By now, many of you have been blessed with enough good flying weather to have regained your piloting competence and confidence. The flight opportunities have given you and your passengers a basket full of enjoyment. Your basket (or carriage or gondola) is quite likely to have taken in more than human passengers. At the next opportunity you may want to rid it of some of its unneeded contents.
Gather up the required tools and equipment — fitting wrenches, duct tape, plastic sheeting, a knife, a small screwdriver, a rubber or plastic hammer (or a foot long piece of round wooden closet pole), and a handful of quarters. You may also need sandpaper and a small file. A shop vacuum is optional, but useful.
During passenger changes, inflations, and landings, you often blow dirt and debris into the envelope. When the envelope stands up, trash rains down into the basket. The next time you lay the system down for inflation or deflation, it falls under and behind fuel cylinders, and between the scuff leather and the wicker or floor. The cycle repeats, trapping more and more debris in these inaccessible areas. The combination of sand, gravel, soil, and vegetation, if left in place, can cause damage to, or destruction of a balloon basket.
Sand and gravel can abrade the wicker, and if trapped under fuel cylinders, it can wear holes in the floor. We have seen several neglected baskets that have required floor repairs or replacement caused by fuel cylinders grinding through layers of plywood.
Soil and vegetation trapped in the wicker or behind the scuff leather can hold moisture, and support mold and rot. A splash and dash will add to the moisture supply. One improperly stored basket failed its annual inspection as the floor separated from the vertical wicker frame elements.
All of these problems are preventable with proper owner maintenance. You can pay a repair station to do this preventive maintenance, but the owner or pilot should know the exact condition of the aircraft. The following preventive maintenance steps are easier if you can perform them before you refuel.
Disconnect the hoses from the fuel cylinders and the burner. If you have caps for the hose fittings, put them on. Otherwise cut a small square of plastic to cover the fitting, and attach it by wrapping a piece of duct tape around the hose. Cover every fitting to keep dirt and debris from entering the fuel system. If your hoses are not attached to the basket, you should remove them. Remove the burner. Remove the instruments and other accessories from the basket.
Once you have removed the cylinders and anything that might be damaged by dirt or water, scoop out any loose dirt, bottle caps, champagne corks, or other trash on the floor. If you have a shop vacuum, use it to clean as much of the floor as you can reach with the basket upright. The vacuum at a quarter car wash works just as well.
Use duct tape and plastic to cover any padded bolsters or rail covers subject to water damage. Then carefully turn the basket upside down. You will see a lot sand and grit fall out of the basket and onto the carefully protected rail covers. This is just a hint of what’s stuck between the scuff leather and the wicker. Take the rubber hammer or a foot long piece of closet pole, and start beating on the scuff leather. Don’t be gentle - it will take several passes around the leather to get all the junk out. The object of the beating is to knock loose the sand and vegetation, and break the hardened mud into small pieces. Keep at it until nothing more falls out. Think of your least favorite former boss, landowner, the IRS...
While you have the basket upside down, inspect the skids. You will probably see countersink holes packed with dried mud. Use a small screwdriver or awl to break this mud loose. It can hold moisture and lead to corrosion of the skid attachment bolts. If you see rust starting to form, put a drop of light oil on the threads. If the bolt is seriously rusted, it must be replaced. If the wood is worn such that the bolt sticks out past the wood, you may need to replace the skid.
Some skids have openings or grooves between the skid and the basket floor. Remove any dirt from such grooves or openings. Inspect any exposed cables or suspension ropes for cuts, abrasion, rust, or other damage. If you find damage, check with your repair station to see if it affects airworthiness. Each manufacturer specifies wear limits for aircraft structural members.
Take the basket to your local quarter car wash. With the basket on one side at a time, spray the floor, all the wicker, and the area where the sides meet the floor, both from inside and outside the basket. This will clean the remainder of the dirt from the inside of the scuff leather.
Allow the basket to partially dry. If you find scraped but intact wicker, smooth it with sandpaper. Apply the manufacturer’s recommended finish to the wicker on the outside of the basket.
If needed, apply a wax dressing to the scuff leather. Don’t do this more than once a year, as you don’t want to soften the scuff leather too much.
Check the rings on the bottoms of the cylinders. If they are rough, smooth them with sandpaper or a fine file. Apply 2 layers of duct tape to the ring to protect the basket floor. Otherwise, you can use a piece of 1 inch industrial rubber hose split lengthwise over the bottom ring. Spread the hose at the split, put it over the bottom ring, and cut it to length. Baskets with plastic liners under the cylinders do not need the extra protection.
Reassemble the system, check for fuel system leaks, refuel, and take it out for many more successful flights.