Thanks to Mrs. Holly Cable’s lucky day, ALL Riverbend students were winners last week.

Students in Mrs. Cable’s class were reading about and studying hot air balloons. She and her assistant, Mr. Doug White, decided that their students needed a more hands-on experience to fully understand hot air balloons. Since Mrs. Cable had won a free hot air balloon ride from Asheville Hot Air Balloons, she and Mr. White decided to see if they could trade in her ride for a school-wide presentation. Asheville Hot Air Balloons generously agreed.

On Friday morning, November 15, Chief James Eagle arrived with his crew of seven ROTC cadets from Enka High School and the balloon he calls “GWAIHIR” (named after the eagle that saved Gandalf from the tower in Lord of the Rings). They talked at length to the students about the history, science, and joys of hot air ballooning.

Once the balloon was inflated on the ground, each class was able to walk inside the balloon to see just how big it is when fully inflated (90,000 cubic feet!!!). After that, the students observed from a safe distance, the awesome power of 41,000,000 BTUs of heat (that’s about 41 million candles burning at the same time!!!). Chief Eagle has logged over 3,000 miles in his balloon and taught us that they can float safely up to 18,000 feet.