The balloon was owned by an ex-student of the university who was the main Balloon Pilot. He had been one of the the founders of the student balloon club, and by providing the balloon had maintained his links with the university, in return the university club provided a regular supply of willing balloonists, a base to fly from, garaging, a bulk propane tank location and the club paid all the running expenses. The clubs aim was to give all members a chance of a flight in a Hot Air Balloon and to train at least one student at a time to become a Qualified Balloon Pilot.

This is the Clubs balloon that I had most of my flights in and crewed for on numerous occasions It is a 105 Cameron balloon with 2No 40 litre and 2No 60 litre propane tanks giving about 2 hours flight time

The landrover and trailer as viewed from the departing balloon. The retrieve crew are packing up ready to follow the flight to retrieve the balloon when it lands. Inflating and retrieving the balloon are the crews main responsibilities. It becomes a matter of pride for a crew to be close to hand when the Balloon lands by using their skill to predict the landing site and navigating the country lanes to be in the right position at the right time.

A full basket of passengers as the balloon leaves the ground for a flight in Ireland at the 93 Irish Ballooning Championships. The gas cylinder used to inflate the balloon is removed once inflated as its almost empty, this gives more room in the basket for another passenger

Some fellow balloonists at the 93 Irish Championships inflating their envelopes ready for a flight. They are attempting to fly back to the "base" and "Splash and Dash" in the Loch as part of the competitions, the skill is in selecting a take off point that allows them to fly back to "base"

Two of the other competitors at the 94 championships, inflated and ready to take off in the early morning, most flying is done just after dawn or before dusk as the winds are steady not gusty at those times.

Our crew watching the others taking off to assess the weather conditions before deciding to inflate and fly as part of the 94 championships, its the pilots decision to fly or not, based on observation of current weather conditions and their experience.

We inflated and managed to beat the "CLUB CAN" balloon off the ground, but they are not far behind. Rivalry between balloon crews is good natured.

As we rise up we can look back at the launch field to see the other balloons taking off, Looks like everyone has decided to launch after watching the first balloons take off.

We rise higher and have extensive views over the surrounding countryside, as well as the following balloons, this is the beauty of Hot Air Ballooning.

Its still early morning and the cloud level is quite low, we soon find we are passing into it. We hope the sun burns it off by the time we are ready to land, as the wind is taking us towards higher ground, Hot Air Balloons are totally dependant on the prevailing winds for movement, navigation is by varying height to catch variences in wind direction.

The basket back on the ground after a wonderful 90 minute flight and a long landing in the dew. You can just see the drag trail from where we first touched the ground over by the hedge, the dew on the grass meant the basket skidded effortlessly along the ground before all the air exited the envelope and we stopped.

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