Our Philosophy
Genuine pioneering spirit and true creativity are the result of commitment and persistence. This is brought to you by the team at Lindstrand Balloons. 

It has always been our policy to design and manufacture 'in house'.
You will find almost every trade in our company, brought together in a first class workshop and a world-class textile-testing laboratory.

Lindstrand Balloons has a proven track record of project management, and has the highest available approval rating from the British CAA & the American FAA, for the manufacture of lighter-than-air craft.
So whether you're a balloonist or a record breaker, you can always depend on our positive and professional approach.

This web site is provided as a general guide to the services on offer at Lindstrand Hot Air Balloons

LINDSTRAND BALLOONS

Company Profile

 lindstrand balloons limited, hot air balloons, gas balloons, airships and blimps, lighter than air technology, inflatable buildings, special projects, aerostats and hiflyers
Lindstrand Hot Air Balloons Ltd (LHAB) are based in Shropshire, England. The Lindstrand team have been building lighter-than-air vehicles on the same site for almost  24 years. With designs certified in 48 countries and a perfect safety record LHAB is the world's largest manufacturer of airships.

LTA development
The roots of LHAB go back to 1976. Twenty three years later the LHAB team have designed, manufactured and type-certified the following lighter-than-air vehicles:

  • Over 4,500 hot air balloons, currently operated in 48 countries

  • over 100 hot airships

  • Over 110 gas balloons, helium and hydrogen capable

  • The largest ever hot air balloon, 73,600m³

  • The largest ever manned super-pressure balloon, 36,086m³

  • The largest ever thermal airship, 8,500m³

  • The GA-42 helium airship, 26m long, 1,190m³. This was the world's first certified civil aircraft with fly-by-wire control with no mechanical back-ups

  • Largest manufacturer of manned tethered aerostats
In-house design and manufacturing policy
LHAB has a policy of in-house design and manufacture and has two factories in Oswestry, one solely devoted to hot air manufacture and one for gas inflatables and special  projects. Gas balloon manufacture is dominated by tethered aerostats, which are manufactured by overlap welding of continuous longitudinal gores. This process allows for the welding machine to run on the rail track while the balloon material is almost stationery and the welding process is conducted by a hot air nozzle blowing into the two jointing surfaces. The largest balloon manufactured on existing machinery is a 36,086m³ manned super-pressure balloon. A 60,000m³  balloon could be built on existing  machine tools and existing premises.
Machinery developments
Much of the machinery used in LHAB's balloon manufacture is unique to LHAB and has been largely developed in-house as LHAB have comprehensive machine shop facilities and a full electronic/electrical workshop. LHAB has designed, developed and built a number of impulse welding machines and long arm sewing machines.
Balloon developments include:
The world's first type certified pressurised thermal airship, first use of silicone impregnated balloon fabrics, first use of synthetic envelope material approved for hydrogen gas, first practical solar balloon (balloon flight with payload heated only by the sun).  First sustained manned flight in the Jetstream.  First balloon capsule with active pressurisation.
CAA and FAA design and manufacturing approval:
  LHAB has the highest available approval rating from both the British CAA (DA1/9400/92) and the US FAA (336CE), for the manufacture of lighter-than-air vehicles.
Proven track record:
LHAB has a proven track record in project management, ranging from civil type certification of airships (GA42) to long distance manned balloon programmes
Fabric development:
The development of the world's first thermal airship fabric the HTN 90, that is today the world standard and the only fabric used in thermal airships.  The development of weft inserted warp knit gas balloon fabric for man carrying balloons, the DT891, which increases tear strength by a factor of five without any increase in weight.
Absolute hot air altitude record:
This record was set on June 6, 1988 over Laredo, Texas, and the maximum altitude was just under 65,000ft. This record has never been challenged since.  The balloon envelope had a volume of 17,000m³ and was manufactured from aluminised PET film laminated to ripstop nylon fabric. The reason for the aluminised outer layer was to reduce emissivity particularly at high altitude where the radiation losses would have been enormous. The fuel used for the burners was a mixture of propane/hydrogen and isopropylnitrate. The burners were specifically built for the project and were tested at the LUCAS Aerospace high altitude chamber at Burnley. The capsule was built from aluminium and the internal atmosphere was 7,500m with the pilot using 100% oxygen all the time and with a partial pressure suit as an emergency back-up.

Contact Information

Telephone
+44 (0) 1691-671717
FAX
+44 (0) 1691-671122 
Postal address
Maesbury Road.
Oswestry,
Shropshire,
SY10 8ZZ,
UK
Electronic mail  
General Information: info@lindstrand.co.uk
Sales: sales@lindstrand.co.uk
Customer Support: support@lindstrand.co.uk