Janet Folkes 1959-2012

Today friends and family will say goodbye to Janet Folkes, who died last month.

I've gone through the old tapes from my first flight with Janet and tried to re-create the feeling of that special day.

This was the maiden voyage of Janet's creation - the University of Nottingham balloon - in the stunning setting of the Swiss Alps.

And what a landing! Thanks Janet.

Sunday Night Flight

The latest video on Test Tube is a hot air balloon flight with Dr Janet Folkes in the University of Nottingham balloon.

Janet's adventures have provided some of the most memorable footage of the project.

The main reason I filmed this fairly routine flight was to experiment with putting a small camera under the basket.



The camera experiment was a great success (though a small technical issue meant we missed the landing!)

By the way, the passengers (Darren and Julie) won their flight in a charity auction. Here's a map of the hour-long journey.


And here's a link to some of other great videos with Janet. Below is the blue balloon's maiden flight for which I was lucky enough to be on board!