All posts tagged: Balloon

A Brief Interview With the Owner of the Hot-Air Balloon That Landed in Someone’s Backyard

A Brief Interview With the Owner of the Hot-Air Balloon That Landed in Someone’s Backyard

Published by skeptic

Well, in this case, we couldn’t even get the balloon to the street on either side of the neighborhood. That particular backyard was big enough for the basket to land without the balloon in danger of hitting the house. It was more of an opportunity to land safely before we didn’t have fuel to land. So that’s why it was that backyard in that location. The other options were less safe. What’s the process of getting a balloon down safely from that height? Well, it’s pretty simple. Hot air causes the balloon to rise. Let the balloon cool, or let some of the hot air out—we go down. The steerage comes from the wind. So we can control up and down very expertly, as you can see. But left and right, that’s entirely by the wind. In this case, there was no wind for an extended period of time, and that’s why the pilot landed where he did. Can I ask a dumb question, then? If you can’t control directionally where you’re going, how do …

Experience: I’ve been on more than 2,000 hot-air balloon flights in 124 countries | Life and style

Experience: I’ve been on more than 2,000 hot-air balloon flights in 124 countries | Life and style

Published by Sam Flores

I can still remember my first flight, in 2002. It was magical. I was working as a tour guide in Myanmar. I met a British balloon pilot called Phil, who had a spare place on a flight. He offered to take me, too. I don’t particularly enjoy flying in planes, but this was different. We floated gently with the wind, out in the open air. There was no turbulence. It was so serene and picturesque as we flew over temples. I immediately fell in love with ballooning. I never dreamed that I’d become a pilot myself. Growing up in Germany, I thought I might become a doctor, but a backpacking trip through China after high school sparked my passion for travel. After university, I led tours and hiking trips through Asia and around the UK. It was hard work, but I loved it. On that balloon trip with Phil, I had a sore throat. He tried to chat me up, but I couldn’t say much because I’d lost my voice. He seemed friendly, though, and I was drawn to …

Horror as hot air balloon crashes into building – woman falls to her death | World | News

Horror as hot air balloon crashes into building – woman falls to her death | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

A balloon champion died after fall from hot air balloon (Image: Social media/e2w) A champion hot air balloon pilot has died after a balloon crashed into a building before plunging to the ground in a devastating accident in western Poland. Jagoda Gancarek, 28, was killed after she fell from the basket when the balloon struck an apartment block in Zielona Gora on Monday, March 9, morning. Footage from the scene shows the white, green and yellow balloon flying dangerously low over a residential area before colliding with the building and descending rapidly toward the street. READ MORE: Student’s face blown off in freak accident when chewing gum exploded in mouth READ MORE: Mum’s heartbreaking tribute to ‘beautiful little superhero’ son killed in crash The 28 was tragically killed (Image: Jam Press/e2w) The balloon eventually crashed to ground level, where the deflated envelope became tangled in a tree and draped over a bus. Gancarek and two other women had been on board during the flight, which had taken off from the Lubuskie Region Aero Club. According …

It Appears That Immigration Officials Caused the El Paso Airport Shutdown When They Panic-Fired a Powerful Laser Weapon at a Children’s Balloon

It Appears That Immigration Officials Caused the El Paso Airport Shutdown When They Panic-Fired a Powerful Laser Weapon at a Children’s Balloon

Published by José Betancourt

Federal officials made the unprecedented decision to abruptly close the airspace above El Paso, Texas, this week — effectively shutting down the city’s international airport. The closure launched a flurry of speculation about the cause, from an imminent invasion to rogue anti-aircraft weapons. It later turned out that the order, which would’ve closed the airport for ten days, was issued by Federal Aviation Administration administrator Bryan Bedford after finding out that US officials’ use of a high-energy, counter-drone laser weapon at Fort Bliss, a US Army post right next to the El Paso International Airport. The enemy drone swarm turned out to be a simple party balloon, a potentially enormous — and unintentionally hilarious — overreaction, contradicting claims by the White House of an imminent drone incursion from Mexican drug cartels. Now, the New York Times reports that the anti-drone laser was used by Customs and Border Protection officials, who had loaned the device from the Department of Defense, yet another confusing wrinkle in an already chaotic series of events. The extremely rare airspace closure …

Queen Letizia makes the case for styling ‘It-girl’ balloon pants in your 50s

Queen Letizia makes the case for styling ‘It-girl’ balloon pants in your 50s

Published by Daniella Wilson

Queen Letizia of Spain’s sense of style is defined by her love of a left-field silhouette, and her ability to make business attire look incredibly cool, as well as appropriately serious.  As she attended the official opening of the 46th International Tourism Trade Fair at Ifema on 22 January in Madrid, she proved once again that she can look stylish and professional at the same time, without compromising on either. © WireImageQueen Letizia of Spain and King Felipe VI of Spain at the official opening of the 46th International Tourism Trade Fair at Ifema on January 22, 2026 in Madrid The 53-year-old opted for an all-black look, including a button-up shirt, a pair of pleated trousers with a wide-leg silhouette that looked like a slightly more formal take on balloon pants, rounding it all off with a simple belt to break the outfit in two. Her husband, King Felipe, looked incredibly dapper in a similarly formal ensemble, opting for a grey pinstripe suit over a crisp white shirt and black tie. For an official outing …

Balloon telescope sheds new light on pulsars and black holes

Balloon telescope sheds new light on pulsars and black holes

Published by Jenni Sidey

Long before rockets and satellites reached space, the Crab Nebula stood out as a steady beacon of high-energy light. At its center sits a dense, rapidly spinning neutron star that turns every 33.8 milliseconds. That spin feeds a constant storm of charged particles, which glow in X-rays as they sweep through a cloud of energized gas. For decades, astronomers have relied on imaging, timing and spectroscopy to study this object’s structure, from its polar jets to its twisted magnetic torus. Now a new tool is giving them another view of this famous remnant and a nearby black hole, revealing clues about how extreme objects transform gravity and rotation into enormous power. Looking at Light in a New Way The XL-Calibur mission is a balloon-borne X-ray polarimeter designed to measure the direction of electromagnetic field vibrations. These subtle vibrations give hints about where high-energy particles travel and how magnetic fields shape their paths. Earlier observations from NASA’s IXPE satellite captured these signals in softer energies. XL-Calibur pushes into the harder band between 19 and 64 keV, …

Chinese spy balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing

Chinese spy balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing

Published by Sam Flores

Washington CNN  —  The Chinese spy balloon that transited the US earlier this year was able to capture imagery and collect some signals intelligence from US military sites, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. The balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing in real time, the source said, and the US government still does not know for sure whether the Chinese government could wipe the balloon’s data as it received it. That raises questions about whether there is intelligence the balloon was able to gather that the US still doesn’t know about. Still, the intelligence community has not been overly concerned about the information the balloon was able to gather, the person said, because it is not much more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are able to glean as they orbit over similar locations. A US intelligence official told CNN on Monday that “although analysis of the wreckage of the High Altitude Balloon remains ongoing, thus far, its flight over the United States does not appear to have provided critical new …