things are by looking at the people standing next to them.


This Smokey the Bear balloon is getting ready for hibernation by 8:30 a.m.


- Karen

5 comments:

Mandy said...

Wow, I never truly appreciated how massive these things are!

Thanks for getting up before dawn to bring us this story!!

lina said...

Yeah, thanks for waking up so early and putting up those photos to share with us. They are awesome. :)

rainfield61 said...

So I shall not use the balloons I used to see in supermarket in order to float me up to the sky.

AVCr8teur said...

Emm: They looked small dotting the sky, but when they landed, you can see how massive they were. It was my first balloon event, so I didn't have a problem getting up early.

Lina: Thanks! I hardly got any sleep anyways because I was too excited. On any other day, you probably can't find me in such a good mood so early. :)

Rainfield61: You will need lots of supermarket balloons for floating. Here, you only need one hot air balloon.

LifeRamblings said...

wow, this is really cool and interesting. it must have been an amazing experience to watch this up close.