Hopper balloon
Encyclopedia
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
. Unlike a conventional hot air balloon where people ride inside a basket, there is no basket on a hopper balloon. Instead, the hopper pilot usually sits on a seat or wears a harness similar to a parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
harness. Hoppers are typically flown for recreation. These aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
are sometimes called "Cloud Hoppers" or "Cloudhoppers." However, these terms formally refer to the products of a particular manufacturer, specifically Lindstrand Balloons
Lindstrand Balloons
Lindstrand Balloons is a manufacturer of hot air balloons and other aerostats. The company was started by Swedish-born pilot and aeronautical designer Per Lindstrand in Oswestry, England, as Colt Balloons in 1978...
. Nonetheless, "Cloudhopper" is used by many people as a genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
, which refers to all craft of this general type. In more careful usage, "hopper" is the generic term. Most hopper balloons have envelopes that range in volume from 14000 ft3 and have a maximum flight duration of 1 to 1.5 hours. The two principal commercial balloon manufacturers today offering hopper balloons for sale are Cameron Balloons
Cameron Balloons
Cameron Balloons is a company established in 1971 in Bristol, England by Don Cameron to manufacture hot air balloons. Cameron had previously, with others, constructed ten hot air balloons under the name Omega. Production was in the basement of his house, moving in 1972 to an old church in the city...
and Lindstrand Balloons
Lindstrand Balloons
Lindstrand Balloons is a manufacturer of hot air balloons and other aerostats. The company was started by Swedish-born pilot and aeronautical designer Per Lindstrand in Oswestry, England, as Colt Balloons in 1978...
. Most other hopper balloons are experimental aircraft
Experimental aircraft
An experimental aircraft is an aircraft that has not yet been fully proven in flight. Often, this implies that new aerospace technologies are being tested on the aircraft, though the label is more broad....
designed and built by amateur constructors.
History
Balloon jumping as a sport emerged in the United States not later than 1924, and in England not later than 1927. Balloon jumping really meant jumping for many enthuasists: with insufficient buoyancyBuoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
to sustain flight, the balloonist actually had to use his muscles to start a balloon-assisted hop. In the United States helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
was hailed as the choice lifting gas
Lifting gas
Because of the Archimedes' principle, a lifting gas is required for aerostats to create buoyancy. Its density is lower than that of air . Only certain lighter than air gases are suitable as lifting gases.- Hot Air :...
due to its fire safety, allowing the balloonists to smoke while airborn; elsewhere, hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
was common, but not hot air balloons.
Hopper balloons, or jumping balloons, consisting of nothing more than an air bag and a suspension sling with a primitive bench, were immediately employed by operators of large airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
s and stratospheric balloons as cheap tools of inspecting and repairing aircraft surfaces. The tool was especially handy, since the safest places to launch large high-altitude balloons (Stratobowl
Stratobowl
The Stratobowl is a compact natural depression within the limits of Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, south-west of Rapid City. In 1934–1935 it housed a stratospheric balloon launch site, initially known as Stratocamp, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and the United States...
and Crosby, Minnesota
Crosby, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,299 people, 989 households, and 554 families residing in the city. The population density was 755.0 people per square mile . There were 1,081 housing units at an average density of 355.0 per square mile...
iron pits) were located in remote places without real airport facilities. In one instance, the second launch of Georgy Prokofiev
Georgy Prokofiev
Georgy Alekseyevich Prokofiev was a Soviet Air Forces balloonist who coordinated military stratospheric balloon program in 1931–1939...
's ill-fated USSR-3, it took two hopper balloons to untie the tangled nets on top of the giant balloon: the first jumper fell off his bench but managed to hold on to the balloon's cables and survived.
The first modern hot air balloon was flown by Ed Yost
Ed Yost
Paul Edward Yost was the American inventor of the modern hot air balloon and is referred to as the "Father of the Modern Day Hot-Air Balloon." He worked for a high altitude research division of General Mills when he helped establish Raven Industries in 1956.-Inventor:Born on a farm 7 miles...
under sponsorship by the U.S. Office of Naval Research
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research , headquartered in Arlington, Virginia , is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S...
on October 22, 1960, in Bruning, Nebraska
Bruning, Nebraska
Bruning is a village in Thayer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 300 at the 2000 census. During World War II the U.S. Army Air Forces operated Bruning Army Airfield nearby...
. Since Yost's balloon had a small envelope of 31,000 cubic feet (900 m3) and a chair for the pilot, not a basket, this was arguably also the first hopper balloon ever flown since the golden age of airships in 1930s.
Cloudhopper
The name Cloudhopper is often used to refer to a one-person hot air balloon where the pilot sits in a harness or small seat. There is often a propanePropane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
tank behind the pilot's back, and the burner is on a frame above the pilot's head. Often the balloon's burner, tank, and pilot's harness can swivel independently of the hot air balloon envelope, to let him turn to any direction he wants or needs while in flight and for landing.
The term "Cloudhopper" was originally coined and trademarked by British balloonist Colin Prescot. The development of the Cloudhopper was carried out by Per Lindstrand of Colt Balloons in 1979. Colt Balloons later merged with Thunder Balloons to form Thunder & Colt Balloons, which inherited the Cloudhopper name. Finally, Per Lindstrand left Thunder & Colt to form his own Lindstrand Balloons, which manufactures the present-day Cloudhopper.
Shortly after the team at Colt built and flew its first Cloudhopper, Cameron Balloons came up with its own backpack-style balloon, called the SkyHopper. Its main distinguishing feature was a twist-grip mounted on an arm rest to control the burner. On the original Colt Cloudhopper, as well as all modern-day Cloudhopper designs, the burner controls are mounted at the bottom of the burner, like on regular passenger-carrying hot air balloons.
See also
- Hot air balloonHot air balloonThe hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
- Gas balloonGas balloonA gas balloon is any balloon that stays aloft due to being filled with a gas less dense than air or lighter than air . A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small rubber party balloons...
- Cluster ballooningCluster ballooningCluster ballooning is a form of ballooning where a harness attaches a balloonist to a cluster of helium-inflated rubber balloons.Unlike traditional hot-air balloons, where a single large balloon is equipped with vents enabling altitude control, cluster balloons are multiple, small, readily...
- Experimental aircraftExperimental aircraftAn experimental aircraft is an aircraft that has not yet been fully proven in flight. Often, this implies that new aerospace technologies are being tested on the aircraft, though the label is more broad....
- Ultralight aircraft