First Light

Dawn over the Wend valley. Your envelope holds 2,550 m³ of air, a 3.2 MW propane burner heats it, and the only way to steer is to climb or sink into a wind that blows another way.

The physics are real: the lift comes from the density of hot and cold air, the envelope cools through its fabric and through the parachute vent, the air inside expands as you climb, and everything answers with the slow delay real pilots know. Morning inversions, wind that turns with height, lift in front of hills and sink behind them, propane tanks that run dry and an envelope that must stay below 120 °C.

Start with the training flight: lift off, climb, level off, descend and land softly. Pass it and you have completed First Light. After that the sky is yours in free flight – six launch fields, sunrise or evening, calm air, a breeze or box winds, passengers on board and a whole festival of other balloons.

Watch out for power lines, land in meadows rather than crops, and stay close to a road for your retrieve crew. Your progress and an unfinished flight are saved to your account.