Hot Air Balloon Pilot

Rune Paamand

About this app

The Hot Air Balloon is an app that keeps track of all your flight information and navigation so you can focus on the flight. Includes everything for navigation, tracking and logging. The app also features advanced wind-mapping with integrated wind data sharing and map-processing such as overlays of sensitive areas and import of competition maps.

Features
- Flight instruments: Speed, Variometer, Bearing and Altimeter, using barometer if present!
- Track: Records your flight path and altitude
- Logging: View, interact and share recorded tracks. Upload you logs to Drive/Dropbox or share by email
- Network: Your data can be shared in real time with anyone on the same network code. The retrieve vehicle can see your position, targets etc and wind data is integrated from multiple ballons.
- Maps: Navigate with the standard Google Map or with terrain/satellite mode
- Overlays: Import map details such as powerlines or sensitive areas in open formats such as KML, (windmaster) XML, JPG or PNG.
- Waypoints and Geometry: Add markers and targets on the fly. Even geometries such as projection lines, areas or circles!
- WindMap and Projections: The app keeps track on direction and velocity of winds in all altitudes you have been to, visualized as projections on the map!

Ratings and reviews

Works well and is helpful in flight. Sometimes the altitude track doesn't work and is jumpy and the geometry like circles, I can't save them and they seem to go away after each flight. I would like to be able to change the color of the track so the black doesn't blend in so much. It does have some cool features like the windmap and future track with the colors. If the geometry saved, five stars. Almost comparable to Hot Air IOS.

Hot Air Balloon Pilot is not iOS Hot Air. They are different, each with their strengths. With Hot Air Balloon Pilot I am able to load custom PZ maps and competition Targets and Goals in a KML format. I have had no trouble exporting maps from the log file and using them in other programs. The ability to put targets, exclusion zones, wind lines and other graphics on the map has been great. I use this program to teach as well as in competition. The vertical wind profile is an amazing feature. The ability to communicate my position with my ground crew and other pilots makes other position sharing applications seem weak. There are a few nit picks that would be nice to fix: add UTM to Lat Long conversion, make the coordinate input fields larger, add the ability to assign color to targets (to match the baggie), make the winds above me blue, and the winds below me green. None of these detract from a very functional and easy to use program. Rune Paamand has be very responsive every time I have had questions from the other side of the ocean; providing responses by my next day. Now, my remaining challenge in competitive ballooning is my own lack of skill and how to keep my competitors from learning of this!

Great app that needs few fixes. GPS update frequency should have more options. 1 second would be great. The same with Flight log frequency. Satellite view should have an option to see the map with labels. Network funcionality isn't working at all. App hangs all the time I try to check other network user. Add network source won't let you add any NetworkID with number 6 in it.

What's new

Network Feature and startup crash fixes

NOTE: App uses internal storage now: Android/data/eu.paamand.hotairpro/files
BACKUP before clearing app data or you may lose flightlogs.
Can't find your old logs? - You need to move them from the old storage location to the new internal storage.