Area covered by NWBAC:

Lancashire, Cumbria, Merseyside & Greater Manchester

The North West Balloon and Airship Club was formed on 31st May 1981. 2002 was our 21st Anniversary.

We celebrated with a balloon meet at Barton Aerodrome which was one of the original meeting places.

The meet took place on the 31st May 2002 and ran for the full Jubilee weekend.

2011 was our 30th Anniversary.

We celebrated at our Kirkby Lonsdale Balloon Meet which has become a popular meet for all balloonist up and down the country.

We meet on the third Tuesday of each month starting at 8-00pm. In summer, if the weather is good, this is brought forward to 7-00pm to allow time to set up and fly before it goes dark.

We also meet on the first Sunday of each month at 10-30am at different locations around our region. This allows some daytime flying in the Winter if the weather is kind to us.

The Club also arranges balloon meets during the year. Venues change slightly from year to year but usually include locations such as Trentham Gardens, Kirkby Lonsdale, Coniston and other local spots. We are always looking for new venues in and around the North West region.

The NWBAC produces a bi-monthly newsletter Compass Points which details local matters, balloon meets, competitions etc.The North West Balloon & Airship Club (NWBAC) is affiliated to the British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC)which is the national organisation for ballooning in the UK.

The BBAC negotiates with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and other bodies over rules and regulations which affect our flying.

The CAA delegates many functions to the BBAC. These include annual inspections of balloons, examinations, passenger flying operations and balloon certification.The BBAC negotiates with the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Country Land and Business Association (CLBA) and has a national system of reporting areas where balloons have been asked not to land. Typically these would be stud farms or pig farms. This information is gathered locally and reported to the national data base.

A national map system means that a pilot travelling to a different area of the UK has exactly the same information about local issues as the local pilots.

The BBAC is manned by volunteers. It produces a bi-monthly magazine (Aerostat) on general ballooning issues and a monthly newsletter (Pilot’s Circular) on flying matters.
For more information see www.bbac.org