Ballooning > Balloon Systems > Experimental

Balloon Systems:Light Sport Balloons@ (3)

• Construction d'un ballon à gaz - Construction traditionnelle d'un ballon à gaz à filet. Cool project to homebuild a gas balloon in France. Tons of detail and description, includes drawings and plenty of detailed photos. They even built their own basket. Site is written in French only.
  
   
• SkyDyes! - Tiedyed hot air balloons - Julia Dream and Gloria Caeli! Entire flying balloon systems in dramatic colors and patterns. We are now manufacturing balloons using SkyDyes! fabric and designs, in partnership with Aerostar and Lindstrand Balloons! The ultimate source for psychedelia - tiedye,fractals,spirals, etc...
  
   
• Cloudhopper.org - Smaller, one-person balloons are covered in detail. A Cloudhopper is a single-person hot-air balloon. There is no basket: the pilot wears a harness that is attached to the balloon, with a fuel tank and burner situated behind him or her. Lots of pictures, reports from flights and solo-balloon festivals, review of balloon manufacturers, and why you'd want a cloudhopper.
  
   
• Cloudhoppers.Org - Broad collection of articles and pictures for anything Hopper or Duo Chariot related. Covers solo balloon history, meets, a forum, a registry, even building your own.
  
   
• The Flying Kettle Project - The Flying Kettle Project - balloons and airships filled with steam! Pictures of the experiments, descriptions of the theory of lifting a balloon with steam instead of gas or hot air.
  
   
• XLTA Open Content Balloon Plans - Complete plans for a home-built balloon suitable for first time amateur builders. Step-by-step instructions for a hot air balloon sized for flying two people. Best of all, they're free.
  
   
• Experimental Balloon and Airship Association - The EBAA is a loose congregation of aeronauts who have built, are flying or own any sort of Experimental, Ultralight or Homebuilt Lighter-Than-Air Craft.
  
   
• La Construction Expérimentale de Ballon - A website of balloonmakers in France, dedicated to building experimental hot air balloons.
  
   
• Parabounce! - Solo gas hang balloon system with two long tethers lets you leap tall buildings, defy gravity, and just have fun. Rent, buy, or look up a location near you to try it out.
  
   
• Balloon Builders Journal CD - The Balloon Builders Journal Compendium CD contains 374 pages of technical data for the amateur builder. The CD contains all issues of the Journal that was published between 1993 and 1998. Additional articles and opinion are added to the CD.
  
   
• Balloon Building Picture Essay - This 28 000 cu ft balloon was built in 24 hours at the Carolina's Balloon Association's Safety Seminar in Charlotte, January 1999. It is a Boland balloon - construction was supervised and directed by Brian and Louise Boland. Shows each step in the process.
  
   
• Chariot Balloons - Site about chariot style balloons. Single and duo-chariots, which are one or two person balloons that you sit in like a skilift, instead of using a basket.
  
   
• Experimental Balloon Building - Lots of good resources, discussion and instructions for designing and building your own balloon. Draws on the Balloon Builders Journal in some areas. From Airship Resources.
  
   
• Experimental and Ultralight Balloons and Airships - A collection of information about home-built balloons, hoppers and airships. Includes details of experimental balloon gatherings.
  
   
• FAR Part 31 - Airworthiness Standards - Manned Free Balloons - The complete text straight from the FAA. Includes flight and strength requirements, design construction, equipment, operating limitations, and instructions for continued airworthiness.
  
   
• History of Cloudhoppers - History of the development of the cloudhopper concept over the last 25 years. Includes SkyChariot, Airchair, and Duo-chariots. Focuses on the changes in design over time, and why they were made.
  
   
• History of the Small Balloon - Article by Glen Moyer on the development and use of one man balloons.
  
   
• Raven Industries' Final Report to the U.S. Navy - This is the exact report Ed Yost presented to the Office of Naval Research in 1963, at the conclusion of a program that resulted in the invention of the modern hot-air balloon. Describes early research on fabrics, temperature distribution, details of early flights, much more.
  
   
• SULLOON - Project to design a free-flying solar powered balloon. Several protoypes have been flown tethered.
  
   
• Solo Balloons - Page dealing with small balloons and solo systems, particularly experimental and ultralight.