Our Balloon

"Carried Away" is a FireFly Balloons custom original.  She was born in Statesville, NC in October 2006 and now proudly flies in Knightdale, North Carolina.

Our Envelope

Our balloon stands 63' from the ground to the crown of the envelope and holds 77,000 cu ft of air when fully inflated. She is made up of over 1,000 square yards of Polyester fabric and weighs in at just over 210 pounds.

The envelope attaches to the basket in three places with heavy Kevlar ropes. These three attachment points connect to 12 Kevlar ropes woven inside the walls of the envelope. These ropes support the weight of the basket, tanks, instruments, and occupants. The polyester balloon is used only to contain the heated air.

A large air valve, called a parachute valve, is located at the crown of the envelope which allows us to vent heat when needed.

Our Basket
Our basket is a FireFly 4.5 (triangular in shape and measuring 4 1/2 feet on each side) and is made from wicker reeds woven over a rittan frame. It is fitted with a plywood base. Weighing in a just over 100 Lbs by itself, it can support many hundreds of pounds in tanks, fuel, equipment, and passengers. The basket contains 3 Worthington 10 gallon aluminum tanks (9 gallon fill capacity) which holds liquid propane fuel.
When the blast valve is opened, liquid propane is pushed through the heating coils of the FireFly T3 burner at about 160 pounds of pressure! It is ignited by 3 pilot lights (each similar to a plumber's torch) and erupts into a 15' ball of fire at about 18 million BTUs (the energy equivalent of 600 gas barbecue grills or a bit over 7,000 horsepower).

Our Instruments
Our primary flight instrument which gives us our altitude, rate of climb, and the air temperature at the peak of the envelope is a FlyTech model 3040. Additionally we have analog instruments including a United Instruments altimeter and Ball 502 variometer which serves as a backup to the FlyTech.
We use an Apple iPad running Hot Air, a ballooning instrument application, and Glympse, a location tracking application which allows our chase crew to see our exact location through our entire flight.
Additionally we carry a Icom IC-14 aviation band radio and Baufeng crew radios to keep in touch with the chase crew and other aircraft.

Our balloon is an FAA registered aircraft complete with "N" number and must be piloted by an FAA certified pilot, just like any fixed wing aircraft. It also requires annual inspections by the balloon factory to ensure she is safe to fly.

We proudly insure our balloon system with Schantz Insurance Agency under a policy that covers the complete replacement cost of our entire system plus $1 million dollars in liability coverage.