Home » Your Balloon Flight Experience

Your Balloon Flight Experience

How Does It All Work
& What Happens On The Day?

Buying A Flight Voucher

You can buy Flight Vouchers online through this website, or call us on 01889 882222 where our friendly staff will be pleased to answer any questions and accept your order over the telephone.

 

The Choice Is Yours….

When purchasing a Flight Voucher, most customers leave the flight date open-ended to be selected in the future. However, if you already have a special date in mind, you can choose your preferred flight date at the same time as making the purchase. The choice is yours!

 

We Are Available To Fly All Year Round, On Every Single Day That The Weather And Ground Conditions Allow.

That’s weekdays, weekends, Bank Holidays – every day! (except Christmas Day, please!). We launch twice each day; once, about an hour after dawn, and again about two hours before sunset. It’s at these times of day that the conditions are most suitable for ballooning.

For safety and comfort’s sake, we simply cannot fly if the weather is wet, windy or foggy – our aim is to give everybody a pleasant, enjoyable and safe experience! But don’t worry – if the weather’s poor, you simply re-schedule your flight.

More Flights, More Fun!

If you’d like to see our schedule of flights for the next few weeks, click on ‘Redeem Voucher’ at the top of this page. Note that our competitors do not let you see their flight availability until you’ve bought a voucher. Perhaps they don’t want you to know how rarely they fly in your area!


Your Flight Day!

On arrival at the launch site, you will be met by one of our uniformed personnel at check-in. The balloons are then prepared for flight by the ground crew, whilst the pilots give their passengers a safety briefing.

That done, the inflation begins in earnest. It’s a surprisingly quick process, with the balloons taking shape and rising off the ground within about 10 minutes. When ready, the pilot invites the passengers aboard, and within a few minutes more, it’s up, up and away to the cheers from the crowd!

Once airborne, we aim to fly for at least one hour in duration – and in fact it is usually closer to an hour and a half!

One of the beauties of ballooning is drifting with the wind – nobody knows where we will land until the pilot chooses a suitable place in which to bring you back to earth, which could be anywhere within a 25 mile radius of our start point! Every single balloon flight is a unique adventure!

  • Nearly ready to go!
  • Ready For The Burners!
  • A snowy launch on New Year's Eve!
  • Four Metres of Flame Shoots Up!

  • What a fantastic memorable experience. We were really lucky we got to fly on the first attempt. The trip was so professional and so well organised. We enjoyed every moment. I would highly recommend this company. We felt safe throughout.

    user
    Nicola F Tripadvisor review 17 Oct 2021 Derby

.

Passengers are always pleasantly surprised by how warm and comfortable the flight is. There’s no chill from the breeze, because the balloon is moving with the wind, and the basket hangs as if motionless in the sky! There’s no turbulence or other sensation of going up & down, in fact it’s a really serene experience. It all adds up to a wonderful sensation of tranquillity, whilst being exciting at the same time.

After landing, we all help to pack the balloon away as a team – hot air ballooning is a participation activity! However, we appreciate that some passengers may have medical conditions that prevent them from assisting with this stage of the experience.

Once the balloon has been packed away, your pilot will sign the commemorative flight certificates for each passenger. Our ground crews offer free return transport to the launch site in our fleet of Land Rovers.

Memories To Last A Lifetime!

During almost every flight, we take a series of in-flight photographs and HD movies, which make a fantastic souvenir to remind you of your balloon flight for many years to come. Seen in the picture at the top of this page is our company pilot, Andy Rawson, flying an eight passenger balloon. Smiles all round, beautiful scenery below, and really warm, comfortable and stable!

Ballooning is suitable for young and old alike, but does require a small degree of agility. There’s no upper age limit; in fact our most mature passenger was 100 years old! Children simply need to be at least 4’6″ (1.35m) tall – otherwise they can’t see over the side of the basket! Your safety and enjoyment are our primary objectives, so please call us should you wish to discuss any passenger’s individual medical conditions or special requirements.

Read more.

As mentioned above, the time of day at which we fly varies as the seasons go by, and the days get longer or shorter.

As a rough guide, in the months of May, June and July, we will fly at about 6am in the mornings, and 7pm in the evenings. However, either side of summer, those timings will vary to account for the shorter days, and the clocks changing. By November, December and January we’ll be flying at about 9am in the morning and then again just after lunch because it gets dark so early!

Balloons cannot fly in the middle part of the day because the air becomes too unstable. Thermals are created by the warmth of the sun, and although great for gliders, thermals are hazardous for balloons. Consequently, balloons are flown at the very beginning and end of each day.

Show less.