A HOLIDAY IN THE AIR.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2645, 4 February 1908, Page 7

A HOLIDAY IN THE AIR.

WHAT A BALLOON- TRIP COSTS

The first cost which has to be considered in making a balloon ascent is the charge,for inflating the balloon In the early days of ballooning hydrogen gas was used for the purposes of inflation, but it was tremendously expensive, costing £1 per 1,000 cubic feet. A balloon, for example, like the Dolce Far Niente, belonging to Mr. Pollock, which has a 45,000 cubic feet capacity, would if inflated by hydrogen gas, entail an outlay of £-15 every time an ascent was made in her.

Coal gas costs but two shillings per 1,000 cubic feet, and it was the introduction of coal gas for inflating purposes that really brought about the modern popularity of ballooning and rendered it a pastime which people who are not millionaires could indulge in. A balloon of 45,000 cubic feet capacity can be inflated at a cost of 455. and the expenses incidental to filling it woufld amount to about £3, which would include transport expenses to and from the place where the ascent was to be made. An ascent, of course, must always be made in the vicinity of some gas-works, where a plentiful supply of gas can be obtained. A balloon is rather an expensive luxury to cjwn, and only comparatively wealthy people can afford to buy one. A balloon of 45,000 cubic feet capacity would cost from £250 to £3OO, but nowadays it is possible to hire a balloon for the day, and the firm from which it is hired will carry out and arrange all details in connection with the ascent. The cost of the hire of a balloon depends altogether on its size ; the hire of one of 45,000 cubic feet capacity wou'id amount to about £ls for the day, but before hiring a balloon it is well to get an expert to examine it and see that it is of mo/Jura construction and not one that whilst it may bo safe enough to travel in will rise slowly and give in many other ways a great deal of trouble which would considerably nJar the pleasure of an aerial trip. If none of the intending passengers in the balloon know anything about aeronautics, it will be necessary for them to take a professional aeronaut with them on the trip, whose fee wcydd be £3 for the day, and care should be exercised to see that the aeronaut who goes in charge of the balloon thoroughly understands his business.

Altogether it will now be seen that the cost of a trip in the air would amount to about £24, which, divided among the three passengers, would amount to £8 per head. The prices quoted are the usual charges made, and were given by a well-known firm of aeronauts, but it should be said that some of them are not fixed charges, but vary according to the state of business. If a firm is very busy and have their balloons booked a long way ahead for ascents, they charge much higher prices than; in slack seasons. This summer it would have been possible to hire a balloon of 45,000 cubic feet capacity for prqbably ten instead of fifteen pounds. The usual period which an ascent lasts is for about three hours ; in that space of time it is probable that the balloon will have travelled about sixty miles, though the distance at all times depends upon the rate at which the wind is blowing. Taking an average afternoon's voyage, however, to be about sixty miles, the aerial voyagers must add to the already estimated expenses the cost of returning from the place of descent to their homes, the balloon being sent back by rail or motor. The cost of the transport of the balloon is, however, included in the three pounds already mentioned for incidental expenses. It is usual to allow £1 per passenger for travelling expenses, so that, altogether, the cost of a balloon trip on the figures given would work out to £9 per head. People who own balloons estimate that their hallowing costs them about five pounds per head per ascent, and the difference of £4 per head is a fair allowance to make for the cost of the hire of a balloon.

Balloons arc now being made capable, of carrying from 10 to 15 passengers, and the cost of an ascent per head in one of these big balloons would be very much cheaper than in a smaller one. The estimated cost of an ascent in a balloon carrying twelve people is £6O, which would anic»unt to five pound per passenger, and next season will certainly see a considerable reduction in this charge. —"Tit-Bits."