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How long is the flight? |
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About an hour, depending on prevailing
weather conditions and suitability
of landing sites, but you should allow at least
four hours for the whole experience. |
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How high do we go? |
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Up to approximately 6,000 feet
- although this does vary from area to area and
time of the year flown. |
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Can my friends come and watch? |
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You are welcome
to bring friends and family to watch you take off
but there
are no special or separate facilities available
for spectators. We also
cannot guarantee that facilities such as public
toilets will be available at
launch sites. They can follow the balloon if they
wish but we do not
recommend that they follow our retrieval vehicles
and if they do manage
to keep up with the balloon until it lands, under
no circumstances should
they enter the field without permission from our
crew.
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What should I wear? |
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We recommend you wear casual clothes
with long sleeves, trousers and a
hat/cap. It will be slightly cooler in the balloon
than on the ground. It's
also a good idea to wear good walking shoes or boots,
no high heels
please! |
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Can I bring a camera? |
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Yes, you can bring a camera, binoculars
or camcorder as the balloon makes an excellent platform
for photography. They must not be in metal cases
and they are carried at your own risk. Most of our
balloons have special pouches to stow cameras on
landing. |
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Can I fly the balloon? |
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No, our pilots are all qualified
and highly experienced and we believe it's best
to leave the actual flying up to them! |
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Can anybody fly in a balloon? |
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We ask that a responsible adult
accompany passengers aged 7-15. All passengers should
be at least 4'6" in height so that they can
see over the edge of the basket. There is no maximum
age limit, although you'll need to be agile enough
to climb into the basket and stand for one hour.
We cannot carry passengers who are suffering from
a serious medical condition, or who have recently
undergone surgery or who are pregnant. Please ask
the call centre staff if in doubt. |
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What happens if my flight is cancelled |
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If your flight is cancelled then
simply ring our bookings team to rearrange a mutually
convenient date and time. The telephone number is
0870 444 2768. |
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What about insurance? |
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Virgin Balloon Flights is insured
for third party and passenger liability. We are
licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority and all
our hot air ballooning pilots hold full commercial
pilots licences. |
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What time do we meet for the flight? |
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For AM flights we meet at sunrise
or just after, and for PM flights we meet about
2½ hour before sunset. Sunrise and sunset
vary throughout the season. |
