View from the basket: "Heavenly Fair of the Urals" in the Perm Region

For the 15th time in the city of Kungur, which is located 90 kilometers from Perm, the festival of aeronautics "Heavenly Fair of the Urals" is taking place. This year, as part of the anniversary event, the second stage of the Russian Aeronautics Championship will take place, for which more than 30 pilots have registered. In addition to the Russians, two Japanese crews on their balloons participate in the sports part of the program. The festival started at the Trud stadium, where local residents (Kunguryaks) and guests of the city from different parts of Russia watched the launch of the balloons.

(30 photos in total)

Before the start of the festival, the stadium was full of spectators. All of them have become a kind of extras in the film — according to the scenario of the organizers, it will be filmed throughout the festival and will be shown at the closing ceremony.

At the opening ceremony of the festival, the mayor of Kungur, as well as the President of the Russian Federation of Aeronautics, made a welcoming speech. In addition, all the pilots of the participating balloons were on stage.

To lift the balloon into the sky, it must be "assembled". First of all, its dome is inflated by a powerful fan — driving cold air inside, it gives the ball the desired shape. And the burner helps to "inflate" it to its maximum size, the open flame of which heats the air, lifting the balloon.

Preparing the balloon for takeoff is not an easy process, so Nikolai Valnev, like other pilots, is always helped by his clubmates (Nikolai represented the Aerovals aeronautical club at the festival).

What is important: the balloon does not have a control element, that is, it flies only in the direction of wind movement. It is only possible to adjust the flight altitude using a burner.

With the help of a propane burner, the air in the dome is heated, and since the thin air is lighter than the cold one, the balloon takes off. If the balloon gains too much altitude, the pilot pulls a special cord connected to a valve in the shell of the balloon: part of the hot air escapes, and the balloon decreases.

The balls are ready. There are only a few minutes left before the first takeoff, everything will start soon!

And now the first balloons soar into the sky to the applause of the audience, because this holiday was invented for them.

At the festival, you can see a wide variety of balloons — and not only from aero clubs participating in the sports program. Colorful, unusual shapes — here the balls of various companies surprise with their incredible beauty. For example, the balloon of the popular Lay's chips brand was remembered by many viewers: large, yellow, bright — it inflated right at the front row of the audience, who were inspired by the spectacle, which allowed them to enjoy the "flying" impressions of the festival to the maximum. It was also possible to meet the balls of banks, gas industrialists, meat processing plants and other enterprises.

The setting sun illuminates the two main temples of the city at once, which are conveniently located in one row: St. Nicholas Church, in which there was a prison in Soviet times (in the 90s it was returned to believers, it still operates today), and the Church of St. John the Baptist, which until recently was abandoned. Last year, the ROC was also returned, and now it is under restoration. A little closer to us is a modern mosque, built in 2007.

Meet aeronaut Ivan Menyailo, Vice—President of the Russian Aeronautics Federation and head coach of the national aeronautics team. Ivan has been engaged in aeronautics since 2004, he has organized and refereed numerous competitions (he is an international category judge). He repeatedly became a prize-winner at aeronautics competitions: he was the champion of Russia and the winner of the Cup of the Russian Federation in 2012, the champion of Poland in 2015. Since autumn 2014, he has been teaching the famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov. Together with him, on January 25, 2016, he set a world record for the duration of the flight (32 hours 17 minutes) for AH-9 class balloons. Having tried it once, Ivan immediately decided on his favorite profession. To this day, every flight for Ivan is akin to a holiday. He has a two-year-old child, and very soon he wants to climb into the sky with him to instill a love of flying from an early age.

Local residents in their country estates are happy to welcome huge balloons floating over them. This family, for example, invited the crew to barbecue.

We leave the city, fly up to the forest. It should be understood that flights are possible only in the early morning (with sunrise) or in the evening (an hour before sunset), because the surface of the ball can overheat in the sun. Moreover, only a weak wind is considered favorable for flights.

On the other side, you can see the whole city and the last balloons soaring up.

Most of the houses in Kungur are low-rise, this is due to the fact that the city is built on karst caves. The Kungur ice Cave — the main one in this historical and natural complex - is considered the main city attraction.

The sun slowly sets over the horizon, flooding the whole city, which is located on the banks of the rivers Sylva and Iren.

The balls seem to pose, lined up in a vertical line above the forest.

As you know, everyone has their own summer. Someone stays in the city and works, relaxing in parks and on embankments, someone leaves to travel to distant lands, and someone takes a break from the city bustle at the dacha. But everyone agrees on one thing: summer is a small life, and it should be radically different from the other nine months. Lay's confirms this not by word, but by deed: augmented reality attractions, an express sculptor and even a whole beach area will appear in Moscow parks to fully enjoy the summer without leaving the city. In addition, everyone can try a "flying" summer by taking to the sky in a Lay's balloon at the Aerovals club in Dmitrov.

The average flight altitude is 300 meters, but you can give fire and increase it by 2 times. There are dizzying views from there.

Passing low over the Christmas trees, you lean out of the basket, look down, and it seems that you are about to touch them. In fact, the distance to the tops of the trees is quite decent. The basket, by the way, is woven from a vine, and the bottom is made of moisture-resistant marine plywood. Inside the basket there are several gas cylinders, usually 50 liters each. One balloon is enough on average for half an hour of flight.

It's very cool to fly over trees at sunset, but pilots say that it's no less cool to fly over white snow in winter or in the mountains in summer. An indescribable feeling.

The bends of the river reflect the sunset sky, and in the distance a haze begins in the fields.

Illuminated by the departing sun, a small village near Kungur.

I was very lucky with the weather. At the beginning of the week, Ivan was worried that the weather would be non-flying and the holiday would not take place. But everything turned out quite the opposite, the sunset "for the elite" met the balloonists!

Going to the sky, the pilot must necessarily check the route with the flight map. There are restricted areas, for example military units, over which it is impossible to pass. It is necessary to choose the optimal route of the ball, taking into account the direction of the wind.

The mass of the ball together with the air is so huge that even if you accidentally hit a tree, as the ball with the call sign "Seagull" did, nothing terrible will happen. In the worst case, the basket will demolish the tree, and at best, it will simply pass by bending its crown.

Speaking of call signs: each balloon has its own registration number. To control the balloon, you must have flight rights, and the vessel has its own number, for example, RA-xxxx. The balls can be of any style, color and even size, it all depends on the imagination of the owners.

You need to land in an open space, thinking in advance where it will be convenient for your colleagues to pick you up. If you land in a country garden, no one will like it.

Seeing our balloons in the distance, local residents came to the field. Someone is on an old "loaf", filming the process of landing on a push-button phone, and someone is on a tractor, simultaneously doing their job.