1st Class Ballooning - 1st Class Reputation

Why fly with Cloud Nine? Cloud Nine is owned and operated by Paul & Joanne Johnson. We have been flying in the North East of England since 1990 and have flown thousands of happy passengers.   We pride ourselves in our reputation and the majority of our business comes from previous passenger recomendation.  We are a local, family run business not a big national company. We deal with your flight booking on a personal level not through a call centre or ballooning agency.   Our aim is to give you  a personal, unique and memorable experience in a safe and friendly environment.   We fly only eight passengers per flight.   We encourage everyone to join in with the whole ballooning experience from start to finish; we want you to leave us on 'CLOUD NINE'.   Many of our passengers return again and again.   Our pilots hold full commercial pilot licences and have extensive flying experience not only in the UK but also throughout Europe.   We are fully licenced, approved and regulated by the Civil Aviaiton Authority. All flights take place in accordance with strict CAA regulations. We carry the maximum insurance liability for public transport balloons and have a no claims record from thousands of passengers flown. Your Flight Once your flight has been confirmed you must arrive at the launchsite at the time give.  Please wear clothing and footwear suitable for a walk in the country. Boots or trainers are ideal, flipflops and heels are not!. We recommend you bring a cap on hot summer evenings as it can get pretty hot in the balloon.  You are welcome to bring your camera or video recorder.    Ballooning does require a degree of agility and you must be medically fit.  You must be able to climb into the basket unaided (similar to climbing over a field gate) and stand for at least 1 hour.   The majority of flights take off from Allensford Park near Consett. (Post Code for Sat Nav DH8 9BA)  This is a wonderful location offering spectacular views.    The flight is planned to last around one hour although a precise timming is impossible and will depend on the weather and suitable landing sites. After the fight we all help pack the balloon away and celebrate with a glass or two of chilled champagne.  We will return you back to the launch site in the Cloud Nine landrover and present you with your flight certificate.  The whole experience will last approximately 3 hours and the memories will last a lifetime.   Sometimes the wind direction prevents us from using the Allensford site and we will choose to fly from our secondary location at Beamish  www.blackhorsebeamish.co.uk    Training School: Perhaps you would like to fly a Hot Air Balloon yourself. We are able to offer full training facilities with our B.B.A.C. appointed instructor. Our chief pilot is also a Type Rating Examiner. Tailored packages including examinations are available on request.