[balloon-makers] Open Source Balloon Design Meeting at XLTA Amherst

[Dan Nachbar]

For some years there have been discussions on various email lists
of creating an open source balloon design.  The idea is to have
a freely available set of plans for a basic balloon design
that a first-time balloon builder can use to get started.
Today, without such plans openly available, first-time builders
often have to puzzle out lots of details on their own.
(For a more complete description about how "open source" works,
see http://www.xlta.org/plans.html )

Lots of folks seem to agree that having such a set of plans would
be a good thing.  But like many would-be good things, getting
started is the hardest part of the project.

In order to get the ball rolling, I applied for a small grant
from the Wolf Aviation Fund. (See www.wolf-aviation.org for
details of their general aviation grant program.)  My proposal
is to hire an experienced balloon designer/builder
to put together a basic small balloon design. (I am not qualified
to do the task myself. I'm a blimp guy.)  I was recently notified
that the grant was approved. Yeah!

Paul Stumpf has agreed to take on the job of creating the
initial design. The plans will focus on construction of an envelope
and will include not only the fabric patterns but also other
key information such as lengths and positioning of parachute
lines, etc. The plans will be freely available for use, modification,
and redistribution via the xlta.org website and from any other
websites that choose to redistribute copies.

Before starting the detailed work, both Paul and I would like
to sit down with other experimental balloon designers/builders/pilots
and chew the fat about what the package should and should not include.
Since XLTA Amherst is coming up (see www.xlta.org), that venue
seems like a natural place to get together. I'll schedule
some time on Saturday June 2 for an informal discussion session.
(We will also be adding some other informal workshops and such
this year.)

If you're coming to the Amherst event, great.  If not, please feel free
to send your comments/ideas to myself or Paul (psstumpf at aol dot com)
so that we can include them in the discussion.

Dan Nachbar

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