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This handbook FAA-H-8083-11B is current in 2026.
The FAA's Balloon Flying Handbook introduces the basic pilot skills and knowledge essential for piloting balloons and leads pilots into the broad spectrum of information that will be needed as they progress in their pilot training. This handbook is for student pilots as well as those pursuing more advanced pilot certificates and helpful for flight instructors engaged in teaching balloon pilots of all skill levels.
Providing the facts and guidance required for pilot certification, this handbook is a key reference for the FAA test standards. An introduction to balloon flight training is followed by chapters dedicated to hot air balloon design, systems and theory, preflight planning, weather theory and reports, the national airspace system, balloon layout to launch, inflight maneuvers, landing and recovery, aeromedical factors, the instructional process, and the gas balloon. Appendices are included for the vapor pressures of LP (liquid petroleum) gases, a pibal (pilot balloon) plotting grid, a balloon flight checklist, pibal velocity versus size, logbook endorsement formats, and a lift table for helium and hydrogen at standard temperatures and pressures.
The Balloon Flying Handbook is the official FAA source for learning to fly balloons and for many of the test questions on the FAA Knowledge Exams for pilots. Complete with chapter summaries and illustrated throughout with detailed, full-color drawings and photographs, the handbook also includes a glossary of balloon-related terms.
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