Flying with hot air balloons

slimeray · Mar 11, 2017

Hey guys. Just curious of what the rules are for flying near hot air balloons? I got some cool footage of one, but I decided to keep my distance to ensure the balloon pilot didn't call the cops on me or something.

Pic is yesterday morning - Vegas sunrise

CactusJackSlade · Mar 11, 2017

You must stay clear and give right of way to ALL other aircraft. The only way I would get closer than several hundred feet would be if this was set up with the balloon pilot in advance. Otherwise the chances are an irritated balloon pilot will report you. and we have another "near miss!" (insert media hype here)

To me this photo was a too close for not talking to them before hand.

Cyberpower678 · Mar 11, 2017

CactusJackSlade said:
You must stay clear and give right of way to ALL other aircraft. The only way I would get closer than several hundred feet would be if this was set up with the balloon pilot in advance. Otherwise the chances are an irritated balloon pilot will report you. and we have another "near miss!" (insert media hype here)

To me this photo was a too close for not talking to them before hand.

Personally it would depend on the direction the balloon is traveling. If it is traveling away from the drone, great shot, if not, too close.

This was a great photo however.

4wd · Mar 11, 2017

I asked a local paraglider chap his thoughts if I were to fly alongside and he pointed out the risk of unexpected movements and props cutting cords.
A balloon is more predictable but they will still be concerned about the dreadful consequences of a drone going through the envelope.
As experienced users we aren't likely to do that by accident but being anywhere near there must be a slight risk from unexplained freakish behaviour.
A ballon can't do anything to avoid a collision..

Kilrah · Mar 11, 2017

That kind of stuff is fine when planned in advance but not on random encounters.

I've flown close to paragliding friends, but with planning. Everybody aware of what's going on and all movements are planned so there's no unexpected trajectories. Drone must be made visible to them as much as possible.

Distance here looks fine though as long as wind direction has been taken into account. A balloon is big and with the Mavic's camera angle it's really quite far.

Cyberpower678 · Mar 11, 2017

4wd said:
I asked a local paraglider chap his thoughts if I were to fly alongside and he pointed out the risk of unexpected movements and props cutting cords.
A balloon is more predictable but they will still be concerned about the dreadful consequences of a drone going through the envelope.
As experienced users we aren't likely to do that by accident but being anywhere near there must be a slight risk from unexplained freakish behaviour.
A ballon can't do anything to avoid a collision..

You could attach a giant fan to the bottom and use it as a thruster.

XD

rydfree · Mar 11, 2017

Too close is all relative . If you asked the balloon pilot I'm sure he would say that was too close . To the people saying it's all according to wind direction etc , it's not like Mavics are crashing or flying away due to improper setup or inexperienced pilots huh ?

Cyberpower678 · Mar 11, 2017

rydfree said:
Too close is all relative . If you asked the balloon pilot I'm sure he would say that was too close . To the people saying it's all according to wind direction etc , it's not like Mavics are crashing or flying away due to improper setup or inexperienced pilots huh ?

Wind direction is everything. The balloon can't steer. If it was blowing towards the Mavic, it's going to crash into it.

slimeray · Mar 11, 2017

I was flying parallel to the direction the balloon was drifting.

Cyberpower678 · Mar 11, 2017

slimeray said:
I was flying parallel to the direction the balloon was drifting.

Glad to hear.

rydfree · Mar 11, 2017

Cyberpower678 said:
Wind direction is everything. The balloon can't steer. If it was blowing towards the Mavic, it's going to crash into it.

Duh .
The Mavic is tiny and people say all the time it doesn't do well in the wind . A good tail wind could get the Mavic too close for comfort if the operator isn't paying close attention to distance . A good headwind and it might not maneuver out of the balloons path quickly enough . The point was however , Mavics are being lost and crashed at an alarming rate so the highest probability of an incident is simply operator error . Nobody needs to be in the vicinity of another aircraft without the expressed consent of the pilot .

Cyberpower678 · Mar 11, 2017

rydfree said:
Duh .
The Mavic is tiny and people say all the time it doesn't do well in the wind . A good tail wind could get the Mavic too close for comfort if the operator isn't paying close attention to distance . A good headwind and it might not maneuver out of the balloons path quickly enough . The point was however , Mavics are being lost and crashed at an alarming rate so the highest probability of an incident is simply operator error . Nobody needs to be in the vicinity of another aircraft without the expressed consent of the pilot .

I'm not disagreeing with you on that. It will always be pilot error if it hits the balloon, no exception.