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Hot Air Balloon

Here's some detailed information logged from a hot-air balloon trip as part of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2008. The logger board was in the basket for most of the flight, though was ejected during the rough landing! The winds picked up after liftoff, forcing most balloons into a much faster landing than they'd like. Luckily no one was injured on our balloon, though several other balloonists were injured, and tragically another balloonist was killed from these same winds.

Things to notice here, are how the speed gradually built to a maximum speed of 26 mph, and then was going 12 mph with a 9g impact on the landing. The balloon averaged 17 mph over a distance of 11.8 miles.

The track can be viewed in Google Earth by clicking here. The color of the track indicates the speed and the height from the ground is actual elevation data for each balloon.

A video of the landing (around the 2 minute mark) is on YouTube.

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