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‘It’s a high’
Anil Jayasinghe’s life has been an upward journey since he began promoting ballooning in Sri Lanka
By Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne
Skimming the treetops and soaring above Sigiriya. It's a high, and I mean literally. "I first stepped into a wicker basket and took off when I was in Australia, it was incredible," smiles Anil Jayasinghe.

Anil Jayasinghe is a balloon addict. So passionate about ballooning is he that he is now intent on popularizing the sport in Sri Lanka. But what's so special about it? "No one will understand the power of a balloon flight until one experiences it," says Anil who has been a pilot for the past 17 years, first with the Sri Lanka Air Force for a number of years and then with SriLankan Airlines. "But flying an aircraft is a completely different experience to piloting a balloon. With a balloon the wind whips your face; you can reach down and touch the treetops without disturbing anything. It's the experience of a lifetime."

"You are not going to believe the way I came across the balloon," he grins. "I was on the Internet at home checking out a few sites when I came across one dedicated to ballooning. I fired off a questionnaire and received an almost immediate reply."

That was in December 2001. "The organization I had written to were helpful and answered all my questions. Before I knew it I had placed an order for a balloon." Just like that? "Yes, just like that!"

Come February 2002 and the balloon purchased from Cameron Balloons in Bristol, UK, the largest balloon manufacturer in Europe landed in Sri Lanka. The balloon was brought down by Ad Tec Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd, of which Anil is the Managing Director. "It was quite an investment and we were looking at the possibility of using the balloon for advertising." The initial launch of the balloon took place on March 9, 2002.

Ballooning requires limited equipment. There's the balloon itself, the wicker basket and gas cylinders.How many can go up at a time? "Three counting the pilot. You have the option of a larger basket, but I felt that two passengers would be more than adequate for now."

To learn to fly the balloon, Anil had to hit the books. With the help of Peter Dalby, an experienced balloon pilot from the UK and ten days off flying aircraft he became a balloon expert. "It was a crash course," he says laughing, "If you will excuse the pun!"

That brings up the inevitable question, is ballooning safe? “I strongly believe that ballooning is safer than crossing the road in Colombo! It's the simplest and one of the oldest forms of travel in the world, but something I've learned is that aviation is like the sea - unforgiving to the careless, so you have to be on your guard all the time."

Anil is now the proud owner of two of the three balloons in Sri Lanka. "I received my licence in July of 2003 - Licence Number 001!" Licences for ballooning are granted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka.

Every flight has to be completely and carefully mapped out. Besides the pilot, there is a further three-man ground crew that has to be trained. "We send out a helium balloon prior to every flight to get a rough idea of where the balloon might end up."

The next step was the organization of the Sri Lanka Balloon Festival which was held in March last year. "We had 14 balloons coming in from all parts of the world - USA, UK and Australia. It was a breathtaking sight and all the participants enjoyed themselves thoroughly," he says, going on to explain that this is mainly due the geographical diversity of the country. "It's not just meadows and green pastures, as in Europe - you can watch wildlife and then within the next hour hover close to Sigiriya."

Since his initial flight Anil has added a further 70 to his list. "I use the balloon as an advertising tool as well. This is one form that we can really explore to benefit tourism. Most of my clients have been tourists waiting for that 'once in a lifetime' experience, and ballooning across Sri Lanka is the answer."

"I strongly believe that sports such as ballooning attract a different kind of tourist to the country," says Anil adding that since ballooning is such a tourist puller it should be promoted in Sri Lanka. "The feedback I get when people descend from the balloon is incredible. For ballooning in Sri Lanka is very different to ballooning in the West. The geographical variety adds to the spirit of adventure and discovery."

How difficult is it to manoeuvre the balloon? "It's a skill that has to be practised and learnt. The pilot only changes vertical movement. You must appreciate the fact that the direction of the wind changes at every point in the atmosphere. As the balloon relies heavily on wind direction the pilot has to first ascertain exactly at which point the wind turns north, south, east or west. To move the balloon, you get back to the position where the wind was so directed. It is all about learning to harness the direction of the wind. Balloons generally fly at an altitude ranging from that of skimming the treetops to between 3000 and 4000 feet."

