Tag: Västerås

Low flying

Low flying balloon over Västerås

Short trip to Västerås for another exiting flight with the Rabbit-balloon! We did a quite long flight, over 2 hours instead of the normal 1-1,5 hours due to the absence of wind. People often think that the perfect weather for a balloon trip would be when the wind doesn´t blow at all. This would be true if you didn´t have to plan where to land. Since you can´t steer the balloon at all the pilot need SOME wind to be able to predict where he will land. During this flight there winds was almost nonexistent so we drifted everywhere before we finally found a good spot to land on.

Photos taken with Canon 5D II and EF 24-70 F/2.8L

Turn on the heat!

John, the first one to leave the balloon at 3000 feet…

Coming in low over Västerås. Might be a little bit to low…

Spectators cheering at us from bellow.

A small aircraft did some really close passing´s.

Safe on the ground again!

/Thomas Tanisawa

July 11, 2013
Another flight with skydivers!

Jumping from the hot air balloon

Today we arrange another balloon activity for Aros skydiving club in Västerås. We made a total of two lifts with the balloon so that a total of 12 skydivers could jump.

The first team takes to the sky for a super exiting trip!

The balloon ascends quite into the sky and it only takes around 5-10 minutes to reach an altitude of 1200 meters, that is the planned jump height.

The burners produce aprox. 10.000.000 watt of heat!

When gliding over the landscape you can´t help to compare it to Google maps…

First pair of skydivers waits for a go at the ledge of the balloon basket.

…and then the second pair climbs out to face 1200 meters of free air.

Can you see the small air strip in the upper left corner? The green field with the gray runway? That is our preferred landing place for this flight and in this case as an extra bonus, it´s just outside Aros skydiving center!

And of course we manage to get the balloon to the right place just outside of the club house!

/Thomas Tanisawa

August 12, 2012
Flying hot air ballon with parachute jumpers

Another day with Aros

This day was spent at Aros parachute club in Västerås for an exciting event. We were going to arrange parachute jumps from a hot air balloon. So off we went to Aros in Västerås with a big hot air balloon and meet up with some super exited skydivers. After some preparation and planning we went off to the starting point.

Canon 5D, 24-50 f/2.9L

This kitchen at the club looked like it was in need of some love and care, or at least a sign saying “Your mother doesn’t live here. Clean up by yourself!”

The balloon is starting to come in to shape. This is taken from inside of the balloon before we start filling it with hot air. To start with you only use two big fans, just to get the initial shape up…

…then comes the heat and there is a lot of it!

This is right after takeoff and the ground getting smaller quite fast!

The first brave make his final preparation before taking a leap of faith.

Then there was a wing suite jumper to dive outside of the balloon basket!

The sun started to set over the beautiful landscape as jumpers left the balloon.

This is what it looked like below the balloon. 1000 meters up in the air doesn’t give you much time to correct any errors on the way down…

Can you spot the two skydivers in the air?

Flying in over the city of Västerås. We had a really lovely flight and our three passengers that didn´t jump (they weren’t supposed to do that either) enjoyed it a lot!

This is the not so fun part of flying balloon… waiting outside for the transport to arrive surrounded by millions of mosquitoes…

But flying hot air balloon is worth it!

/Thomas Tanisawa

August 6, 2012