A sunrise balloon ride over Norfolk is such a good way to start the day. This morning we ascended from Mattishall Golf Club just after dawn the surface wind was coming from the southwest at about six knots with a shallow layer of mist hovering above the tree tops this would soon burn off with the heat from the sun, but it does look so picturesque with the tops of houses and trees bathed in a thin layer of mist. As we pass 500 feet the wind is flowing quite quickly at 15 knots above the inversion, this is effectively a dense band of air or wind shear that keeps the surface wind reasonably calm for the first couple of hours after dawn. We turn left by 30 degrees and at 900 feet we have 21 knots, on and upwards we go and at 2,500 feet the wind slows down to 12 knots. Every balloon flight has different speeds and directions at various altitudes and this is how we can steer the balloon by ascending or descending, I guess it’s a bit like three-dimensional sailing if indeed that makes sense. Our overall track is taking us up the town of Alysham and a quick radio call to the crew gives them an update as we have coved a lot of ground very quickly. As we descend the mid layer of wind is still flowing fast as we pass over Buxton common. In open country we drop under the inversion layer to 200 feet and our speed is a very manageable 6 knots. To our front there are some farm building a stubble field behind we are now down to 70 feet. The farmer is in the yard and I politely call down to him and ask if we can land in his stubble field, the answer was yes. We had a gentle stand up landing in the parish of Marsham.
Hello Breckland Balloon Flight Team
Just had to send you guys a quick email to thank you for my flight the other Monday. I must admit when my son bought me a sunrise balloon flight I was not that keen with the early morning thing, how wrong I was! It was really interesting & I had no idea how different the wind was as we went up & down. Loved the landing too
Peter Steele