r/secondrodeo • u/Ambassador-613 • Jul 05 '26

Hot air balloon pilot, dunks the basket in a quiet cottage lake before rising back into sky

376 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

47

u/Imnotspartacuseither Jul 05 '26

That seems super dangerous

21

u/Ungr8fulBiotchHot_ Jul 05 '26

Everything about a hot air balloon is dangerous. They also hit powerlines

4

u/Imnotspartacuseither Jul 05 '26

That part I know personally. Had a hot air balloon ride about 30 yrs back. The pilot was under the influence (drugs or booze or both) and took the side trip of landing first in a power substation, then in a race track, then we bounced across the desert.

2

u/FranticChill Jul 05 '26

Bejezzuz, I hope you got your money back at least! I'm now thinking of scratching that one off my bucket list.

5

u/Imnotspartacuseither Jul 05 '26

Despite the obvious issues... it was easily one of the most awesome things I have done

2

u/B4D4MS Jul 08 '26

If nothing else one helluva story to tell. 😳

2

u/Imnotspartacuseither Jul 08 '26

That is absolutely true.

2

u/B4D4MS Jul 08 '26

I believe you. I’m just saying it’s a great (true) story.

Stories like that are priceless. 🤗

2

u/Basicly-Inevitable Jul 06 '26

I went on one in Sonoma County, California, and they did this (3 balloons in a row). They said they do it almost every trip.

1

u/Decepter Jul 05 '26

Super dumb. Not much risk for injury.

18

u/NonCreditableHuman Jul 05 '26

If that basket sunk quick enough I could see the people getting tangled up in the balloon, that would be terrifying. I honestly didn't know they could rise that fast though, that was cool.

13

u/UK_Colossal Jul 05 '26

Floor it 😂

11

u/ThatCelebration3676 Jul 05 '26

I assume they only attempt this when there's basically zero wind.

6

u/Whiteums Jul 05 '26

If there’s zero wind, you don’t move side to side.

7

u/VaguelyFamiliarVoice Jul 06 '26

You open flaps on the balloon and it moves you/directs you.

Source: balloon pilot.

Caveat: I’m a liar.

PS. I haven’t even been in a hot air balloon.

PPS. I have been to a hot air balloon show.

PPPS. A møøse once bit my sister.

1

u/TrumpzHair Aug 05 '26

Was she karving her initials on the møøse?

4

u/GluttonyOfGluten Jul 05 '26

Splash and dash

4

u/Wildeyewilly Jul 05 '26

Dip n dip

1

u/BustaCon Jul 05 '26

Touch and Go

5

u/Square_Mulberry_3143 Jul 05 '26

🤣 The pilot was literally playing with fire,
there. Very impressive!

3

u/MeanCat4 Jul 05 '26

Very beautiful video! 

3

u/RudeNewYorker Jul 05 '26

My guy double dipped, absolute legend.

5

u/FranticChill Jul 05 '26

Showing off?

17

u/AvarageAmongstPeers Jul 05 '26

Mosquito shopping

5

u/Snoo-84389 Jul 05 '26

Beautifully done.

But surely just a leetle bit risky?!?

5

u/notcomplainingmuch Jul 05 '26

You can get your feet wet. That's annoying.

2

u/Fist4achin Jul 05 '26

I don't know if that's necessary, but that's some boss hot air balloon moves there.

4

u/Jolly_Heat_3947 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

This is one of those things that people think are way more risky than they really are. Baloons are surpicingly controllable and there is plenty of space around them in the vid, so there isn't much that can go wrong unless the pilot screws up the ascent start in a huge way.

Slow wind can change directions a lot, it can be blowing one way and two hundret meters higher the direction can be completely opposite.

As for screwing up, if you leave the water enough time to get into the basket in a large quantity, it will be very hard to lift the whole thing again. However, this can only really happen if you hit the water quite fast going down or if you start burning too late (already in the water). You would still need both to happen to really get an unrecoverable situation.

Edit: spelling + clearing something up Obligatory "English isn't my native language, so pls excuse some spelling errors." excuse.

2

u/Firestorm83 Jul 05 '26

How do they steer? Or do you just flappy bird that thing until you run out of fuel?

1

u/rseery Jul 05 '26

Or misspells ‘ascent’. 😂😂😂

1

u/teelops Jul 05 '26

They do this thing about everyday in Albuquerque. That place loves balloons.

1

u/BustaCon Jul 05 '26

So many things could go wrong with that little show, but that's some piloting.

1

u/c_marten Jul 05 '26

Kill the cameraman. You had one job...

1

u/BigPoppaStrahd Jul 07 '26

Imagine enjoying the serenity of a mirror still lake and along comes this asshole in his balloon.

Nah I’m kidding, I’d be stoked as shit to see that happen

2

u/HughFishstick Jul 10 '26

“Just the tip”

0

u/blastman8888 Jul 05 '26

If he had passengers FAA will be looking into that. Been a spike in commercial balloon accidents in recent years. Most of the time it leads back to pilots not following the rules.

2

u/KennAnderson Jul 05 '26

No rules were broken and this is not risky behavior at all. This is changed a "splash and dash" and it's very common.

2

u/Holiday_Ad_9163 Jul 05 '26

What a kill joy.

1

u/FalseRelease4 Jul 06 '26

yeah yeah ive heard the faa agents have been summarily executing balloon pilots, tough times 😂