I was recently hot air ballooning and took this picture. There were a lot of balloons in the air. I wondered how many balloons would it take in an area before a ‘balloon jam’ would be created? And, how would you control a balloon jam when there are no ‘balloon officers’?
What would the Air Force scramble to head up and take a look at a suspicious hot air balloon? Would they have anything slow enough to escort a rogue balloon to the nearest airport?
What did they do when that “Balloon Boy” hoax happened? Helicopters.
Also…awesome picture!
I agree that it is an awesome photo.
Hot air balloons have always made me nervous by the lack of steering. I know they say that they can be controlled, but I would be terrified of a gust of wind.
Two words: pellet gun.
Problem solved…
😉
If there were some sort of balloon air traffic control, I’d suggest that it would be pretty useless.
BALLON TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Balloon 143-Niner, please increase speed and head due west to avoid collison.
BALLOON 142-Niner: Can’t. Up or down is all I got on this baby.
That would pretty much be the end of the conversation.