BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

A-BASE

This is a survey for some research.

If there was a Balloon that you could legally BASE jump ALL DAY, even at night, would you pay $25 / jump? The Exit altitudes would be between 700-1200ft.

Thanks for your input!

blitzkrieg

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

i might do it once.

but as far as BASE jumping goes, i'd rather actually go BASE jumping.

it's a bad business idea IMO.

SubTerminallyill

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

dont ballon pilots still have to follow FAA rules and regs? (at least in the USA)

whats the theory behind being able to jump a single parachute system legally from a balloon at those altitudes?

I would do it on occasion, legal or not

Buy the ticket, Take the ride!
B.A.S.E. 1579

skydave114

Re: [SubTerminallyill] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

I would do it on occasion, legal or not

What he said^

A-BASE

Re: [skydave114] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

ok,

Lets forget the legality factor. A balloon that you could jump 2 times / hour.

Thanks

Asgard

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

Dont you mean skydive? Or are you considering a teathered ballon something like getting your "O" letter?

Fck Btches......Make Money.......Kill Zombies

skow

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

We do that here in Finland. Costs about 60-70e per jump. But still I don't count it as BASE but skydiving since it's not a fixed object.

dride

Re: [Asgard] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

"Balloon that you could legally BASE jump"........

balloon and BASE jump dont belong in the same sentence. its a skydive teather or not. jumping from it would still be a great skydive though, if the OP has the green to get something like that going..i say go for it!!

would low pulls be allowed?

skydave114

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

$25 is a cheap price for a balloon ride, but we get 10x or more altitude for that in a plane. If I can use a base rig, I'd do it occasionally, but not "all day"

Asgard

Re: [skydave114] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

Very true, $25 is very cheap, our ballon guy charged $80 for a jumper and $160 for the passengers. That is until one skydiver had a horrible accident and he stoped taking us up all together. The pilot was a really chill dude who never checked for two cannopy systems but im pretty sure he just didnt know there was a diffrence. He even let us out at around 800 feet once since the clouds were much thicker than anticipated.

I would def skydive with my BASE rig for $25 out of a ballon. Where is this going to be located?

Fck Btches......Make Money.......Kill Zombies

vid666

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

I would definitely do it, but I would log it as a skydive.

Our "regular" guy charges $100 per person, per lift, so $25 is a deal. I'd make a nice boogie out of it and force the low timers to use this for practice :)

TomAiello

Re: [SubTerminallyill] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

SubTerminallyill wrote: dont ballon pilots still have to follow FAA rules and regs? (at least in the USA)
I believe that a tethered balloon is not considered an aircraft by the FAA, so it does not need to follow those rules.

Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
Snake River BASE Academy

A-BASE

Re: [TomAiello] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

The ALL jumpers would be required to wear a base rig.

SubTerminallyill

Re: [TomAiello] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

TomAiello wrote: I believe that a tethered balloon is not considered an aircraft by the FAA, so it does not need to follow those rules.
could a ballon be tethered at 1200ft?

Buy the ticket, Take the ride!
B.A.S.E. 1579

itsblakecook

Re: [A-BASE] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

funny I was just talking to someone about getting a balloon and pilot, and yes I would pay to not have to climb an antenna or travel across the world to get a sweet terminal ground rush ;-)

GreenMachine

Re: [TomAiello] BALLOON BASE

Correct, the FAA considers it a "Moored" balloon.
However, you can Not legally charge people $$
unless you are a licensed, commercial pilot.

My plan is to accept donations from jumpers
who want to help cover the cost of propane.

I own two old balloon envelopes, built a platform,
1472 donated 600 feet of nylon webbing for use
as a tether, plus I have 300-400 feet of rope.

The torch was purchased from Harbor Freight and
then modified to work better, more air-flow, etc.
Plus I now own 3 full tanks of propane.

The maiden voyage is going to happen soon

As for logging it, that would be each jumper's own
preference, for which I do not care. I personally
think jumping off a tethered object from 600 feet
with a BASE rig would Not be a skydive...

Day BASE 1366
Night BASE 293

dumbaz

Re: [vid666] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

WTF (who the fock) cares whether you log it as a "skydive" or a "base jump" or "other". It's a jump. And usually pretty fun. Especially if you drift somewhere where you're not really sure whether that's a cabbage patch or a corn field below you... Practice your gainers...

btw: if you think a balloon jump is the same as an airplane skydive, you're dumber than you think I am. Dead air is fun.

roostnureye

Re: [GreenMachine] BALLOON BASE

down like doodoo brown!

BASE 1580
Aussie BASE 121

blitzkrieg

Re: [GreenMachine] BALLOON BASE

cool. as far as a bunch of "friends" getting together, doing some tethered balloon jumps and sharing the cost... sounds fun.

if it were somebody trying to make money or a business out of it, i wouldn't be interested.

as far as i'm concerned, it falls into the same category as bandit loads in the airplane... it's just for fun. albeit, dead air exits from a balloon are possibly even more fun.

TomAiello

Re: [SubTerminallyill] BALLOON BASE JUMP SURVEY

SubTerminallyill wrote: TomAiello wrote: I believe that a tethered balloon is not considered an aircraft by the FAA, so it does not need to follow those rules.
could a ballon be tethered at 1200ft?
Yes.

The mechanics of tethering a balloon range from super simple to super complex, depending on how reliable and repeatable you want things to be, and how much money you want to spend.

There's a tethered balloon at Downtown Disney in Orlando that can run up to 1000 ft, although the operators generally limit it to 400 ft, as an amusement ride for tourists. I had a very interesting conversation with the manager there last year, and he pointed out that the same company has built a tethered balloon exclusively for parachute training for a military in the middle east. You can find photos of it on their web site if you google around a bit.

Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
Snake River BASE Academy