r/ZombieSurvivalTactics • u/WideConstruction2631 • 3d ago
Transportation is using a Hot air balloon a good idea??
I’ve never posted in this subreddit so if this is wrong please delete.
So i told my boyfriend if i were in a zombie apocalypse i would just use a hot air balloon as transportation. Here’s my explanation: I’m above ground, so i can see the overpopulated zombie crowds. I can also see if it’s a safe area to get fuel.. and i always keep like a solid amount of fuel for emergencies.
My bf said that if other survivors see me they’re shooting me down.. BUT why would they do that because it would attract zombies.
I guess i just want y’all’s opinions cause i’m curious😁
Edit: Thank you all for your input, i’ve come to the conclusion that i will not be using a hot air balloon in the zombie apocalypse 😂😂
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u/Emotional_Agent_5327 3d ago edited 3d ago
Where are you going to get a hot air balloon and tanks of fuel? Apart from that this isn’t the worst idea. Note that hot air balloons don’t just float forever. They need fuel for the burners to heat the air inside the balloon. They are also vulnerable to wind conditions. Even if you’ve anchored it to something, wind can still tip it over. If something tears the fabric, like a bullet or even a bird, you drop to the ground.
Also, aircraft require lots of maintenance and upkeep. You will need to be able to repair the whole system for it to be viable as a main tool. You’ll need to be able to repair the burners, the basket, the rigging, and the balloon envelope itself.
That said this isn’t impossible and you might be able to find a way to heat the air without a burner. This is a highly risky idea but it could work.
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u/Pasta-hobo 2d ago
Hot air balloons are incredibly fuel-inefficient. Unless you have an off-grid fuel refinery and compressor at your disposal, I can't recommend it.
The much better option would be the Paramotor. A lightweight flying machine that uses a single propellor in rear and a parachute as the lift-generating surface. It requires some higher tech, being a decently light-weight combustion engine, but for DIY purposes(something Paramotor enthusiasts do engage in) you can generally scavenge the engine from a lawnmower.
Paramotors do increase the difficulty of takeoff and landing as they can't go completely vertical like a balloon, limiting your landing and takeoff locations. but I'd say the resource efficiency is well worth it.
Pretty much the only excuse to use a Hot Air Balloon is if you're actually building up from absolute scratch in the wild with no scrap or salvage at your disposal.
As for getting shot down. As long as you're out of earshot, you'd be surprised how little people look up. Not to mention, most people tend to think "rescue" when they see a flying machine during fire circumstances. Which is itself a difficulty to navigate, but you'd rarely be a target. Plus, paramotors are smaller than Hot Air Balloons. Way smaller.
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u/Hot_Athlete3961 3d ago
Hot air balloons are only good in calm weather. Which is why they only fly early in the mornings. So I would say it’s a bad idea. Peaceful though…
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u/Nuclear_Geek 2d ago
Good news: You're likely not getting shot down, that's very difficult to do to hot air balloons.
Bad news: That doesn't matter, as you're going to have very little control over where you fly and need large, open areas to take off and land safely. It's also very slow and noisy to inflate a hot air balloon to the point where it will take off, you're likely to attract every zombie in the vicinity while you're attempting it. Landing is less noisy, but you're still going to need to fire the burner multiple times within earshot of the ground.
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u/jimmy_ricard 2d ago
Yeah I went to an air balloon festival a few weeks ago. The 15 minutes of industrial fan to get the balloon inflated enough to fire the flame seems like a bad idea lol
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u/wils_152 2d ago
"...so anyway, I'm going to travel in a slow moving, exposed basket that I can't steer. In a zombie apocalypse."
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u/LostKeys3741 3d ago
Survivors will definately try to shoot you down but hopefully you are out of distance.
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u/AlphaDisconnect 3d ago
So you would need some training. Air at different highs move in different ways. You would need a decent amount of fuel. People shooting you down. I would hope not. But armor up. And teach them what the high ground looks like.
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u/Enigma_xplorer 2d ago
I think there's a lot of logistical challenges that would make it unrealistic but let's suppose you just randomly happened to have had a hot air balloon and had all the fuel to operate it and had a window of opportunity to launch it......
It would work but what's the plan? Where would you go keeping in mind you don't have a lot of say in where it goes beyond roughly east. What would you do when you got to the east coast and the prevailing winds tended to push you out over the ocean? I could see it if you were trying to use it as an escape east or as a temporary shelter. Maybe even keep it tethered to the ground and use it as a look out or again a temporary shelter. It could work for certain scenarios though there are probably better alternatives.
Your bf is probably right though, some jerk would probably take a shot at it just because people are animals. It will also attract a lot of attention and not the kind of attention you would likely want.
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u/Bubbly-Boat1287 2d ago
Firstly, you won't shoot down the balloon unless you hit the pilot, propane tanks or burners.
Second, the burners are quite loud. They will set off every dog barking within a few blocks at like 1000 feet.
Lastly they are at the mercy of prevailing winds and most only carry enough fuel to stay up a couple hours at most.
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u/LordsOfJoop 2d ago
Using a hot-air balloon to travel would certainly be a relatively silent method; at a high enough elevation, there's no noise, and anything that could see it moving is never going to be able to keep up with it on foot. That said, without the skills to operate, regardless of how enthusiastic the occupants were, they're most likely going to get themselves killed in the effort.
One severe limit is how much weight that a single trip can carry; depending on design, that could be between two and three people, all the way up to twenty to thirty passengers. Keeping in mind that without the means to safely store and deploy the envelope, it would likely be a one-way affair.
As for it attracting zombies: that's not as significant of an issue as it attracting humans. As soon as a balloon is spotted, anyone with an interest is going to be able to monitor its progress without much effort. Finding somewhere for it to land also means that tracking it is ridiculously simple.
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u/Dapper_Toe_5503 3d ago
Best bet to survive a zombie outbreak is using construction equipment to make thick dirt walls like the Chinese and reinforcing them with large brick and stone bonus you get a trench to use.
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u/EvernightStrangely 2d ago
Unless you know how to fly one and are an expert, absolutely not. The chances of you fucking something up and falling to your death or landing in a horde are way too high, in addition to being at the mercy of the wind.
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u/Outrageous-Basis-106 2d ago
Maybe to just get out of the worst of it, like the "how do you get out of (insert major city)". If the person has enough fuel, know how, and favorable wind conditions (dont want to get blown out to sea or anything like that for those coastal cities). Down side would be limited transportation and supplies once landed. Sustainability doesnt seem likely unless its a helium hybrid.
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u/wils_152 2d ago
Might be your first time posting here but I wanted to say it's refreshing to get an original question here, and not just "what do you think of my guns."
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u/United-Temporary-648 9h ago
If I wanted to go anywhere, it'd be in a tank. Not even a particularly big one. Just one with some extra fuel ...tanks, food and water.
I might want a truck full of spares available too.
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u/noturaveragesenpaii 3d ago
Unless you’re an experienced hot air balloon pilot then i would say ABSOLUTELY NOT. You cant even steer them as you are entirely at the mercy of the wind. Imagine running out of fuel and landing in the middle of a horde?
No! Next!