Simon, a carpenter and kitchen fitter by trade who caught the ballooning bug after crewing for a hot air balloon pilot he knew, said “A balloon flight is like nothing else you’ll ever experience, it’s amazing!

“I was lucky enough to fly the Channel single-handedly in 2006 as part of a charity challenge too. Me and some other pilots launched from Kent and it took around 55 minutes to reach the French coast.
“We flew at around 2,000ft above the water all the way across and from the moment I reached that altitude over the white cliffs of Dover I could see France clearly in the distance. The view was incredible.”
Although his ballooning career to date has allowed him to see some fantastic places, Simon still insists, “The most spectacular sight to see from the air is Dorset’s famous Jurassic Coast.”

For your chance to see the Jurassic Coast from the basket of a Virgin hot air balloon call 01952 212750 or visit virginballoonflights.co.uk

See you in the sky!

Stephen, who lives with his parents and two brothers in York, had gone to watch the son of a family friend take a hot air balloon ride for his 18th birthday at our York Racecourse launch site. Luckily for Stephen, the hot air balloon basket had a couple of spare spaces left that were offered by pilot Martin Collinson to onlookers.

Stephen’s Dad Mark said “Stephen was very keen that we didn’t miss the opportunity. I asked if Stephen was old, or big enough, and was reassured that he was and with that Stephen was straight up into the basket.”

The flight which launched on the 1^st of September at 07:45am, drifted to Elvington landing at 08:55am and “Stephen particularly recollects seeing local buildings and sights he knows, such as the River Ouse, the Archbishop’s Palace at Bishopthorpe and Elvington Airfield. It struck him that from great heights things like trees almost looked like they were not real” added Mark.

Stephen sums up the flight as “Ten out of ten, the best thing ever.”

Thanks Stephen, we hope to see you in the sky again in the future.

More information about your chance to take to the skies in Yorkshire is available here.

* Passengers must be over 7 years of age and at least 4’6” in height to fly with Virgin Balloon Flights.

Once the balloon has taken off, the crew will load everything that doesn’t fly back onto the trailer (this includes the inflation fans and various other bits of equipment) and keep an eye on the balloon to get a fix on the general direction and speed that the balloon is going at.

Once a rough speed and direction have been calculated, friends and family of the passengers are told what area to head for if they want to be close when the balloon lands. They are also told two other important bits of information…

1. Please don’t follow the crew vehicles, if we make a wrong turn its already tricky to reverse an 18 foot trailer up a country lane to turn it around, an extra 10 or so cars behind the trailer make it even more of a challenge.

2. If they get to the exact spot where the balloon lands, please do not enter the field that we have landed in unless the crew invite you to enter.

What happens next depends on the wind. If it’s calm, the crew may talk with the friends and family of the passengers answering ballooning questions and sharing experiences before leaving to chase the balloon. If it’s breezy (and the balloon is heading off fairly quickly) then the crew will not hang around and will start to chase the balloon as soon as possible.

The chase – while the balloon is in the air the crew’s job is to stay as close as possible to the balloon on the ground, in most cases playing a game of leapfrog where the crew get ahead of the balloon, let it pass over them and then get ahead of the balloon again. This continues for around an hour before the pilot lands the balloon, always looking to avoid fields with livestock or uncut crop.

Once the balloon is on the ground again the fun of getting to the balloon starts for the crew, where possible the pilot will keep the balloon standing upright so that it can take off again if the need arises.

In most cases the crew will need to find the landowner in order to gain permission to enter the land and retrieve the balloon (strictly speaking permission is not normally required because of legal complexities surrounding commercial passenger aircraft, so this is done more out of courtesy and as it follows the Code of Conduct agreed between the BBAC and NFU). Landowners are generally very friendly and will come up to the balloon, often with a camera and a smile.

Once the crew are in the field with the balloon the envelope will be deflated and packing the balloon away begins, this is pretty much the reverse of setting it all up, the basket is loaded back onto the trailer, the envelope is rolled up and put in its bag and put back on the trailer and everything is strapped down.

Depending on the landing site, Champagne (and soft drinks) may be bought out at this point for the traditional toast before everyone is transported back to the original launch site to bid a final farewell.

Once the flight is over the crew will take the balloon back to their base and the whole thing starts again. All being well the time is now around 10am. The next flight will probably be around 7pm.

Just enough time for the crew to catch a bit more sleep, Zzzz …

The balloon crew’s job starts as soon as the previous flight has finished with simple things like refuelling the balloon (with most balloons carrying 400 litres of LPG this can take a while), refuelling the inflation fans with petrol, replenishing champagne supplies (or soft drinks) and making sure that the balloon and everything associated with it (trailer & tow vehicle etc) are ready for the next flight.

