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Over Gatineau |
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Components |
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Envelope Made of nylon, this is the most visible part of the balloon.
The Rona l'entrepôt commercial logo is built in the envelope structure.
A valve located at the top of the envelope allows to evacuate hot air to stop an ascent, start a descent or deflate the envelope upon landing. This valve is called the parachute. It is activated by a red rope that hangs down to the basket.
Four valves are located at the equator (middle) of the envelope. Opposing valves are activated simultaneously to let air out of the envelope and induce a rotation movement to the envelope around its vertical axis. The valves activated by the black rope make the balloon turn to the left while the ones activated by the green rope makes it turn to the right.
The bottom part of the envelope, the scoop, is made of Nomex fabric. It’s a heat resistant fabric that is also used to make firefighters suits. On inflation, when the wind is strong, the scoop helps pressurize the envelope to facilitate the process.
The envelope is linked to the burner frame by aircraft grade steel cables and karabiners.
Basket or gondola The basket is made of wicker because it is beautiful, light and it absorbs shocks on landing.
This model of basket is unusual, only twelve have been manufactured so far. Normally, fuel tanks are housed inside the gondola. With the Rona l'entrepôt’s basket, the tanks are hung outside on each side. This reduces the size of the basket and allows for easier storage and transportation.
Burner The burner frame rests on nylon rods and is held by steel cables. Suede padded covers protect occupants and improve the appearance of the bottom end.
The burner is fed by two independent circuits each feeding two nozzles. Each nozzle is controlled by a valve. The main burner is the most powerful but also the noisiest. The less powerful and quieter burner is useful when flying over cattle to avoid frightening the animals. This burner produces a luminous flame used for night inflations to light the balloon as a Chinese lantern.
Fuel tanks Two tanks, each holding 40 litres of liquid propane, give an endurance of about two hours. Unlike a BBQ burner that uses the propane vapour for fuel, hot air balloon burners use the liquid form that offers a greater heat output.
Instruments The instruments are grouped in one electronic unit.
The altimeter uses barometric pressure to display the elevation above sea level.
The variometer measures barometric pressure changes to display the rate of climb or descent.
A heat sensor located at the top of the envelope sends a radio signal to the instrument that displays the internal envelope temperature.
The instrument also has stopwatch, clock and ambient temperature functions.
Avionics A VHF aircraft radio is used to communicate with air navigation services. Sometimes, a transponder is carried on board to display the balloon’s position on air traffic control radar.
Inflation fan A gas engine driven fan is used to initially inflate the envelope before starting to use the burner. |
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Rona hot air balloon |
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2008-03-03 |