What you didn't know about hot air balloons and tips for Canberra Balloon Spectacular 2020

Surprise! The fabric that puts the balloon in hot air balloon is actually called an envelope. This is why, when you listen out at the Spectacular on the weekend you might hear pilots saying things such as "I've got a 60,000-litre envelope".

Most private balloonists will also have two or three envelopes for the life of a basket.

"The envelopes are made of nylon and they last around about 500 flying hours," Spectacular flight director John Wallington says.

"The fabric gets porous over time - it's quite hot inside the balloon, it's around 100 degrees centigrade and the sun is shining on the outside of it, so those factors contribute to the fabric becoming porous over time."

Canberra is one of a handful of cities in the world that allow balloonists to fly over its built-up urban area. This means that pilots need at least 50 hours in command of a balloon to have the privilege of looking directly into the backyards of the embassies.

"That's a pretty high experience level for private balloonists, and that's because flying over the lake and flying over buildings, they need to really be on their game to make sure that when they're coming down, they're going to be landing in safe and open area," EventsACT assistant director of events delivery and Spectacular organiser Jayne Simon says.

"There are some challenges with flying over the city. They tend to be adrenaline junkies and they love the challenge. And you get to look in the backyard of Parliament House or the American Embassy so it's pretty fun for them."

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There is no such thing as turbulence in a hot air balloon.

"Because the balloon moves with the wind, the balloon itself is actually stationary in the air and becomes part of the air," Wallington says.

"Unlike an aeroplane which flies through the air and bounces and goes through turbulence, the only time a balloon is moving through the air is when it's going up or down. When it's at a set level, it's just moving with the wind, no matter how fast you're going."

Wallington likens flying a balloon to riding a motorcycle - you need to be attached and develop a feel for the craft to pilot it.

"They are nowhere near as technical as an aeroplane, they're very simple craft," he says.

"But it's a combination of understanding weather, understanding the technology behind the balloon, how it flies, why it flies and also having an intuitive feel for how it all works. You develop a feel for it, there's no doubt about that. It's probably more like riding a motorbike than driving a car. You need to be attached to it."

Whether or not the balloons fly is completely up to weather.

While the Wallington, as the flight director, will decide by 6.15am every morning about whether or not the balloons will fly - with the decision posted on social media as soon as it is - that doesn't give you a lot of time to get into the city in time for liftoff if you live in, say, Tuggeranong.

Simon says your best bet is to check the weather the night before and if the conditions are not expected to include high winds or rain, it's worth risking heading in.

"If you come down and they're not flying, we'll normally have three or four that we'll still inflate. You can still come and see them, touch the balloon, watch the burners and then stay from a hot breakfast," she says.

The other tip, Simon says, is to look at the flag on top of Parliament House when you get to the launch site. If it's pointing to the west there's a chance that the balloons will launch from the National Arboretum, instead.

"The reason behind that is if it's a westerly wind, it will blow the balloons into Canberra Airport airspace really quickly, so that's why they get moved down to the Arboretum to launch so that they have time to fly before they have to land," she says.

"If the flag is pointing to the east, then you're probably in for a good day and they should be fine to launch from the Parliamentary Triangle."