What happens next is the same for crew and passengers alike, we phone the flight line to find out whether the flight is going ahead and liaise with the pilot to decide what time to set the alarm clock for. In general the crew will start around three hours before the flight so for a 6am flight this means a 3am start.

The first job is to get to the launch site which in itself can represent anything up to two hours of travelling, once on the launch site the crew join up with the pilot, most of the time the pilot will arrive separately to the crew due to very strict restrictions on working hours for the pilots.

Between the pilot and crew a decision will be made on where to set the balloon up and which direction it should face, A lot of the time this decision is based on the way a small helium balloon flies when released from the launch site (weather & wind forecasts are good but not as good as releasing a small balloon and watching what the wind does to it.)

While all this is going on the crew are also meeting and greeting passengers and checking passenger names & vouchers against the flight manifest.

Once the decision has been made about where the balloon is to launch from, the basket is taken off the trailer and laid on its side while the envelope (that’s the balloon part) is laid out in a straight line. It is then attached to the basket itself, while the basket is attached via a quick release system to the tow vehicle.

The envelope is then pulled out to its full width ready for inflation and the inflation fans are used to start filling the envelope with cold air. While the envelope is filling this is one of the busiest times for the pilot and crew as they carry out final checks on the balloon along with preparations for flight.

The envelope is now almost fully inflated with cold air and at this point the inflation fans are stopped and removed. The burners are then lit and fired into the mouth of the envelope to heat up the cold air that is inside. Gradually the temperature inside climbs and the envelope starts to lift. Once there is enough heat inside, the envelope stands straight up and brings the basket the right way up.

Now the basket is standing up the passengers are allowed to climb aboard and are re briefed by the pilot regarding safety (this briefing can also take place before the balloon is inflated depending on conditions on the day). Once the briefing is over the pilot starts using the burners again to create enough lift to carry the basket and all of the passengers. Once there is enough lift the quick release is activated (to separate the basket from the tow vehicle and the magical part of the adventure begins for the passengers as the balloon slowly climbs away from the launch site. The job of the crew is only just beginning…

Brad Smith, who pilots champagne balloon rides in Shropshire, starred on BBC Radio Shropshire’s breakfast show on Thursday.

The adventurous Aussie, who now lives in Whitchurch, spoke about some of his most memorable flights which have taken place all over the world. He spoke about how beautiful Shropshire is from the air and how it compares to many of the more exotic places his soared over.

The feature about Dream Jobs, during show presented by Eric Smith, foscussed particularly on an incredible flight in the Kenya’s Masai Mara when a pride of lions gathered round the balloon after landing.

Brad said: “Ballooning has given me the opportunity to see the world. I couldn’t do another job now.

“The thing I love most is seeing the excitement on passenger’s faces when they experience ballooning for the first time.”

Listen to Brad’s interview (fast forward to 1hr 39 mins)

Join brad on a Shropshire balloon ride from Telford, Shrewsbury or Whitchurch. See our flight vouchers here

The couple, both 29, have lived together in Tokyo for five years and were visiting Andrew’s family in Richmond, North Yorkshire, when they took the chance to go ballooning.

Andrew, 29, said: “Ayako has always wanted to fly in a hot air balloon. When we decided to go back to the UK this summer, this was the one thing she really wanted to do. The gods must have been smiling on us because the weather was perfect for ballooning.

“It was amazing. We hadn’t expected to travel so far and see so much. The fact that you are sometimes high up, then sometimes low down, gives you a really different perspective.

“Being able to see the world from a completely different point of view was our favourite part. It was so unexpectedly quiet … we were lucky enough to see a herd of deer running through an open field, which was probably the highlight. The air was very clear so you could see even as far as the North Sea over towards Hull.”

It was the first time in a hot air balloon for the pair who said they hope to do it again in the future after the great experience on their Virgin Balloon Flights in Yorkshire thanks to their pilot and crew.

“Martin our pilot and the crew clearly love what they do. They made us feel welcome, and we were made to feel part of the team by helping to inflate the balloon, and look for the recovery vehicles and pack away the equipment once we landed,” added Andrew.

Congratulations on your 4^th wedding anniversary Andrew and Akayo, we hope to see you in the sky again on your next visit to the UK.

Further information about flying with Virgin Balloon Flights is available here.

The play which was recently aired by the BBC and starred Sue Johnstone and Billie Piper ends with the lead character Betty riding off into the sunset in a hot air balloon.