Lack of landing spaces is the greatest difficulty in ballooning here, he says. “I mainly balloon close to Sigiriya and at Uda Walawe where we have established spaces, but otherwise finding the perfect landing space is difficult." The flight takes place in the early hours of the morning after which the passengers are treated to a breakfast buffet. They don’t come cheap though. A one-hour balloon flight costs USD 200.

Memorable flights? "There was one instance where we were flying so low that we could reach out and touch the nests on the tree tops. The birds simply moved away and watched as we went past - for unlike in an aircraft the balloon doesn't emit any noise - it simply glides past, so I believe they were curious but unafraid. Of course, we do have to watch out for those stray power lines!"

The phone rings, disrupting the interview. "I'll see you at five then," he tells the caller. "I am heading off tomorrow for a ride," he says turning around with a big smile. "And even after 70 flights I just can't wait to hit the air again!"

How do they go up?
Hot air balloons are based on a very basic scientific principle: warmer air rises in cooler air. Essentially, hot air is lighter than cool air, because it has less mass per unit of volume. A cubic foot of air weighs roughly 28 grams (about an ounce). If you heat that air by 100 degrees F, it weighs about 7 grams less. Therefore, each cubic foot of air contained in a hot air balloon can lift about 7 grams. That's not much, and this is why hot air balloons are so huge - to lift 1,000 pounds, you need about 65,000 cubic feet of hot air.

Most hot air balloons use a wicker basket for the passenger compartment. Wicker works very well because it is sturdy, flexible and relatively lightweight. The flexibility helps with balloon landings: In a basket made of more rigid material, passengers would feel the brunt of the impact force. Wicker material flexes a little, absorbing some of the energy.

To keep the balloon rising, you need a way to reheat the air. Hot air balloons do this with a burner positioned under an open balloon envelope. As the air in the balloon cools, the pilot can reheat it by firing the burner.

Before launching, pilots will call a weather service to find out about climate and wind conditions in an area. Cautious pilots only fly when the weather is close to ideal -- when skies are clear and wind conditions are normal. Storms are extremely hazardous for hot air balloons, because of the danger of a lightning strike. Even rain is a problem, because it decreases visibility and damages the balloon material. And while you need a nice wind current to have a good flight, very strong winds could easily wreck the balloon.

Pilots also call the weather service to get a rough idea of which way the balloon will travel, and how they should manoeuvre once they're in the air. Additionally, a pilot might send up a piball (short for pilot balloon). A piball is just a balloon filled with helium that the pilot releases to see the exact direction of the wind at a prospective launch site. If it looks like the wind would take the balloon into prohibited air space, the crew needs to find a new launch spot.

The basic idea behind hot air balloons has been around for a long time. Archimedes, one of the greatest mathematicians in Ancient Greece, figured out the principle of buoyancy more than 2,000 years ago, and may have conceived of flying machines lifted by the force.

In the 13th century, the English scientist Roger Bacon and the German philosopher Albertus Magnus both proposed hypothetical flying machines based on the principle.

But nothing really got off the ground until the summer of 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers sent a sheep, a duck and a chicken on an eight-minute flight over France. The two brothers, Joseph and Etienne, worked for their family's prestigious paper company. As a side project, they began experimenting with paper vessels elevated by heated air. Over the course of a couple years, they developed a hot air balloon very similar in design to the ones used today. But instead of using propane, they powered their model by burning straw, manure and other material in an attached fire pit.

The sheep, duck and chicken became the first balloon passengers on Sept. 19, 1783, in the Montgolfiers' first demonstration flight for King Louis XVI. They all survived the trip, giving the King some assurance that human beings could breathe the atmosphere at the higher elevation. Two months later, the Marquis Francois d'Arlandes, a major in the infantry, and Pilatre de Rozier, a physics professor, became the first human beings to fly. www.howstuffworks.com

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