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By Kirsty, September 7, 2010 3:15 pm

The summer holidays are always a time filled with adventure for school children who go back to class armed with exciting show and tell tales to share with their friends and teachers. This week school boy Stephen Johnson, age 8, got the chance to tell his Yorkshire classmates of his airborne adventure with Virgin Balloon Flights to end his summer break.

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.

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By Kirsty, August 4, 2010 10:09 am

W E Johns’ adventure book series truly came to life
yesterday morning as a James  ‘Biggles’ Bigglesworth tribute jumped on board one of our balloons with pilot Martin Collinson in Yorkshire.

The hero character, a pilot and adventurer, had a lengthy fictional career spanning nearly 100 volumes from his debut ‘The Camels are Coming’ (1932) to his final adventure in ‘Biggles Air Ace: The Uncollected Stories’ (1999).

The Biggles fan who enjoyed a hot air balloon ride with Virgin Balloon Flights was Mr Andrew Hayden of Redcar north Yorkshire who is originally from Cleveland, and an obvious adventurer himself. Pilot Martin said:

“He carried off the part with great humour…”

On the same flight yesterday morning which launched from
York Racecourse, the 15 lucky  passengers got a splendid bird’s eye view of Elvington Air Museum which is the largest independent air museum in Britain and is also the location of The Allied Air Forces Memorial.

A truly educational hot air balloon ride in real aviation spirit! The passengers enjoyed a Champagne toast after landing, sipping to the history of flight before packing away the balloon and being taken back to their original launch site.

You too can take to the skies in an iconic red balloon in Yorkshire or from one of 100+ launch sites in England, Scotland and Wales. Start your airborne adventure with Virgin Balloon Flights!

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By Kirsty, July 30, 2010 2:51 pm

The saying ‘red sky at night shepherd’s delight’ was this week  for pilot Martin Collinson more like ‘red  sky at night, balloon passengers delight,’ as Virgin hot air balloon passengers ended their flight with a spectacular red sunset scene.

Martin, 44 from York, launched with a basket full of excited passengers from the city’s racecourse on Wednesday evening at 19.55hrs for an hour long balloon flight which travelled east.

“It had been raining before the flight, after the usual hour in the air we spotted one of the first cut wheat fields of the season and prepared to land there. There was a large dark cloud in  sight as we descended, but when we touched down the basket turned around 90 degrees and we were faced with a simply spectacular sunset!” said pilot Martin.

“The passengers enjoyed helping to pack away the balloon and then we had a Champagne toast in front of the red ‘Virgin-esque’ skyline, which was framed by a rainbow!” he added.

What a wonderful way end an experience of a lifetime!

More information on flying from York Racecourse is available here.