Ballooning Connecticut
Construction on the Merritt and traffic snarls on I-95 can lead idling drivers to flights of fancy, particularly as warmer weather reaches the region.
This week, The Hub floats (figuratively) above The Nutmeg State and looks at hot air ballooning, as history and hobby. Connecticut is home to several hot air balloon companies and in earlier times used hot air balloons to conduct a bit of surveying.
Hot air balloons are among the first methods people used to take to the skies. Historians tell us that France’s Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, developed the first balloon to take flight. It soared on Nov. 21, 1783 and was piloted by Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Lauraent d’Arlandes. The French word for hot air balloon is “montgolfier” in French.
According to the FAA, a hot air balloon is one of the safest aircrafts in aviation.
Mick Murphy, president of the Connecticut Lighter Than Air Society , CLAS, stressed the importance of flight safety. The FAA holds many classes and seminars for those interested in becoming hot air balloon pilots. The FAA also holds hot air balloon maintenance classes.
CLAS, a Southbury-based group, promotes ballooning throughout the state, including in Fairfield County. Each year, hundreds of pilots, crew and enthusiasts get together to trade flight tips and participate in hot air balloon festivals from Vermont to New Mexico.
In June, Goshen hosts a hot air festival in and in August Bristol holds its own balloon festival.
In Fairfield, A Yankee Balloon ’s owner and operator Bill Colyer takes people high over Litchfield Hills, Central Connecticut, and the Housatonic and Naugatuck River Valleys.
Colyer offers champagne flights to flight instruction and also holds school programs complete with ballooning education.
Riding high over the state was still something shocking 126 years ago.
In 1885, according to the Connecticut State Library, Alfred E. Moore and John G. Doughty flew over the state in a hot air balloon. Moore was excited, Doughty not so much. In fact Doughty wrote about his near paralyzing fear of leaving the earth and rejoiced each time the flight was delayed.
“Although I had always wished (as who has not?) to taste the pleasures of a balloon ascension, yet, when in July 1885, Mr. A. E. Moore confided to me that he was having a large balloon built, and asked my opinion concerning the possibility of photographing from it, nothing was further from my thoughts than that I should ever realize my aspirations,” Doughty wrote in ‘Balloon Experience of a Timid Photographer.
Hot Air Balloning - News
A look at the history and ongoing practice of hot air ballooning in the Nutmeg State. By Cathryn J. Prince | Email the author | 7:21pm Hot air balloon rides. Megan Franks of Sunrise Balloons Construction on the Merritt and traffic snarls on I-95 can
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Big Red Balloons and TJV Balloons are two hot air balloon companies operating out of Bloomington that offer breathtaking hot air balloon rides over the scenic lands of Indiana. Matthew McClinton, an IU student in the Kelley School of Business, is a hot
And if Bob Zanella had never been born. One of the things to understand about hot air ballooning is that it's relatively new. The senior Thurston, for example, launched his balloon in Meadville on July 4, 1860 — but it wasn'ta hot air model.
Q: What's the appeal of hot air ballooning? A: “When you're in the air with another balloon beside you, it's almost like you're in a picture – if you can imagine a picture of a bunch of balloons – because you're almost standing still.
Zane Whitmore Attaches Self To Hot Air Balloon For Documentary ...
Thirty-four-year-old Zane Whitmore of Seattle took human piercing and suspension to an entirely new level when he hooked himself onto a hot air balloon as it flew 11,000 feet off the ground over California’s Long Valley Caldera. Whitmore was pierced four times across his shoulder blades and suspended from the baloon. In the planning for over two years, the stunt was part of a Portland film production company’s filming of a feature-length documentary called “Feet Off the Ground.
Hot Air Balloning - Bookshelf
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