What would happen if a Boeing 747 hit a hot air balloon in flight?

Question

Would the larger aircraft be affected at all? How about the balloon? Would it explode, or would it get caught on the jet, or what?

Answer 1

A BIG BANG

Answer 2

POP!

Answer 3

The hot air balloon will get more damage but still the Beoing will be destroyed too.

Answer 4

the balloon would most likly deflate and the force from the impact would make the basket on the bottom of the baloon drop off (3-4 people dead) then the engines suck up the fabric lets say it was a smaller size ballon and got into two of the 4 turbofan engines the pilot shuts those down and depending on how it hit it could damage flight controls (elevators flaps) or the fabric catch on the wing and change the airfoil shape making flying in a controled fasion difficult

Answer 5

Wont be more destructive than a bird strike if you ask me....

Answer 6

both of them will disintegrate.

Answer 7

the people in the balloon would be screwed.

Answer 8

at the speed a jet flies at, it would be like hitting a brick wall

i doubt anyone would survive

it would certainly hit with enough force to do severe structural damage ans probable loss of control

if it hit the fuselage, the pilots would be killed

if it hit the if it wasn't riped off, it would ruin the integrity of the leading edge affecting the lift created by the wing

it could go through the engines under the wing and either rip them off or cause a fire - either way losing both engines on the same wing - that may be a survivable scenario as long as debris did not damage the hydraulics or control surfaces

as a 174 can be flown on 2 engines

Answer 9

Sorry, but if james k is a pilot he is a very ill informed one. An aeroplane hitting anything like a truck at any speed will be damaged, requiring investigation and repair. Hitting a balloon during flight would invariably cause structural damage to the aeroplane and very probably a crash. The balloon would not survive the impact. Imagine driving your car into a bouncy castle, would you expect to just keep driving at the same speed with no damage, or do you think that your car might be stopped. Whichever, you would survive. If an aeroplane is stopped in flight it has a long drop, you would not survive.

Answer 10

A hot air balloon has SIGNIFICANT mass (please see the link below). Just remember that

1. there is enough pressure for a human being to sit on top of a hot air balloon without causing it to collapse. That should be an indication of how much pressure and tactile strength the balloon has.

2. It also has fuel on board, and

3. related equipment that would impact a 747 pretty badly as well.

It is a much more significant threat than either a human being with a parachute or a small flock of birds.

If it was hit directly by a 747, even at a speed of only 250kts, the damage to both aircraft would be severe. The chance of surviving would be pretty low for both aircraft. Any chance of a lucky survival would really depend on details such as where the contact was made.

EDIT:

The piece of TIRE that took down the concorde during takeoff (at less than 250kts) was LIGHTER than many parts on a Hot Air Balloon.

Answer 11

The 747 pushes an enormous wave of compressed air in front of it, especially at low altitudes and slow speeds.  It would push the balloon out of the way and the two aircraft would never actually come in contact with each other.

The balloon would almost certainly go down and its crew would be lost, but it would never hit the 747.  Bird strikes are different, because the birds are compact and streamlined, and so can fly through the 747's bow wave.

But the balloon is large and floppy, and the bow wave would knock it away.  This could only occur at low altitudes and slow speeds, so the bow wave would be at its biggest.

Answer 12

It would not be good for the balloon.  It would not have much effect on the 747 unless the balloon got sucked through an engine.  Then the 747 would have to fly on only 3 engines, and they can do that.

The first answer said there was high pressure in the balloon.  Not in a hot air ballon - if this were true, the balloon would not fly.

Answer 13

bend over and kiss u *** good bye

Answer 14

both would crash

Answer 15

well, me, being a pilot, will give you that answer, which is surely true: A balloon first of all does not fly very high. Now, each plane below 10,000 ft can fly maximum 250 knots because of restrictions. So the answer that some people gave that the plane is VERY fast is not true.

However, if it would hit the balloon, the following would happen: The balloon would just "disappear". He would just be cut in a thousand pieces. On the other side, the 400 tons B747 would just not have any (major) damage. Because all the materials (and especially the wings) are VERY strong (because they have to carry the whole plane in heavy trubulences, where the G-factor is doubled etc.).

By the way: There has been a B737 taxiing to the gate after landing. However, there was a truck standing on the appron, and the B737 hit the truck with the wing tips while rolling at about 20 knots. Now, the truck was pushed away, while the plane and the people inside did really almost not realize anything. And that were just the end of the wings who throw the truck away.....So there you can see how strong the materials are.

Answer 16

I'd say the boeing would catch fire due to the debris in the engines.

However the hot air balloon would be torn into pieces.

Answer 17

They would both blow up.  The hot air balloon would instantly blow up and the 747 would problably go down.  Or go down in flames or something like that.

Answer 18

Both would go down.

Answer 19

Hot air balloons are filled with hot air, a 747 has a mass of several thousand tons, a hot air balloon has a mass of zero.

So if a 747 hit a hot air balloon at say 400mph, the balloon would not explode, it would split and probably rap its self around the nose or wind of the 747.

If it raps around the wing of the plane to will effect the aero dynamics of the plane and could result in the plane crashing.

Ja.

Answer 20

747 1 - Balloon nil.

The balloon would most likely be sucked into the engines and both would go down.

Answer 21

Somebody, somewhere would claim that the balloon was piloted by an Iranian Al Qaeda death squad and the penalty should be the immediate bombing of Tehran follwed by a full invasion

Answer 22

you tube would have a field day!