Flying in a Ballon

Sachitra MAHENDRA

“Did the Wright Brothers get it wrong, because the Balloon is the way to fly!..” Sir Arthur C Clarke’s statement made much more sense when the Hot Air Balloon took us 500 feet into the blue skies on March 26.

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau had a group of us - some nervous, others curious and all looking forward to - get together to gain first hand experience on the Hot Air Balloon journey at Hambanthotha.

The event was part of Sri Lanka’s tourism promotion efforts. Captain Anil Jayasinghe, himself a UK-based balloonist and the event’s main organiser, had a few but passenger-friendly conditions: weather dependable flying, no smoking in the cabin, obeying the pilot, and finally being at our own risk!

Leave it at that. The Captain firmly warned us that the Balloons would take off sharp at 6’o clock, and no delay would be tolerated whatsoever. No doubt it gave the team a jolt. Even those late risers were ready by 5.30 a.m(!) and in the hotel lobby to leave for Deberawewa Central College Ground, Tissamaharama.

Quite ironically the first and the largest Hot Air Balloon, out of 22, took off with us on board - well it was not sharp 6’o clock - but at 7.14a.m. This would be however excusable I suppose, as the operation involved a lot of pre-arrangement.

Transporting the Balloon equipment to the ground, unloading them, fixing them into the proper structure, filling the structure with air - which of course took time - checking gas and etc would have taken more time had the Balloonists not been professionals and veterans.

The Hot Air Balloon is two-fold: the 80-foot balloon and the wicker basket cabin with four in-built gas burners. The balloon bag is called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air.

The wicker cabin has the capacity to carry a given number of passengers along with the source of heated air.

The heated air inside the envelope makes it float upwards since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. Luckily for us the perfect weather held and the weather-dependable flying issue was settled.

We cannot just forget how cooperative our two balloonists were. They wanted us to have total enjoyment. They had us in the floating balloon even more than the usual duration of one hour!

Justin Moore, the co-pilot was involved in operating the gas burners on and off to keep the volume balanced in the envelope, while his supervisor Peter Stewart was concentrating on far beyond in the sky for any sign of rain.

For Arthur C. Clarke, Sri Lanka was not just a country with beautiful scenes - the region has countries that offer more beautiful scenes - but ours is also a country with a rich culture. Even amid the intermittent gas motor noise and the heat, we could feel the culture warmth from the sun-lit sky.

The overall bird’s eye view of well-grown paddy fields in Hambanthota, lively uniform-clad children playing in school fields, large tanks built by our ancestors, and the thick jungles with their charming creations, wandering about is not simply forgettable.

The intermittent motor noise scared the elephants, wild boars, deer and other animals into the thick jungle.

“Did the Wright Brothers get it wrong? Balloon is the way to fly.” Definitely so, if you want to breathe the country air from the blue sky!

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Be watchful Captain!

We had been on air for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The pilots had to land in the middle of Yala forest as the balloon was fast running out of gas. We all gathered under a giant tree for shelter, hopeful of trucks to pick us and the balloon cabin both.

We had been there enjoying the rare species of birds at Yala. This was until a teammate rose up to reach Yala Army camp. Following the long wait, his guess was that the Army camp had not been notified of a balloon landing.

Certainly the turn of events proved the fellow right, exhibiting the negligence of Captain Anil Jayasinghe as the main organiser. He should have been extra cautious to keep in touch with the pilots. Our teammate luckily had pull with the camp’s chief officer; it would have been a tough job otherwise.

Captain Anil Jayasinghe is considered as Sri Lanka’s first and only hot air balloonist. He has co-authored a coffee-table book called “A Day Above Sri Lanka” which showcases photographs of a typical day in Sri Lanka from morning till night as viewed from a balloon.

In this backdrop, we have no hard feelings with the Captain. We’re hopeful that the Captain would overcome this kind of negligence in future, making allowances for his expertise in the field.