I’ve just finished my first hot air balloon flight and had a really fantastic time. This was actually our second attempt. Yesterday’s flight was cancelled as it was too windy. I was disappointed but really safety comes first.
I’m here at the 4th International Balloon. The first two years it took place in Khao Yai National Park and then last year they flew over the ancient ruins of Ayutthaya. This year it is taking place at Khundan Prakanchon Dam in Nakhon Nayok. The five day event will finish this Monday.
At the dam they are only doing tethered flights in the late afternoon. But early in the morning on each day they are doing flights across the countryside. These start at 6:30 a.m. from the football stadium in Nakhon Nayok. The direction the balloons go depends on the wind.
As my flight was cancelled yesterday due to the wind, I was really happy that I got a second chance today. When we left the hotel in the darkness I could see that it was quite windy. But fortunately this had dropped by the time the sun had risen.
My balloon had a pilot and his co-pilot, together with three passengers. Some baskets and balloons were bigger and could take more. Ours wasn’t really that big and the pilot said that as we had one person too many the gas would run out quicker making a slightly shorter flight.
I think we were very lucky with the weather though at one stage we could only go up and down. But then the wind did pick up again. We did have a mini crash landing at one stage but then bounced straight back up. However it was a muddy rice field and so we got a bit wet.
It was really a beautiful sight as we were surrounded by nearly 20 hot air balloons. We passed over a number of small communities. Down below we could see people who had stopped what they were doing to stare at the magnificent sight. Many of them waved at us as we passed by.
This picture was taken near the end of the flight. You can see the shadow of our balloon. The pilot was already looking for a safe place to land. In preference there also needs to be road access as the support team were following us in the pick-up truck. The pilot told us to bend our knees as we landed. He also told us not to jump out as we might go back up.
As it turned out the pilot found an almost perfect spot to land which was a dry field that was close to a small road. We had a soft landing. The co-pilot hopped out and pulled us closer to a more ideal spot. Amazingly within only a few minutes the support team had found us. They even managed to fly the balloon onto the back of the pick-up before deflating the balloon.
The flight had lasted about an hour. It was really great and I’m grateful to the TAT for inviting me on this media trip. They weren’t selling tickets for members of the public so we were really lucky to be able to go up. Can’t wait for their next balloon festival at the end of 2011.
- Posted from my iPhone
better than KFC and McDonalds lol but the name...