Hot air balloon technology. The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, in a balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers. The first hot-air balloon flown in the Americas was launched from the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia on January 9, 1793 by the French aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than simply drifting with the wind are known as thermal airships. Early unmanned hot air balloons were used in China. Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han
Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic Alabama Legislature to designate the City of Decatur as the “Ballooning Capital of Alabama.” The Jubilee has been named a Top 20 Tourism Event in the Southeast for May by the Atlanta-based Southeast Tourism Society. The Alabama Jubilee is held on the grounds of Point Mallard Park, a municipal recreation complex that offers a water park featuring an aquatic center with a wave pool, Olympic-sized swimming pools, lazy river, and several water slides, as well as tennis courts, ball fields, hiking trails, campground, 18-hole championship golf course, indoor ice skating rink and recreation center. Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic