Black Horse Ballooning Club

Horses are by nature flight animals. When frightened their natural response is to flee. If they are outside and become startled or fearful and they don't have room to run freely they can injure themselves or people holding on to them. Horses that are not familiar with hot air balloons can be easily frightened by the sheer size of the balloons and sudden noise that occurs when the burners are used even when the balloons are a considerable distance away.

 

When the horses are safely inside the stables where they cannot see or hear the balloons they are seldom aware of any ballooning activity above them and therefore will be calm. It can be helpful to keep the radio on inside the stables to mask the sound of distant balloon burners which can travel long distnces and tend to be heard by dogs and horses more readily than by humans.

 

One of the challenges and also one of the charms of flying in a hot air balloon is that balloons have no directional control and will therefore, once they are air-born, fly in the direction the wind takes them. This does mean that balloons are incapable of taking evasive action when they become aware of animals in their flight path. Balloonists take great care to avoid horses and other livestock and generally fly high and quietly so as to avoid causing distress to any animals. However,  they will be flying closer to the ground just after take off and when descending for landing approaches and sometimes for training or emergency purposes.

 

It may be helpful to all horse and livestock owners in the area to know which direction the balloons form the Black Horse Ballooning Club "Solo+ Meet" 2019 are likely to be flying.

 

The Black Horse Ballooning Club has produced the the following indications of the expected wind direction and therefore the expected movement of balloons for each planned flight throughout the duration of the Meet.

 

Balloon flying is generally restricted to early mornings and late evenings. The flying from the Black Horse over the week-end will take place at carefully scheduled times and flights will typically last for less than 90 minutes.

 

There are 4 flying slots planned for the event.

 

Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening and Sunday morning

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Below you will find a map of the local area with the best information we have available currently regarding the wind strength and direction at the time the balloons will be in the air. The maps also provide an indication of where the balloons are likely to be as the pilots look for a suitable place to land. The red arc indicates where the expected winds would take the balloons after one hour of flying. The blue shaded area indicates where balloons are likely to be flying lower in order to land.

 

These charts can only approximate the position of the balloons and it is possible that the balloons may be flying outside the expected pattern shown. These charts have been produced in advance of the event based on Met office weather projections and it is advisable to check the wind direction on the day to see if the balloons will be active near you in the early morning or early evening.