What weather conditions are needed to go ballooning?

Weather and ballooning go hand in hand. Ballooning is a weather dependant activity. To be safe, it is important that we do not fly the balloon when the atmosphere is unstable or when the winds aloft are too fast or too slow. Ideal weather conditions are cooler overnight temperatures, winds between 10 and 20 knots at 1,000 feet about ground level and clear skies with a low risk of rain. For flights in the Brisbane Scenic Rim, we can accept slightly higher wind speeds when the wind has an easterly component to it because these winds take us inland where the surface winds are usually lighter.

Flying in the rain in a balloon is a particularly miserable experience! Rain falling on the balloon runs down the side of the balloon and pours into the basket. We choose not to fly when we believe that there is a likelihood of it raining during the flight.

Fog restricts the pilots ability to see obstructions like trees and power-lines on the ground during landing. We will not fly when we believe there will be fog at landing time.

We appreciate that it is disappointing if your flight is cancelled due to weather but remind you that it is for safety and based on more than twenty years experience that we make these decisions.  If we do have to cancel due to bad weather you will be given the option to rebook for another day or be fully refunded.

What sources of information does the pilot use to assess the weather?

We use a variety of publicly available and proprietary weather data sources.  The weather data shown below which is sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology and a private weather service gives an indication of the sort of information that the pilot reviews prior to taking you on your Brisbane hot air ballooning experience. We also access aviation forecasts from Airservices Australia, unfortunately you need a login to access this data so we are not able to link to it on this page.

Mean Sea Level Synoptic Chart

Weather Radar Image

Four Day Mean Sea Level Prognosis

Seven Day Wind Forecast

Surface Observation History