Weather Conditions & Times of Flight

Between the months of April and October, the ideal time for balloon flight is the first few hours after dawn and the last few hours before dusk.

The surface wind speed needs to be below 8mph with no chance of rain, fog or low cloud. Balloons, unlike Gliders, avoid thermals which are caused by the sun heating up the land during the day.

Flights last for approximately one hour, but you do need to leave yourself at least 3-4 hours for the whole experience.

We simply ask our passengers to contact us when they have a date in mind. Some passengers find it useful to have a couple of dates just in case the weather initially intervenes.

Typically we need approximately three weeks notice for a weekend flight.

If you are booking a balloon flight as a present for someone, we will send a personalised gift voucher that is valid for a year. We can date the voucher from a passenger's birthday for example, so they have a complete year to take their flight.

Our Passengers' simply give us a call on the day that they are booked at about midday (or about 5.30pm the evening before if it is a morning flight) to confirm their availability and to check on the forecast weather conditions.

If the weather conditions do not make the balloon flight possible on the day that you have booked, we will simply discuss mutually convenient alternatives. We actively encourage passengers to book a couple of dates, if they would prefer, so that if the weather does intervene, they already have a couple of alternatives to fall back on.

If a date is unavailable, we will simply offer alternatives.

Please note that we cannot make refunds for whatever reason. Any flight booked however, can be transferred to another named person. Please note that all bookings are accepted on the understanding that the person booking and all passengers' accept 'our conditions of booking' as set out by the British Association of Balloon Operators (BABO) and shown on the Booking Info. page. 

When you contact us on the day of the flight we will, if conditions allow, make final arrangements for meeting at the launch site at an agreed time. If the weather conditions are difficult to accurately predict, we will arrange another telephone contact call to give you the very latest weather prediction just before you need to leave home. To give you the most scenic flight, we make the decision as to where we will take off from on the day of the flight, as this is dependent on the wind direction and consequently the direction the balloon will be flying.

We have two launch sites within a short distance of Junction 13 (Newbury) and Junction 14 (Hungerford) off the M4.

Ballooning is a very safe form of flying. Floating Sensations is fully licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority. In fact, we were one of the very first Operators to obtain our A.O.C. (Air Operators Certificate).

If you are concerned, you are welcome to speak to us regarding any aspect of ballooning that you would like to learn more about.