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| Sunday, 17 March 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Up, up and away By Jayanthi Liyanage
It probably started with that chronic, buccaneering itch which can sometimes send one batty in trying to kick off gravitational blues. The swashbuckling Europe did not hesitate to grab the pioneering hurdle set by the Montgolfier brothers when their paper balloon glided the Paris sky in 1783, burning straw for fuel. Strangely, the last great aviation challenge remained a con-man's brag until a few years back, the world began drooling over ballooning as the newest adrenalin-rearing air sport. British balloonists now lead this beat-the-rooftops game unleashing an ever increasing flow of revenue and adventure-tourists. Looks like local safari-lovers could soon make sheep's eyes at Uda Walawe jumbo ladies and Yala leopard lasses at an exhilaratingly safe altitude. The trail is still hot since Captain Anil R. Jayasinghe, Commander, SriLankan Airlines, took the Sri Lankan skies, not by storm, but by a mere spurt of specially converted LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) throwing ten feet of flame, barely a week ago. As his enormous butter cup of dazzling yellow rode the winds, tethered by a tripod of strong, resilient ropes to the Colombo Meteorological Department Grounds, Linda Duffield, British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka and Lal Liyanarachchi, Director-General, Civil Aviation Department, were at his side to savour the breezy thrills of the first-ever hot air balloon flights in the country.
When we met this balloon pilot, the first to be called so in Sri Lanka as well as a seasoned Air Bus Pilot for no less than 16 years, the neatly-crafted wicker basket of his balloon ship straddled his garage. "This is a Branding Balloon," Capt. Jayasinghe explaining the tag "Govi Setha" stretched across the basket. "Our first balloon flight was an up-in-the-air brand advertisement for Packwell Lanka Ltd. and Vision Packaging (Pvt) Ltd. while the National Lotteries Board sponsored the basket." "The cost?," we could not help chorusing in unison. But Capt. Jaysinghe was not be coaxed so easily. "It's only for a selected few," his smile was intriguing. "Well, it's a long term investment. For a long time to come, people will remember it as the Pack Well Balloon or the Vision Lanka Balloon." Ballooning is ingenious sky high advertising, he elaborated, excellent for Test Cricketing and insurance, beverage and TV businesses, to mention a few. "How did you come to be ballooning?," was the first of our volley of questions hurled at Capt. Jayasinghe who tried to do justice to each as clearly as he could, joined by his ten-year-old son, Shevaa, who, thanks to his enterprising father, has become the first kid to fly local skies in a balloon. The local balloon pilot was smitten with the idea when he happened to fish balloon sites on the Web and came across Cameron Balloons in Bristol, U.K. "I knew this could be done in Sri Lanka so I clicked them a web response," he said. "Then I forgot all about it until suddenly, they sent me an information package. My interest rejuvenated and I brought it to the attention of the Director-General, Civil Aviation, who asked me to bring it along." From Bristol came, not only the balloon kit, but also Peter Dalby, a professional balloonist from Cameron who drilled Capt. Jayasinghe and his team of eight, in the balloon know-how. On Balloon No. 10132 made by Cameron, how did Capt. Jayasinghe feel on top of the sky? "A feeling of achievement," he replied. "We had to face a lot of bureaucratic red tape to get the project going. It was a Mission Impossible !" There is a permanent ban to fly over the Colombo city. "We can balloon only in open and less populated areas," he said. "The entire balloon kit came from Cameron," Capt. Jayasinghe said. "Aviation is safety-related and you cannot afford to have duplicates. Assembling the kit here was simple." The balloon proper is made of "Rip Stop Nylon," a light weight fabric. "The art of balloon control is knowing how to control the heat," Dalby explained. The 75-feet tall nylon balloon, hitched to the wicker basket carrying three large gas cylinders, is filled with 80,000 cubic feet of cold LPG. When the igniter is switched on, the heat lightens LPG and flames start sputtering. Press the blaster and a column of hot air emits, lifting the balloon into the air to float in the same direction of wind and at wind speed. Switch the igniter off and the air cools and the balloon floats down to a landing. The only limiting factors to successful ballooning seems to be politics and the weather. "No breathing problems or wobbling," assured Capt. Jayasinghe. Just serene floating over roof and tree tops. "We didn't test fly. That was our very first time on top !" "You cannot balloon in rain or in strong winds," Capt. Jayasinghe said. "Balloon fly time is early morning and late evening. Then you escape thermal activity." Capt. Jayasinghe brims with a host of exciting balloon gimmicks up his sleeve. "Our next attempt is free flying." No ropes to pull him back as he rides the skies with the whimsies of the wind, landing wherever the cooled balloon happens to ground him. "Is it safe?" Absolutely, he said, although a balloon could not be controlled. "The Pilot must be licensed. We hope to train a few Balloon Pilots in the coming years." "My request to the security authorities and politicians is to consider ballooning as a commercial venture," Capt. Jayasinghe says. "This could bring in a different dimension of adventure tourism to the country and a lot of money. The cream of today's tourists don't want to lie on a beach. They want to comb jungles, hire out yatchs, white water raft or ride a balloon." In other words, chase the wild adventurer within. India, Vietnam and even very bureaucratic Myanmar in Burma make a neat packet through ballooning, he said. "We can have tours over Uda Walawe National Park and the Cultural Triangle which should be operational by April." The equipment is certified by the Civil Aviation Authority in U.K., he added, as a reassurance. Then he fished out the trump in his fleet of balloon plans for Sri Lanka. "I want to organize a Balloon Festival here, bringing in crazy balloonists from the rest of the world on a package deal. It's not to make money but to give international exposure for our tourist industry." "How do you plan to succeed getting all these projects off ground?," we asked. "One hurdle at a time !," says this irrepressible balloon pilot. "Not that I am running short of hurdles !" |
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Hot air balloon is hot in advertising and tourism. Jayanthi Liyange
talks with the first Sri Lankan ballon pilot Capt. Anil Jayasingha, about
this cool thing....
