A hopper balloon (simply hopper) is a small, one-person hot air balloon. Unlike a conventional hot air balloon where people ride inside a basket, there is no basket on a hopper balloon. Instead, the hopper pilot usually sits on a seat or wears a harness similar to a

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

harness. Hoppers are typically flown for recreation. These aircraft are sometimes called "cloud hoppers" or "cloudhoppers". However, these terms formally refer to the products of a particular manufacturer, specifically

Lindstrand Balloons Lindstrand Balloons was a manufacturer of hot air balloons and other aerostats. The company was started by Swedish-born pilot and aeronautical designer Per Lindstrand in Oswestry, England, as Colt Balloons (later Thunder & Colt Balloons, then Li ...

. Nonetheless, "cloudhopper" is used by many people as a genericized trademark, which refers to all craft of this general type. Most hopper balloons have envelopes that range in volume from and have a maximum flight duration of 1 to 1.5 hours. The two principal commercial balloon manufacturers today offering hopper balloons for sale are

Cameron Balloons Cameron Balloons is a company established in 1971 in Bristol, England, by Don Cameron to manufacture hot air balloons. Cameron had previously, with others, constructed ten hot air balloons under the name Omega. Production was in the basemen ...

and

. Most other hopper balloons are

experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or ''testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

designed and built by amateur constructors.

History

Balloon-jumping as a sport emerged in the United States as early as 1923, Edward Brooke-Hitching. ''Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling, and Other Forgotten Sports'', p.19. Simon and Schuster, 2015. and in England not later than 1927. Balloon-jumping really meant ''jumping'' for many enthusiasts: with insufficient buoyancy to sustain flight, the balloonists actually had to use their muscles to start a balloon-assisted hop. In the United States helium was hailed as the choice lifting gas due to its fire safety, allowing the balloonists to smoke while airborne; elsewhere, hydrogen was common, but hot air balloons were not. Hopper balloons, or jumping balloons, consisting of nothing more than an air bag and a suspension sling with a primitive bench, were immediately employed by operators of large airships and stratospheric balloons as cheap tools for inspecting and repairing aircraft surfaces. The tool was especially handy, since the safest places to launch large high-altitude balloons (

Stratobowl The Stratobowl is a compact natural depression within the limits of Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, south-west of Rapid City. In 1934–1935 it housed a stratospheric balloon launch site, initially known as Stratocamp, sponsored by ...

and Crosby, Minnesota iron pits) were located in remote places without real airport facilities. In one instance, the second launch of

Georgy Prokofiev Georgy (Yegor) Alekseyevich Prokofiev (born August 17, 1902, in Teleshovo, Vyazma District – died April 23, 1939, in Moscow) was a Soviet Air Forces balloonist who coordinated a military stratospheric balloon program in 1931–1939. On Septe ...

's ill-fated USSR-3, it took two hopper balloons to untie the tangled nets on top of the giant balloon: the first jumper fell off his bench but managed to hold on to the balloon's cables and survived. The first modern hot air balloon was flown by Ed Yost under sponsorship by the U.S.

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

on October 22, 1960, in

Bruning, Nebraska Bruning is a village in Thayer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. History Bruning was established in 1887 as a town on the railroad. It was named for Frank Bruning During World War II the U.S. Army Ai ...

. Since Yost's balloon had a small envelope of and a chair for the pilot, not a basket, this was arguably also the first hopper balloon flown since the golden age of airships in 1930s.

Cloudhopper

The name cloudhopper is often used to refer to a one-person hot air balloon where the pilot sits in a harness or small seat. There is often a

propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

tank behind the pilot's back, and the burner is on a frame above the pilot's head. Often the balloon's burner, tank, and pilot's harness can swivel independently of the hot air balloon envelope, to let the pilot turn to any direction in flight and for landing. The term "Cloudhopper" was originally coined and trademarked by British balloonist Colin Prescot. The development of the cloudhopper was carried out by Per Lindstrand of Colt Balloons in 1979. Colt Balloons later merged with Thunder Balloons to form Thunder & Colt Balloons, which inherited the Cloudhopper name. Finally, Per Lindstrand left Thunder & Colt to form his own Lindstrand Balloons, which manufactures the present-day Cloudhopper. Shortly after the team at Colt built and flew its first Cloudhopper, Cameron Balloons came up with its own backpack-style balloon, called the SkyHopper. Its main distinguishing feature was a

twist-grip A twistgrip is a handle that can be twisted to operate a control. It is commonly found as a motorcycle's right handlebar grip to control the throttle, but is sometimes found elsewhere, such as on a bicycle as a gearshift, and in helicopters. Hi ...

mounted on an arm rest to control the burner. On the original Colt Cloudhopper, as well as all modern-day cloudhopper designs, the burner controls are mounted at the bottom of the burner, like on regular passenger-carrying hot air balloons.

References

Bibliography

{{more footnotes, date=February 2012 *"History of the Small Balloon"; Glen Moyer; ''Balloon Life Magazine'' (July 1995) *''Ballooning - The Complete Guide to Riding the Winds''; Dick Wirth and Jerry Young; London (1980 and 1991)

External links

Cloudhopper site with a US-focusCloudhopper site with a UK/Europe-focusCloudhoppers and other experimental LTA aircraft
Balloons (aeronautics)

History

Cloudhopper

See also

References

Bibliography

External links