A Passionate Woman tells the story of Betty, a middle aged mother and wife. Set on the day of her son’s wedding; she climbs into the loft to escape from all the arrangements and drops the flap shut! Betty has a secret that she has kept hidden for years; when she was younger she had a passionate love affair with a polish fairground worker. Now the spirit of her dead lover, Craze, comes to her on the roof and Betty relives her time all over again with him. Her son and husband meanwhile realise Betty’s whereabouts and try to woo her down to the all important wedding, but she’s not going anywhere except up!

Writer Kay Mellor entitled the play A Passionate Woman because she realised that’s exactly what her mother was. Kay has re-worked the play especially for Hull Truck and is delighted to be finally playing her mum (Betty) for the first time. The star studded cast for the performance also includes ‘Emmerdale’s’ Anthony Lewis, ‘Hollyoaks’’ Stuart Manning and Andrew Dunn from ‘Dinnerladies’.

Here at Virgin Balloon Flights we are giving all ‘A Passionate Woman’ spectators the chance to fly off into the sunset just like Betty. Simply take a flyer from the theatre after the performance which instructs you how to claim the flight voucher discount.

A Passionate Woman – Hull Truck Theatre, 10 September – 2 October 2010 Box Office 01482 323638

Up, up and away! 

Pilot Spencer Craze who flies for Virgin Balloon Flights in the south east said “Balloon rides in Surrey are fantastic as it has a tremendous amount of beautiful woodland to fly over, yet it’s really close to London, so you can sometimes have great views of the city. Being involved in Wings & Wheels will be great, I imagine the balloon will get a lot of attention.”

The father-of-two will be at the Surrey attraction offering discounted flights to festival goers and launching his big red Virgin balloon from the showground early morning and early evening on both Sunday 29^th and Monday 30^th.

As well as taking to the skies with Virgin, the exciting aviation and motoring show are proud to announce that the famous Red Arrows will be joining the ‘air teams’ in the four hour display on both days too. As if that wasn’t enough there will be family activities including a fairground, over 50 stalls, arts and crafts, food and drink and many demonstrations and trials.

What’s more, all proceeds from Wings & Wheels will go to Dunsfold Park’s nominated charities which include; Brooklands Museum Trust, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance, Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust and Help for Heroes.

Tickets are still available and cost £16 for adults, £5 for under 15s and £36 for a family. Hospitality packages start at £120 per person. For more information or to book a ticket visit www.wingsandwheels.net or call 01483 542226. 

Kyle Cheney, from Broughton Lincolnshire celebrated his 24^th birthday in style with an early morning balloon flight with his partner Zoe. The lucky couple booked the flight specifically for Kyle’s birthday date and got to fly first time with great weather and of course amazing views.

“The balloon ride was actually a gift I bought for my partner’s birthday back in April this year, and we decided it would be a great idea to book it for my birthday so we could celebrate together – best of both,” said Kyle.

It’s hard to choose one favourite part of the flight. It was all great, I did like seeing the balloons reflection when flying over rivers, and the initial awe of taking off and first looking out was pretty breath-taking. I’m glad the weather was as good as it was.”

“Because I really enjoyed it, I would definitely like to do it again. It was very peaceful and tranquil. The pilot and crew were all very helpful and fun; it made the experience even better being able to have a laugh with them.”

On the very same morning crew member Neil was also celebrating his own birthday – a double celebration for that basket! After they had landed and enjoyed their Champagne toast the two birthday boys posed for a photograph.

Flying with Virgin Balloon Flights is the perfect birthday gift, click here for more information.

Susanne Courtney known on the show as ‘Suze’, interviewed Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Mark for around 40 minutes allowing him to choose the records they played between talk time. True to the nickname Suze gave Mark as ‘Balloon Obsessive’, his choices of songs were of course ballooning related.

The first of Mark’s picks was non-other than ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ by The Rolling Stones blaring out it’s ‘Gas, Gas, Gas’ reference mid chorus, next on his playlist was Crowded House track ‘Weather With You’ signifying the plea pilots have for good ballooning weather each day.

Recognised by listeners in the Berkshire area, father-of-three Mark was pleased to hear a lady called Sylvia had phoned in mid interview to say she had had an amazing flight with Mark in her home county.

To listen to Mark’s interview simply follow link to BBC iPlayer or visit www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer and select Phil Gayle’s show on Thursday 19th August .

Although he was nervous before his interview, we’re pleased Mark did a great job educating listeners about ballooning and hot air balloon rides with Virgin in the area.

Impressing the show host too, Mark has been invited to go back to BBC Radio Berkshire and share his experiences of his up and coming world record break set to happen in February 2011 with fellow Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Kenneth Karlstrom.

You too can fly with Mark in Berkshire , Hampshire , Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire , more information is available here.