BALLOON FLYING HANDBOOK
 

Glossary "S"

SIGMET

Significant Meteorological Information.

Small Aircraft

Aircraft having a maximum certificated takeoff weight of 12,500 pounds or less. All currently type-certificated balloons are small aircraft.

S/N (Serial Number)

A number, usually one of a series, assigned for identification.

 

Step Descent

A method of allowing a balloon to lower toward the ground by reducing the altitude, leveling-off, and repeating the step, to lower the balloon in increments rather than one continuous motion.

Superheat

A gas balloon term, superheat occurs when the sun heats the gas inside the envelope to a temperature exceeding that of the ambient air, resulting in expansion of the gas.

 

Superpressure Balloon

(1) A type of hot air balloon which has no openings to the atmosphere the mouth is sealed with a special skirt and is kept pumped full of air (at a higher pressure than the atmosphere) by an on-board fan. Used on moored balloons to allow operations in relatively strong wind. (2) In gas ballooning a sealed envelope in which the internal envelope pressure exceeds that of a non-sealed envelope.

Suspension Lines

Lines descending from the mouth of a balloon envelope from which the basket and heater are suspended.

 

 
 
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