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They are, but you need a lot of practise.

I don't think these ships will resemble this: http://www.clusterballoon.org/

BTW, war balloons were first used in the Anglo South African war of 1898 till 1901. These balloons were used as look-outs by the Brits and were hydrogen filled. The ZAR shot them full of holes, but they always landed softly - hydrogen doesn't burn easily.

On a technical note: In this war, the Brits had balloons and wire line telegraphs, while the ZAR had radios and heliographs (and long range guns and smokeless ammo). Cryptography was primitive - they all used Morse and code words.

Eventually the only way the Brits could win was by systematically burning the whole country down. Even today, the match stick is more powerful than any military weapon.

Still, it's not exactly a popular sport. At only half a dozen pilots worldwide, cluster ballooning remains something between an extreme sport and a personal eccentricity!

Still, it's not exactly a popular sport. At only half a dozen pilots worldwide, cluster ballooning remains something between an extreme sport and a personal eccentricity!

Fun stuff and nice photos: http://www.clusterballoon.org/ However, you don't need a BB gun. You can just haul in the line and deflate the balloon, or cut the line and let it float away.

http://www.clusterballoon.org/

Photos here
http://www.clusterballoon.org/intro/intro.html

http://www.clusterballoon.org/

Photos here
http://www.clusterballoon.org/intro/intro.html

Enough weather ballons and a lawn chair, and you could actually go there, or close enough.

And the countdown begins...

RIAA lawsuit in five, four, three...

Except, here we are- quite a few comments in and the 8.6 meg quicktime slideshow still loads quickly.

This balloon man taunts us.
He does not deserve your crappy mirrors, and deserves a proper slashdotting.