Egypt 2010 #8 – Balloon Ride over Luxor (part 2)
Some very early risers were already airborne and heading off into the grey dawn sky.
We had to wait while our balloon was inflated.
According to Wikipedia (see photo of yellow balloon in the article) the balloon is first partially inflated using cold air from gas-powered fans, as in the picture above. The inflation process is completed using the propane burner mounted at the top of the passenger gondola (below).
what ahppened, did it collapse???
No. This is how the inflation process starts. Once the air in the balloon is hot enough it starts to rise up into the air, but it takes quite a while.
The sequence of pictures is maybe a bit confusing. The balloon at the top was a different one that was already on its way over the Nile. The middle one was the one I went on, but before they started inflating it. The bottom picture was taken shortly after the inflation process started.