00:00Just watch your face that you don't get branch in the face.
00:14There's something ethereal about flying in a hot air balloon.
00:18You're being carried by the wind hundreds or even thousands of feet in the sky.
00:23But to get that high, I turned to Bill Hughes, who's been flying balloons for 44 years now.
00:30And he's going to teach me how to fly this thing.
00:33Once the balloon is filled with cold air,
00:37Bill uses the burner to shoot flames into the balloon.
00:42Heating the air inside the balloon makes it lighter than the air on the outside,
00:45which allows us to take off.
00:47Alright, here we go.
00:49After a safety check, to ensure we would make it back down in one piece.
00:52It's all in one piece, nothing's missing.
00:55I hope so.
00:56We were finally ready to go.
00:58Squeeze this, about a 10 second burst, go.
01:04Couple more.
01:06And after about 10 attempts with the burner.
01:09Give it a couple more.
01:13And one more.
01:15We were airborne.
01:17Okay, well we're just falling off here.
01:19Yep, we are airborne.
01:20And that is happening.
01:22We are in the air.
01:28There's a big lag, I don't know if you noticed it, between when you do something and when it takes
01:32effect.
01:33When you stop burning before we left the ground, we kept climbing.
01:37Okay?
01:37There's about a 15 second lag in there.
01:39Uh-huh.
01:40It's because of the inertia of this thing.
01:42Five tons of air inside there.
01:44A lot of inertia.
01:45So that's why it moves so slow and lumbering.
01:48And there's that lag.
01:49Uh-huh.
01:49I'm heating it now to keep it level, okay?
01:52Then we're going to descend and land.
01:54Uh-huh.
01:55After spending around 15 minutes in the air, it was time for our first landing.
01:59So it's just going to hit, it's going to bounce.
02:02Landings.
02:03We're pretty rocking.
02:05And I just hold on to it until it stops.
02:09Okay, and you should hold on.
02:10Yep.
02:11Okay.
02:12Alright.
02:14There it is.
02:15There it is.
02:18You again.
02:19Take off.
02:19Take off?
02:20Yep.
02:21Take off number two.
02:30There was a lot to take in.
02:31Well, it is nice and peaceful up here.
02:33It is.
02:34I'll say that.
02:35When you're up so high, it's easy to get distracted by the breathtaking views.
02:39Got some nice cows and pasture.
02:41Uh-huh.
02:42But you have to pay attention to where you're going.
02:44Looks like we're going to just clear those.
02:46Uh-huh.
02:48Looks like we're going to hit that tree.
02:49I know.
02:50It looks like we're going to.
02:51You get worried because you're getting so close.
02:52I understand, yeah.
02:53It's okay to hit the trees, okay?
02:56So don't worry about that.
02:57We're not just going to fall out?
02:58No.
02:59After several more run-ins with trees.
03:15And smoother landing attempts.
03:19Hold on.
03:21Okay.
03:22And here we go.
03:23Knees bent.
03:26Not so bad.
03:27It was time to land this thing for good.
03:29The sun was setting and I wasn't quite ready to fly in the dark.
03:32So we decide to make a swift landing.
03:34In someone's front yard.
03:36Up.
03:37Bend your knees.
03:39Whoa!
03:40Whoa!
03:40Whoa!
03:40Okay, everybody good?
03:46Hang on.
03:47Hang on.
03:47It's not over yet.
03:48On a scale from one to ten, that was about a seven.
03:52Getting that right, getting that landing right, that was no joke.
04:08Okay.
04:09There we go.
04:11Everybody good?
04:12Uh-huh.
04:12The most difficult thing about flying that was gauging how high or low you are and you're
04:18going because you think that you're staying level or you think that you're going up and
04:23all of a sudden you're descending and you're about to hit a tree and you've got to hit that
04:27burner.
04:28Otherwise, we're going to some power lines and we'll be tumbling out.
04:32Man, Richard Branson went across the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean on two different trips
04:48and really take it the way Branson did.
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