Hi Everyone,

Hope exams are going ok.

We had a nice long flight yesterday morning from Bath down south across the countryside to Stoke St Michael (I hr 20 minutes). I flew with Jenny, Alison and James and Bobby and Paul were our fabulous retrieve crew. Lots of other balloons took to the sky with us and the flight ended with a fast exciting landing (unfortunately no photos of us all piled at the bottom of the basket!)

If you haven’t managed to get a flight in yet don’t worry there is still plenty of time. Member’s fortnight is fast approaching (7^th June onwards) but slots are filling up fast so if you would like to fly then please go to the website to sign up www.buhabs.org/flights. If you are an approved BUHABS driver please could you let me know your availability for members fortnight.

To whet your appetite Jasmin took some really nice pictures of a recent flight which are now in the gallery on the website.

Soft Landings

Ellie J

BUHABS Pilot

Here are a list of some of BUHABS summer events. There's loads going on and they're open to all...

Tavistock

The Westcountry Balloon Fiesta (Tavistock) is held in Devon on 3^rd-5^th September. There will be about 30 balloons flying from the meet and it is a nice friendly fiesta so it should be great fun. Current plan is to leave on Friday evening (about 6pm) and return on Sunday afternoon giving us the opportunity for 3 flights (Sat am, Sat pm, Sun am). The plan is to camp at a local campsite (if you don’t have a tent don’t worry, we have spares!) Costs will be for diesel there and back (£8-£10 per person), camping (tbc – at this time of year could be £15 per tent), food plus £20 per flight for those flying as per normal BUHABS flights. Register your interest at www.buhabs.org/flights

 Grass Roots

The Grass Roots Meet at Sackville Lodge in Bedfordshire is held on 10^th-12^th September. This meet is run for pure ballooning pleasure without a commercial aspect. Balloons from all over the UK attend and we take off from a big airfield. There is also a hog roast and a bar on site for the evenings (with other options available!). We plan to arrive on Friday evening and leave Saturday afternoon giving us the opportunity for 3 flights (Sat am, Sat pm, Sun am). The plan is to camp at a local campsite (if you don’t have a tent don’t worry, we have spares!) Costs will be for diesel there and back (£8-£10 per person), camping (tbc – at this time of year could be £15 per tent), food plus £20 per flight for those flying as per normal BUHABS flights. Register your interest at www.buhabs.org/flights

Please note that there are other (more local) meets in summer to place in your diaries these don't involve any camping so will be arranged closer to the time.

 7^th-18^th June – Member’s Fortnight. We plan to fly mornings and evenings for 2 weeks as well as weekends to celebrate the end of exams

18^th-20^th June – Kemble Airshow. Flyout before/after the aircraft have landed. Last year all the crew got free tickets to enjoy the airshow.

12^th-15^th August – Bristol Balloon Fiesta. Need I say more! I would recommend making every effort to come out ballooning before this event since, for safety reasons given the number of balloons participating, we may request all BUHABS participants to have a minimum of one ballooning trip/tether experience.

25^th September – Launch window for Gordon Bennett Race opens (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com). Please let me know if you’re interested in some ringside tickets (£10 each and you get a souvenir brochure and a good view!)

We had another lovely flight on Sunday from Bath Maize Field to Rudge. After an exciting inflation we headed out across Bath and out into the countryside landing at sunset. We then had a bit of a trudge through some cow poo, serving us as a reminder that it is best not to wear your fancy shoes out ballooning J There was an understandably wide space between us and the other customers in The Globe where we went for a drink afterwards!

Crew: Bobby and Mark

Flying: Ellie, Becks, Stewart, James, Martin

Please take a look at James’ time lapse video for the set-up and inflation. Especially interesting if you haven’t been out yet and want to know what’s in store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1JQGtDmdsM

The BUHABS balloon managed to get out this morning for a slow but very pleasant flight from Bath, over Bath Spa University, ending up in a small hamlet called Inglesbatch. We flew for about one hour and twenty minutes.

Three of the club members flew, Martin, Ellie and Ben and thanks to the crew Bobby, Liam and James who faithfully picked us up at the end!

The morning was finished off with a nice number 3 breakfast in the Keynsham Cafe!

Keep signing up for the summer flights!

John