Today, hot air balloons are used primarily for
recreation. There
are some 7,500 hot air balloons operating in the United States.
Hot air balloons are able to fly to extremely high altitudes. On November
26, 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot
air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 metres (69,849 feet). He took off from
downtown Bombay, India and landed 240 kilometres (149 miles) south in
Panchale. The previous record of 19,811 m (64,997 ft) had been set by Per
Lindstrand on June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas. However, like all registered
aircraft, oxygen is needed for all crew and passengers for any flight that
reaches and exceeds an altitude of 12,500 ft (3,810 m).
The present absolute world balloon altitude record was set 4 May 1961 when
Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather piloted a Winzen polyethylene balloon to
34,466 m (113,077 ft) above the Gulf of Mexico. Tragically, Prather
drowned at landing when his pressure suit filled with water.
The Virgin Pacific Flyer capsule on a frozen lake in the Canadian tundra
after the first and only crossing of the Pacific in a hot air balloon.
Most of the giant jettisonable propane fuel tanks are no longer attached.
One still hangs in front of the two-man sealed pressurized capsule. The
flight holds the distance record for a hot air balloon.
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Hot air balloon ride are a great way
to see the Napa Valley for visitors and locals. The views are
spectacular the rides breath taking.
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Alphabetical Listings
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Above The West Hot Air Balloon
P O Box 2290, Yountville, CA 94599-1304
707-944-8638 |
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Adventures Aloft
6525 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599-1300
707-944-4408
800-944-4408 |
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Balloon Aviation of Napa Valley
PO Box 2500, Yountville 94599 800-367-6272
Balloons
Above The Valley
5091 S Solano
Ave,
Napa, CA 94558
707 253-2222 |
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Balloon Aviation-Napa
Valley
6525 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599-1300
707-944-4400 |
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Bonaventura Balloon
Corporation
PO Box 78, Rutherford, CA 94573-0078 707 944-2822 |
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| Calistoga Balloon
Company 707 942-5754 |
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Hot Air & Co
Sebastopol, CA 707 823-6892
Napa Valley Balloons Inc.
6795 Washington St # C, Yountville, CA 94599-1353
707-944-0228 |
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Napa Valley Drifters Hot Air
±
3686 Beckworth Dr, Napa, CA 707 252-7210
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Sonoma Hot Air Balloon Clasic
1610 Shiloh Rd, Windsor, CA 707 837-1884 |
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Still can't find
it? Try searching our entire site, the San Francisco North Bay Area (
Marin, Napa, Sonoma and Solano Counties) and the world wide web below
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The furthest that a hot air balloon has ever been flown is 7,671.91 km
(4,767.23 mi) 7,671.91 km. On January 15, 1991, the Virgin Pacific
Flyer balloon completed the longest flight in a hot air balloon when
Per Lindstrand (born in Sweden, but resident in the UK) and Richard
Branson of the UK flew from Japan to Northern Canada.
With a volume of 74,000 cubic metres (2,600,000 cubic feet), the
balloon envelope was the largest ever built for a hot air craft.
Designed to fly in the trans-oceanic jet streams the Pacific Flyer
recorded the highest ground speed for a manned balloon at 245 mph
(394.3 km/h).
The longest duration hot air balloon flight ever made is 50 hours and
38 minutes made by Michio Kanda and Hirosuke Tekezawa of Japan on
January 2, 1997. |
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