A week ago yesterday, I took my boy to the Great Park Balloon, which is the largest tethered helium balloon in the country. We’ve noticed this many times over the past few months on our way to church and other events (as it is plainly visible from the freeway and toll roads) and I finally decided to look it up on the Internet; the balloon just started operations in July. To my surprise, I learned that this was a FREE ride that has been set up on the old El Toro Marine Base which was just closed a few years ago. After a tremendous amount of controversy, voters finally prevented a new commercial airport being established on the site and a huge park is now being now developed on the land (it will take many decades to finish it). The Great Park Balloon happens to be one of the first features of the park and is run by the City of Irvine.

As I had just picked up my boy and we were driving nearby, I decided to try and find the “launch pad” for the balloon and was surprised at how difficult it was to locate (the road to it is not well marked) , but find it we did. To our delight, there weren’t too many people there (I would guess around a hundred or so) and we didn’t have to wait long. Again, I was really surprised that this was a FREE ride. Even more surprising is how big the balloon actually is and the site was beautifully done. While most of the park area still has, for all practical purposes, the appearance of a military base, the area around the balloon has been specially built up as the balloon will be a permanent attraction. According to one of the “flight attendants,” the gondola rises approximately 400 feet off of the ground and is anchored by a single steel cable that is connected to a winch in the ground. If I remember correctly, it contains enough helium to fill 250 million birthday party balloons and it is so large that it holds up to approximately two dozen people!

We probably waited no longer (after signing the usual waiver) than thirty minutes for our flight and watched it take several groups up. Unfortunately, I only had my cell phone camera with me and the sun was, obviously in the wrong direction in order for me to get some decent pictures. Just the same, it’s possible to not only see how large the balloon is, but also how high it goes; again, the gondola holds approximately two dozen people and, due to FAA restrictions (really!) the top cannot reach an altitude greater than 500 feet.

Once we boarded, both of us hung on for dear life (smile) but the ride was extraordinarily smooth and extremely quiet – in fact, other than the initial bumps at liftoff, it was difficult to gage just how fast it was actually moving. Considering that there was certainly a cool breeze blowing, the trip up couldn’t have been any more pleasant. As it was a clear day, we could also see quite a distance – unfortunately, I didn’t get too many photos. According to the information we received, night flights are also being planned and, I would imagine, those will also quite a beautiful view.

As with the trip up (BTW, the balloon is just tethered to a single cable), our descent was equally quiet and nearly imperceptible. Ironically, the balloon just received minor damage a couple of days ago and operations have been suspended for the next two weeks for repairs. Just the same, I’m looking forward to another flight.