QuickPic: Unbelievable! Hot Air Balloon Aerobatics?
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:28PM 
Click the pic to see it over at flickr or click this link to see it there in its largest size
I love things that fly, and I love them even more if they're somewhere between kinda quirky and very quirky. So this upside down hot air balloon is pretty high on my list of cool flying machines! No, it's not really inverted, you can see the real basket hanging out the bottom (top?) - and the basket at the top is just a dummy. Pretty clever work by Cameron Balloons a few years back for German industrial company Festo.
A quick bit research indicates that the two 'opposite' Festo balloons fly together because the pilot in the inverted one can't really see much of anything. The things we humans do to make other humans smile : )
(QuickPic image from flickr.com/photos/spicpix)
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Reader Comments (3)
Flying them together has the added benefit of highlighting the inverted-ness of that funky balloon.
We had these two visit us once in Canberra, Australia for the balloon fiesta. The poor bugger flying the "upside down" balloon does indeed have to be directed by the pilot of the partner balloon (eg: go up/down, etc). The "hidden" pilot has a VERY limited view of about 30-40 degrees over the edge of the basket.
I have enough fun flying "normal" balloons & would hate to imagine having to do this :)
How recent was the photo? They were here in the late 80's / early 90's so they've done a great job of preserving them if they're still flying. Most balloons get a typical life of about 500 hours on most envelopes - sometimes a bit more depending on how you treat/store them :)
Grant- I'm not sure when the picture was taken, but I do think it was at least a few years ago. Thanx for the confirmation of the assisted flying condition of this very unusual flying machine!