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Ease of basket setup/teardown
Opinion: Ease of setup/teardown, Very easy as you don't take much apart after a flight. It usually takes up 5 minutes or less to attach all the connections, instruments and test the burner(s). Teardown is less, there are 16 pins to remove and the frame is down and ready to stow. You can do it faster if you leave the uprights attached to the system. Do not leave the burner attached to the uprights during transport.
Features/faults of basket design
Opinion: Basket design. Good points, very strong and safe. Solid floor means that you will not have a steel post or rock coming up through the floor during a hard landing. The solid uprights mean that it is hard for the basket to "doghouse" during a highwind landing. Bad points, water does not leave the basket as fast during a splash and dash. Basket does weigh more than solid wicker, estimate about 20 pounds more. In 40 flights we have only had to carry out the basket once so that is not a problem for us.
Above is a picture of an Aerostar Aurora basket. An important feature is that the burner trigger requires the pilot to wrap his or her hands around the trigger to pull. This helps prevent accidental triggering if you bump your head against the trigger.
Features/faults of envelope design
Inflation technique takes some getting used to. Inflation can be done single handed, but 4 people are best. Once you have it down you can inflate in a hurricane. Horizontal and vertical tapes are a good saftey feature. I wish that the bottem end was nomex, but panels are easy to replace.
Burner pros and cons
Opinion:We have the old style [pre-Zone 5] Aerostar burner, 12.5 m-btu@ 125psi. No problems, works well. We have never had a pilot light failure. The metering valve/quiet burner is rated at 75% of the large burner.
Fuel system pros and cons
Opinion: Fuel System, Two 15 gal steel tanks. The Aerostar system assumes that you will leave the tanks in the balloon at all times. The empty weight of the basket and tanks with no fuel is 250 pounds. The retrieve is either done with a lot of people or a low trailer/tommy lift on a pickup. Re-fueling tanks is easy and quick, but done in the basket. Tanks & burner can be removed, but it is not normal to do so. It does take about 5 minutes to remove tanks and burner from system if you need to. Wrenches are required for removeal. Quick connects are not allowed in an Aerostar System.
Vent system pros and cons
Opinion: Vent system. We have one of the spring top envelopes. Good points, when you pull the red line you are down. There is no problem with the top closing up during a landing. Bad point, the paravent is smaller than on most balloons. This means that the vent to decent time is greater.
Basket weight
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Pros and cons for use in competition
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Pros and cons for use in ride operations
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Maintenance
3rd year annual: Kevlar cables must be sent back to Aerostar for testing.
Older Aerostar baskets are expensive to repair or replace skids. Newer ones have split skids that allow for vertical wicker replacement.
A bent Aerostar basket frame member replacement requires a major basket reweave.
Porosity tests are required for fabric.
Opinion: Keep the envelope dry and fly it frequently. Keep the basket wet, but not too wet. We only live an hour from the Aerostar factory. The Annual is very complete. Aerostar checks everything, nothing is left uncheck. Some feel that the annual covers to much, we don't. After all it's our kids riding in this thing. Aerostar is very helpful and willing to help with repairs as needed. Cost of repairs are reasonable. Questions answered completely and without condesention.
Warranty information
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