Easy Balloons 
Welcome to Easy Balloons 15.12.13
Hello and every Seasonal Greeting I can think of to you. Welcome to our site. If you’ve been before you’ll know that we are an EASA Part M Subpart F&G Organisation and happy to help keep your balloon in the air wherever you are, and if you didn’t then you do now. You will find all the info you need airworthiness-wise, things like balloon meets and even a few bits for sale on the left hand side in the pages bit. First off though we’d like to thank all our customers and friends, same thing, for their support over the past year and look forward to seeing you (in a purely social way, of course) in 2014. We’ve been a bit quieter this past year than we were the year before however things are still perfectly OK, apart from HS2 set to derail the workshop towards the end of next year. [more …]
Welcome to Easy Balloons 26.11.13
As ever a very warm welcome to you and thanks for visiting. We’ve got loads going on so to get the what we are, what we do and that stuff out the way we are in fact an EASA Part M Subpart F&G Organisation offering everything you need to keep your hot air balloon in the place it should be, the wild blue yonder. There, that didn’t take long. As this year draws to an weathery (at present) end we are quietly winding down on the inspections and work front and looking towards those winter roundtoits that we seem to collect throughout the year. Of serious importance is the latest CAA sneaky publication CAP1123 a ‘must read’ then comment on. Cunningly disguised as a report it is actually a statement that offers comment. It involves the way they haven’t addressed the ever increasing red tape they throw at us all and their now apparent U-turn on EASA. [more …]
Welcome to Easy Balloons 03.11.13
If, like the mails we sometimes get, you are looking for inflatable balloons then sadly we are unable to help but if you want to use our services as an EASA Part M Subpart F&G Organisation (and you have any idea what that means as it is a bit of a mouthful) to help keep your hot air balloon in the air then that is what this site is about. Well you’d think so but we are not just into hot air balloons, in fact we, like our lovely customers, are a very eclectic bunch so there are articles and news on almost any subject you can think of somewhere on this site. Its therefore most likely that you have arrived looking for information of playing cards or the difference between Swallows and House Martins I which a very warm welcome to you. [more … ]
Welcome to Easy Balloons 13.10.13
You have arrived on the inside cover of Easy Balloons and a very warm welcome to you. At first you may think we are all about balloons of the hot air type well, to a degree we are, but more importantly this is where you will find articles, reports and technical stuff on all sorts of things if you hunt about. Before you rush off though, just in case you’ve popped in to find out the latest Airworthiness Directives or current version of a Flight Manual and where to download it all, that is here too, mainly in the pages bit. Although our main business is obviously balloons we do have many other interests in things various as do many of our many friends that pop in and out so we feel that concentrating on just balloons, interest-wise is probably not the only way to go. That said there is always a bit of news about the world of ballooning and the escapades of some of our friends in the newsy bit. This time round on the downside a Cloudhopper bottom end was stolen whilst the pilot went off to get the key, full details in the current news. [more …]
Welcome 30.09.13
What Ho and a jolly welcome to you. Thanks for visiting our site. In our day job we are a Part M Subpart Organisation attempting to cope with all the rubbish thrown our, and all things aviation, from Europe. Sadly EASA seems to rubble on as a pretty out of touch organisation but that doesn’t matter we can still enjoy ourselves. So, here you will find nuts and bolts stuff in the pages and articles elsewhere on balloons and inspecting and like stuff but also some rather off-the-wall articles, reports and stories that we have collected for your amusement. With all the recent met forecasts being bonkers and John being away in places warm and sunny we have managed to get a fair bit done around the place but now its time to clear up the workshop before his return… [more …]
Welcome 11.09.13
A very warm welcome to you and thanks for visiting our site. We are mainly being a Part M Subpart thingymagig attempting to unravel the nonsense EASA regulations concerning Hot Air balloons that increasingly get our goat but hey ballooning can still be fun and so best foot forward this site is more about our great customers our adventures and the things enjoyed. If none of that makes sense that is great. We hope you enjoy the site and find a thing or tow to chuckle about. Of course if you need some quick reference stuff to complete the myriad of forms that inflict flying then down the pages side is a heap of stuff that we try and keep up to date. The news is mainly about the various competitions and challenges that are currently underway and as we write this we understand Von Trapp is on hold to zip across the Atlantic in a blow up boat under a rake of cluster balloons. We wish him well. We understand the Swatch has finally got airborne. I managed to get out to Italy to do a check flight and take I the Ventimiglia to Cuneo railway, more later. We currently have the smelly Bluebird Balloon in the workshop, not sure why but the sooner it goes the better! In the meantime seems Phil the France has taken to parking the Chateau on the main road. Its France so who cares! Nice one. [more …]
