1. Global Ballooning
Training Portal
A definitive training resource for the hot air
ballooning industry.
1
Global
Ballooning
Australia
/
Training
Portal
Resource
5. Course Outline Introduction to
Ballooning
Pre-flight
Preparation
Balloon Setup
Meteorology Safe Driving Balloon Pack up
Post Flight & Pay Yarra Valley Specifics Melbourne Specifics
Mansfield Specifics Operations Manual Certificate of
Completion
•Assessment
This course is…
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 5
6. Becoming a
Flight Crew
Welcome,
description
of work
Pre-flight
preparation
Communications
WeChat
Handheld
Radios
Car Set radios
Xero
Payment
The flight Weather
Weather
Intro
Ballooning
weather
How to read
a piball
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 6
7. Safe Driving
Driving a large vehicle
Off road & farms
Convoy Driving & Pax
Management
Balloon
Pack up
Post flight
and pay
Refuelling Balloon
•Safety
•Hazards
Other Tasks
•Refuel fan
•Refuel car
•Clean car
Incident
Case studies
Powerline strikes
Getting Bogged
Passenger injuries
Fire risks
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 7
8. Not at work
Evening
before flight
Arriving at
the shed
Passenger
check in
Traveling to
Launch site
Take Off
Flight
Landing
Returning to
Balgownie
Back at the
shed
&
&
9. Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 9
Not at work
Evening
before flight
Arriving at
the shed
Passenger
check in
Traveling to
Launch site
Take Off Flight Landing
Returning to
Balgownie
Back at the
shed
Not at work
WeChat WeChat
Handheld & Car Radios
Phone &
Email
Phone &
Email
12. “ON THE SURFACE”
“BOTTOM 100 FEET”
“AT TREETOP/ BALLOON HEIGHT”
During flight, crew report the surface winds back to
the pilots.
Generally, the most important information is in the
bottom 300ft. (100m)
13. Small pibals rise at about 200 feet p/min
When you release a pibal, start a stopwatch.
Assess the windspeed and direction at 30 second
intervals OR when you notice a distinct change in
speed or direction
BOTTOM 300ft.
17. Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 17
NORTH-EASTERLY
(wind coming from the north-east)
TRACKING 225°
“on the surface it’s tracking 225° at 3 knots”
TRACKING 180°
“after 1 minute it turns left tracking 180°”
18. COMMUNICATION
• Get the pilot’s attention before relaying the information
• Watch the pibal and THEN give the information
• Keep messages clear and concise
• Avoid saying things that may concern the passengers
19. Introduction to Ballooning
Welcome to Global Ballooning!
Congratulations on making it this far. Global Ballooning is an
authorised government training facility and we pride ourselves on
providing the most comprehensive and professional crew training
facilities in Australia,
This module covers terminology, equipment, and history.
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 19
What is a Ground Crew?
Balloons 'blow with the wind'. While this may sound
simple and philosophical, practically we take off in
one place and land in another. The primary role of
the ground crew is to 'chase' the balloon to it's
landing destination and retrieve the balloon and it's
passengers.
Simple enough?
Staffing – The GBA Team
• Administrative
• Reservations
• Marketing
• Management
• Operational
• Chief Pilot
• Pilot
• Ground Crew
21. Using a Handling Line
Abnormal Procedures
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 21
22. Introduction to Ballooning
When do we use a handling line?
There are two general scenarios that would require the use of
handling lines:
• When balloons are ‘becalmed’ and not able to flight to a
suitable landing site.
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 22
23. Using a Handling Line
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 23
24. Congratulations on making it this far. Global Ballooning is an authorised
government training facility and we pride ourselves on providing the most
comprehensive and professional crew training facilities in Australia,
This module covers background information including terminology,
equipment, and history. A short assessment at the end must be
completed prior to commencing practical training.
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 24
What is a Ground Crew?
Balloons 'blow with the wind'. While this may sound simple and
philosophical, practically we take off in one place and land in another. The
primary role of the ground crew is to 'chase' the balloon to it's landing
destination and retrieve the balloon and it's passengers.
Simple enough?
Welcome to Global Ballooning!
Congratulations on making it this far. Global Ballooning is an authorised
government training facility and we pride ourselves on providing the most
comprehensive and professional crew training facilities in Australia,
This module covers background information including terminology,
equipment, and history. A short assessment at the end must be
completed prior to commencing practical training.
What is a Ground Crew?
Balloons 'blow with the wind'. While this may sound simple and
philosophical, practically we take off in one place and land in another. The
primary role of the ground crew is to 'chase' the balloon to it's landing
destination and retrieve the balloon and it's passengers.
Simple enough?
25. Introduction to Ballooning
Global Ballooning Australia / Training Portal Resource 25
Welcome to Global Ballooning!
•Congratulations on making it this far. Global
Ballooning is an authorised government
training facility and we pride ourselves on
providing the most comprehensive and
professional crew training facilities in
Australia,
•This module covers terminology, equipment,
and history.
What is a Ground Crew?
• Balloons 'blow with the wind'. While this may
sound simple and philosophical, practically
we take off in one place and land in another.
The primary role of the ground crew is to
'chase' the balloon to it's landing destination
and retrieve the balloon and it's passengers.
•Simple enough?
Staffing
•Along with the pilot, the ground crew makes
up the core of our operational team. Per
balloon our teams range from one to three
crew per balloon.
•Global Ballooning currently employs around
20 part-time ground crew.
Editor's Notes
We are going to discuss the basics of reading the direction of a pibal while you are in the field.
First of all you must start orientating yourself with your compass and the dirrerent bearings you will be reading.
On this day you have been asked to give a pibal on this road running through the screen. Today the wind is blowing from the top right of the screen. When we talk about wind, one of the most universal forms of communicating the direction is by calling which direction the wind is coming from.
With that in mind, if you were on this road and you could feel the wind blowing in this direction, it would be a north-easterly wind.
Now lets get you preparing a pibal on this intersection. You release the pibal and it blows away in the north easterly wind they you have expected.
To communicate the exact direction to the pilot, you need to consult your compass and determine the ‘track’ or ‘heading’ of your pibal. If you were to draw a line from yourself to the balloon, your compass would be pointing on a direction of roughly [click] 225 degrees. This is the direction that the wind is tracking and this information is what the pilots are most interested in.
Now to complicate things a little bit. After about a minute you notice the pibal deviates from it's straight line and turns left.
At this point there is a bit of interpretation involved, rather than continuing to point your compass at the little balloon. You must try to imagine what the direction the balloon is now tracking.
In studying the balloon a bit we can roughly draw a line with the new direction of the pibal which we determine to be [click] 180 degrees.
It takes some practice to master this skill, but by getting out there and giving it a go you will start to improve your ability to acurrately determine the upper winds.
To summarize the pibal that you have watched and put it into terms that you could communicate over the radio to the pilots:
There is a north easterly wind on the surface
From the deck it tracks 225 at about 3 knots
After a minute it turns left tracking 180
As mentioned, this will take some time to master, but take this basic understanding into the field and you will be reading pibals to pilots in no time.
To finish, the last step of reading a pibal is relaying the information to the pilot.
To effectively communicate this …information ensure that you
Get the pilot’s attention before relaying the information
Watch the pibal and THEN give the information
Keep messages clear and concise
Remember that the pilot is surrounded by their guests, so avoid saying things that may concern or confuse the passengers.
