Lunch time ZOOM meeting - Ian Gilchrist – A Lot of Hot Air (Hot air ballooning)

On Thursday 14th January 2021 President Geoff Sampson welcomed 19 Club Rotarians and guest speaker Ian Gilchrist to this lunch time meeting held by ZOOM.

Our speaker this week was Ian Gilchrist who attended Primary school with Walter Fletcher in Dundee and taught at Kirkcaldy High School at the time Lindsay Roy and David Cooper worked there as well. We enjoyed a clever PowerPoint presentation from him on hot-air balloons. The first clearly recorded instance of a balloon carrying passengers used hot air to generate buoyancy and was built by the brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier in Annonay, France. After experimenting with unmanned balloons and flights with animals, the first tethered balloon flight with humans on board took place on October 19, 1783 with the scientist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, the manufacture manager, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon and Giroud de Villette, at the Folie Titon in Paris. The first free flight with human passengers was on November 21, 1783.King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along with Marquis Francois d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned for the honor.  Modern hot air ballooning was born in 1960, when Ed Yost launched a balloon with a new nylon envelope and propane burner system of his own invention. Yost's first balloon was basketless, with nothing but a seat for him to ride on, but in a few years he and other balloon enthusiasts would develop balloons much like the ones used today. Today, hot air balloons are used primarily for recreation Most hot air balloon launches are made during the cooler hours of the day, at dawn or two to three hours before sunset. At these times of day, the winds are typically light making for easier launch and landing of the balloon. Flying at these times also avoids thermals, We travelled in time to the 18th century when by accident it was discovered that heat would cause an object to rise. From such early beginnings we were flown through various types of balloons and heating systems finally arriving at today’s easily recognised versions and varieties. This well-prepared presentation culminated in a filmed flight from Penicuik to Carlops. Our sincere thanks go to Ian Gilchrist for allowing us to view areas of Scotland from a height of 2000 ft.