We were joined by some 40 other people from all over the world and divided into two groups – each balloon basket is capable of carrying 24 people in five compartments. We were briefed by our Hungarian pilot, Attila –so you can imagine what he was called - Attila the Hun(!) - that once the balloon was upright and ready to go he would shout ‘board’ and that was the signal to scramble into the basket. Since Pat had a nasty knee injury Attila invited Sandra, Pat and I to climb into the upper compartment of the basket, as it lay on its side waiting for the final blast of hot air to raise it upright. So we were lying on our backs with the burners only a few feet above our heads.
Initially huge fans blowing warm air are used to fill the balloon to about 60% of its volume then four propane gas burners are ignited to provide the final volume of hot air. It is a delicate and skilled operation to get the balloon vertical and to lift the basket upright but without providing too much lift to break away from its ground moorings. It was a pretty noisy affair lying on our backs with the four burners at maximum and very hot indeed – good job I had my Tilley Hat on that has some inbuilt sun protection!
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