Invited by the Indian Premier Balloon operator Sky Waltz on behalf of the Indian government the Keep Calm Balloon G-CKTG has been flying over the Meghalayan Region of India with a dozen other Hot air Balloons. This is part of the Meghalayan Age Festival.

Our first flight took us north over towns and villages being cheered along the way. Between villages were Rice paddy’s in the valleys until finally finding a suitable landing spot next to a remote village where after our 2hr25minute flight we landed in a Bamboo cut field. The villagers looked amused clearly not seeing a balloon before but came to watch and help us remove the balloon from their field.

With the village being so remote the local ground team consisting of Locals and Police took us back the way they came to get us which took 3 hours of careful navigation only the best engineered 4x4’s can do.

Flight two saw us fly west to Moodymmai higher up winds provided the balloons who went high almost 180 degree steerage and some spectacular views from 7500ft amsl or 3000ft above ground level. After taking the option to go high we landed outside of Mryjai.

Flight Three was a stunner of a flight taking us North over some spectacular Indian countryside. It was our first chance to fly into valleys and experience what Meghalaya had to offer. After an hour of flying Jan in his Kubicek 105 landed at why looked to be a football field in a local village which looked an ideal option to try and get. Fortunately the balloon managed to swing directly towards the pitch and managed to make it right in the middle. We were greeted by hundreds of the local village kids, once again never seeing a balloon before. They were too happy to help where they can helping to grab some of the other balloons that were coming to land. Ironically all three Kubicek balloons managed to make the field.

If flight three was spectacular then flight four offered something in better in breathtaking views. As we arrived on site it was clear there was fog around but from the launch site it cleared quite quickly. As we set up and started flying we could still see fog in all the valleys which created a stunning view. As the flight developed we started heading towards the large valleys covered in trees and rice paddy’s at the bottom. With the fog clearing it was just too tempting to fly into the valleys, the sounds and atmosphere were truly incredible and almost impossible to describe.

After clearing the valleys the landing area was littered with rocks, trees and bushes and with plenty of fuel remaining decided to carry on until a local village football stadium presented itself. Again the people from the local community came to see the what had just landed in their football field.

The next morning flight number five took us east on a new direction. The direction did not have too many landing opportunities with several balloons only making short flights to a rice paddy and scrub land. Our flight continued for quite a while until a small gap appeared in the trees, although extremely tight the balloon managed to sneak into the gap beautifully. Although landing in the middle of a jungle the crew managed to find us in no time with thanks to the location took on Watsapp, amazingly a group of children also made their way to us and where they came from I could not work out as we were several miles from any village.

The next morning brought flight number six and was an unusual start as we had a marriage inside the balloon while it was being inflated. This flight was very slow and many of the other balloons went in different directions. Our flight direction took us towards the same place the Balloon landed on flight two so slowly tracked our way to it, using the winds at different heights we managed to get over too the landed which albeit from a huge set of power lines was actually a good landing spot in an area that didn’t have too much in the way of a landing spots. As we came down the balloon started to head towards the power lines as it was slow and getting late in the morning the balloon was brought down quite close to them to ensure we were down, hearing a crackle of electricity through the power lines isn’t a pleasant experience when in a balloon. But with everyone safe the team again arrived in quick time and we were heading back to camp.

Flight seven provided our first Box conditions of the week and after flying away from the launch site for 20 minutes climbed and flew over the launch site to our camp site. Once over the campsite we descended quite low to fly back towards the launch site after another 40 minutes we were back over the launch site and decided to land. The local crew were amazed that I landed back where the balloon took off from and couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do that all the time.

The final flight, number eight was a short hop over the local village. Again the winds were light but with the day involving packing the balloon away ready for shipping kept it simple. As always we had a lovely group of children meet us on landing and help pack away the balloon.