Navigation and Flight Planning
Navigation when you cannot steer
Flight planning in a balloon is a wind study. You plan a launch point, a probable track through several wind layers, a set of landing options and a chase crew, accepting that the course is a forecast rather than a heading.
Planning steps
- Winds aloft: use the FD forecast at 3,000, 6,000 and 9,000 ft to see whether layers differ in direction. A 180-degree wind at 2,000 ft and a 270-degree wind at 6,000 ft gives two useful gears: descend to go south, climb to go east.
- Route and airspace: plot the predicted track on a sectional, mark Class B, C and D airspace, restricted areas, TFRs and parachute jump zones, and identify open landing areas every few miles.
- Fuel: propane burn varies with burner use; plan flight time, add a conservative reserve of 30 minutes or more, and confirm usable fuel by weight.
- Ground support: brief the chase crew on the intended track, radio frequencies and rendezvous points, and confirm road access to likely landing fields.
- Navigation aids: GPS, sectional and landmarks; the compass is only a rough reference because the basket rotates.
Worked example
Forecast winds: 3,000 ft, 180/10; 6,000 ft, 270/15. Launch at 0700 with two hours of fuel. Staying at 3,000 ft for one hour puts you 10 NM north of launch. The preferred field is 12 NM north, reachable in 1.2 hours - inside fuel but with little margin, so you identify a second field 8 NM north, reachable in 48 minutes. A surface wind of 090/5 pushes you west during the first 500 ft, so the launch point is shifted east to compensate.
Traps
Planning a track in degrees magnetic from an FD, which is true; assuming the surface wind equals the wind at 1,000 ft; and planning fuel to the destination with no reserve, ignoring that a balloon cannot go around or divert quickly.