Hot Air! Canberra! Now who would have thought that that could be possible?

Oh yeah, just remembered…. Canberra is a our Capital City, and the national seat of government.

Hmmm, does that answer your question, Monsieur Messier Tidy Upper, (@6), (as if you didn’t know … (insert Smiley face here!)

Yeah, and it is interesting re the two sets of brothers developing Balloons and Aircraft. I could also mention the Renault Brothers with Automobiles. Warner Brothers and their work with Cinema, not to forget the Coen Brothers in that area too, and many more you can find if you engage your favorite search engine with finding, “Inventive Brothers”.

Ivan.

Actually that makes perfect sense. There’s no echo. The space around the balloon would swallow up even small noises coming from the basket.

14 CFR 91.119 forbids operating aircraft (this includes balloons) at less than 1000 feet above “congested areas” (which the regs don’t define, but as the alternative is “remote areas,” people generally think it means cities). Outside congested areas, the aircraft must remain 500 feet from any person or structure on the ground. By the look of your photo, they violated the weaker standard. Even if he didn’t, the same reg prohibits operation that creates undue risk to people or structures on the ground.

I’d suggest a phone call to the Denver FSDO (FAA). This clown could have burned your house down. If he *had* to land there for some reason, it’s legal to break any part of 14 CFR 91 in an emergency. But he should be asked about it.

The public has been educated that all air travel is safe. This is true for 14 CFR 121 regulated commercial air travel. It is not true for other types. Having an aircraft “buzz” your house is a very dangerous situation. Performing such a stunt intentionally is gross recklessness (like driving up to the flatirons at 100 MPH), and should be treated as such.

My last balloon ride was somewhat shorter than expected. My local village fete had a tethered balloon taking people up 30m or so for a look around. My wife and I were the last to ride in it on that morning, as the wind picked up. Floating along on a breeze is very serene, but being in a tethered balloon that gets a lot of its hot air squished out by a gust makes for an exciting landing!

As far as little BAs go, the balloon operators on that day said that children have to be head and shoulders above the edge of the basket (around nine years old), for two reasons. First so that they can see out, and second so that they don’t get whacked in the face by gas cylinders if the landing is bumpy.

And the order of the spectral lines of the balloons, design matches up exactly with those of the lens flare.

Did you do that on purpose Phil?

@JulieMTL I had a cat named Nyssa too. And another named Tegan. Before them I named a parakeet The Doctor–that was a little wierd. (I also had a cat named Sagan and one called Azazel.)

Couldn’t you all just have laughed him out of the courthouse? I just can’t believe it…

P.S. @JulieMTL: I was going to high school in Waukesha at that time. So, hi there!

Last year one of the balloons set down right in front of my place, in the middle of the street. That was kind of a neat photo opportunity.

When the burners aren’t flaring, the silence as you slide across the landscape is dreamlike. Somehow it’s more than just silence… I think because not only are there no low-level background noises, but also it’s as if the void around you lacks the physical weight of nearby objects. I know that sounds unscientific, but I’m trying to describe the odd feeling.

Whatever it is, it is delightful.

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110130/NEWS01/101300311/Mysterious-east-valley-farm-s-lawsuits-ground-nearly-all-local-hot-air-balloons

One of my kitties, the first year after moving into the Balloon Zone, was veritably *barking* at a low-flying orb.

Carole and I did our first one last summer, Boulder to Longmont– it was sublime– just bring a hat– those burners are HOT!