Welcome 17.08.13
A very cheery and warm welcome to you and thanks for visiting our site. Despite the fact we are primarily a Part Subpart wotsit and doodah looking after the continued airworthiness of hot air balloons we are also involved in repairing balloons, trailers and just about anything mechanical. Our interests, like our customers’, are varied and wide ranging so you will find a lot of stuff here that has nothing much to do with balloons. Naturally down the pages bit, which may be to your left, you will find technical stuff, lists of events, balloon ride operators and items for sale. This page is updated about every couple of weeks and new articles added around the same time. The News bit is also updated every couple of weeks but anything of an airworthiness or important nature is added as an update. Its been quite quiet here with Metz and Bristol going on and, as we scribble, Northampton is getting a bit of a battering but things are picking up again. On the visitor list we have had Mr Peanuts in for a bit of a fettle to his socks, the Swatch Watch has now got all its paperwork in place and is back to being G-BMJJ, also back is the mightily scary Allen Scythe is back for a drive related problem. [more …]
Welcome 03.08.13
Calm winds and blue skies to you all and welcome to our website. Thanks for visiting. Essentially we are a Part M Airworthiness Organisation based on the route of HS2 looking after the Continuing Airworthiness of Hot Air Balloons. Here, apart from a welth of technical and procedural stuff we have a growing list of interesting stuff that we hope will make you smile. We’ve been pretty busy sorting bits and bobs out for those that clattered off to Metz and then enjoyed a quiet week catching up on all the round-to-its. Tavistock was reported as being its usual convial self and some great flying was had. Up north the Pennine Region’s Meets have been well-flyable and as a result that lovely Elaine Smith has put pen to paper and done a couple of reports on the White Horse gathering and one we’ll make every effort to attend next year, The Henge Meet. I’m all current again having forgotten to take me specs to my medical. It was with some incredulation that when asked to read this or that I said I couldn’t until I explained my error! Returning a couple of weeks later with specs this time all was well. Thanks to Dave Court for travelling the length and breadth of the country to do check flights. On a sadder note Tony Hill who used to fly the Charles Wells balloons has passed away. Please note this isn’t the same Tony Hill that flies for Skybus Ballooning in Kent and East Sussex. He is fine and dandy. [more …]
Welcome to Easy Balloons 12.07.13.
What ho ballooning people various and Old and Rusties worldwide. The sun is out and so are we (mostly!). Whether you’ve come here to find information on balloon meets, TCDSs, Ride Operators, manuals, inspecting baskets and cylinders or Salome, HMS Hindustan, Surviving cloudhopper flying or our antics various it will all be here somewhere. Primarily we are a Part M Subpart F&G bonker EASA Approved Continued Airworthiness Organisation who are trying to keep things simple. We are always pleased to help if we can or point you in the right direction if we can’t. We and our lovely customers have the most eclectic interests which suits us down to the ground where airborne things always, eventually, end up. So please have a look round read some of the nonsense and have, we hope, a good chuckle. With everyone being out and about the news is a bit thin but full of Matts, congratulations to Nicola and Matthew Scaife who are now the proud owners of a son Hugo. There’s a flight test courtesy of Steve Roake. [more …]
Welcome to Easy Balloons 25.06.13.
A very warm welcome to you however you have arrived here! Although primarily involved in all aspects surrounding the repair and maintenance of hot air balloons, including matters of continued airworthiness, we also have a somewhat eclectic approach to our business and interests. It is also the case that many of our friends actually have interests outside of ballooning so we have devised this site to be a mix of information crucial to the continued airworthiness of balloons along with other things that we find rather interesting. So please feel free to check out the articles or simply use the information in the pages. It should all be downloadable if you want to print it out or use it. In the news is a bit about an old Gannet discovered in Scotland and Trappe’s latest proposed cluster balloon adventure. For the ride operators the season seems to have finally got underway but reports suggest that the flights so far this year have all been pretty hard fought. [more …]