The Italian Aerospace Information Web
by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)

1st Italian Single-seat Balloon Meeting

On October 13 and 14, 2007, the town of Barolo and the Langa – an hilly area with world-famous wineyards – hosted the first Italian Single-Seat Balloon Meeting. Really, this was the 25th edition of the traditional “One Man Meet”, an event held - till now - in the United Kingdom.

Last Summer, the weather condition in UK were so unfavourable that Phil Dunnington, the long-time organizer of the meeting, sought a foreign location, at least for the 2007 edition. Help came from Pietro Contegiacomo, an enthusiast Italian ballonist and owner of Balloon Promotion, one of the few certified balloon and hot-air airship commercial operators in Italy.

The single-seat hot-air balloons – also dubbed cloudhoppers - have a small envelope, usually shaped like an inverted droplet, with a volume of no more than 42,000 cubic feet. They can be equipped with a small basket or with a very basic seat connected to one or two gas bottles.

During the two days of the Meeting, the 15 participating single-seat balloons made a total of 4 collective non-competitive flights, taking off from and near the sport fields of Barolo. For the first time, "The Paolo Contegiacomo Memorial" was assigned, dedicated by the British balloonists to the late pioneer of the Italian balloon movement during the ‘Seventies. The Memorial was awarded to Piers Glydon of the UK. Pietro Contegiacomo awarded another recognition, also dedicated to his brother Paolo, to Phil Dunnington, the main promoter of the institution of the Memorial in conjunction with the One Man Meet.

In the picture: balloons take off during the 1st Italian Single-seat Balloon Meeting held at Barolo, Cuneo Province, on October 13 and 14, 2007. (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, October 2007)