Directional Winds for Balloons

Balloons ride the winds where they go, but a skilled pilot can use wind layers to influence the outcome for the better.

The Available Balloons

MSFS 2024 now has built in Hot Air Balloons, but this article was written at at time when the High Performance Group’s balloon was the only option, so the article is based on that.

The presets for the HPG Hot Air Balloon will allow you to choose your direction of travel by adjusting your altitude between wind layers, just as in real life. Although it’s not as realistic as in real life, its a reasonable compromise and will give you more control over where you go without the need to create a flight plan.

The Wind Direction Bug

At the time of making these presets, there is a bug in the wind direction between 0 and 359 degrees. The wind direction will not go through this 1 degree of arc but instead will go long way around all the way through 359 degrees and then resume its original trajectory. I have reported this bug, which will affect all of their air-flow calculations (they didn’t see it as a major error whereas I think this a fundamental issue that affects all aircraft).

The hot air balloon presets have been designed to avoid the problem by starting or ending at 0 or 359 degrees, but it prevents me from making a working Southerly and Northerly preset for all round coverage.

Controlling the Balloon’s Direction

The presets will point the balloon North or South when it first gets off the ground. When the control altitude is reached and the wind layers begin to mix and the balloon will swing clockwise when rising. However, there is a complication in the ‘rising’ and ‘falling’ definition which is explained below.

Here is the full sequence for the Westerly preset:

• The Westerly preset blows from the West to the East
• Initially, the balloon will be on the ground pointing in a direction chosen by the flight sim
• At +1 ft, the balloon will orientate itself to point North due to a 1 knot wind
• At +100 ft the balloon will begin increase speed to the North
• Between +500 and +1500 ft the balloon will swivel from North to South. When in this range you can set the balloon controls in the tablet on the dashboard to maintain a fixed height above ground level (refer to screenshot below). This will help you to stay oriented in your chosen direction like an autopilot.
• Above +1500 ft the balloon will travel South.

How to Use the Autopilot

You can use the tablet as an auto-pilot! Select the middle button, then select WIND. You should enable the HEIGHT when you are facing the direction you want to go. In hilly areas you will need to switch to manual control factor in the delays in changing altitude and envelope temperature.

The Difference Between the Two Presets

The two presets are rotations of each other, with the primary direction being East-West. The end and the beginning of the wind directions allow you to travel in North-South direction. This avoids a Microsoft bug between 359 and 0.

Here is how it works:

• If you are travelling North or South, you have the choice of flying at +500 ft or +1500 ft by selecting the correct preset. For example, if you want to fly North-West or North you can choose the
• You can travel over a large chasm like the Grand Canyon by selecting a preset with a +1500 default direction that matches your direction of travel. For example, the Easterly preset points the balloon North when the relative altitude of the balloon exceeds 1500 ft as it will do when you go over the lip of the canyon.

A Complication in the Control Mechanism

The balloon presets use the altitude of the balloon minus the average altitude of the area to calculate the speed and direction of the balloon.

On flat ground there is no difference between the balloon altitude and the average ground altitude. On undulating ground there will be a difference and that will affect the direction of the balloon. In simple terms, if you fly low over a ridge you can expect to see the balloon turn left.

The way to get around this problem is to take the balloon out of automatic pilot and manually predict and control the lift that you will need so that the balloon’s altitude mirrors the average altitude of the ground so that your relative height above ground remains constant.