Don Piccard, Balloonist
Don Piccard taking photo of full Tetroon (equilateral tetrahedron balloon). It is 20' on an edge, holds about 1200 cu ft gas, and generates about 39# of lift with Natural Gas. Balloon wt is 5#, giving 34# net lift.
Short Mpeg movie of balloon in wind(476KB)
Start of inflation
Piccard holding one corner up wind, second corner with inflation
tube, third corner with load tie-off, forth corner free. Piccard lets cell
move with gusts, just dampening swing.
The handling line is tied off to wagon, pulling away from load line anchor (which is hidden).
Checking lift with spring
scale. Handling line is loose as it is during a calm moment.
Note load line tied with
"Becket Bend" to balloon film gathered tightly 50 cm from corner. Tail
goes to left and droops to corner point. Three inch diameter purge tube
hangs down in foreground with eight inch diameter filling tube off camera to
left.
Handling line connects to
corner of cell guiding it gently upwind, dampening any gust loads.
Excessive tension is not required.
The full cell ready for connection to payload. The inflation tube will be
disconnected and tied off at load fitting. Bon Voyage! Happy
Landing...