Advice on HAB Launch Site near London for a Newb

[Iqbal Hussain]

Hi everyone,

My name is Iqbal and I work at New City College in London.

I'm getting in touch with this community on behalf of our students, who are very excited to participate in a High-Altitude Balloon STEM project. They have designed and built a scientific payload to capture images and atmospheric data from the edge of space, and we are now at the final, launch-ready stage.

I want to assure you that this is a well-planned and supervised educational project. We have everything in place to ensure a safe and successful launch:

The final piece of the puzzle is finding a suitable site. Flight path predictions indicate our ideal launch area is west of London (e.g., in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, or Oxfordshire) to allow for a safe flight and recovery.

This is the first time we are running this project and could do with any advice or recommendations on where we can launch from or anything in general.

[Steve]

Exactly what rules the CAA use to determine the limitations they apply to a particular HAB launch site seem a bit of mystery.  Ideally you would ask the CAA where it would be good to launch - but it doesn't seem to work that way.  You apply for a permit on a particular site and 28 days later the CAA give you a permit with restrictions that apply to it.  Generally the CAA try to give you a permit - but may apply some stringent conditions (limited wind directions, launch times).

    You can apply for a permit here: https://applications.caa.co.uk/CAAPortal/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=BAL 

Its a good idea to look at airspace maps and try to find sites where you are launching into uncontrolled airspace and where your balloon won't immediately fly into controlled airspace.  The NOTAMinfo flight planning map is useful (click on Show Default airspace in Airspace details) - there is also an airspace kml you can download into google earth (search this group for details).

You will certainly want to keep well clear of London Heathrow airspace and avoid flying through the busy approach and departure paths.  Perhaps someone can come up with a site that they have used before.  I used a site to the west of Cambridge - but that is now much less ideal due to Luton Airport approach path changes.  I'm currently looking for a new site.

Wherever you go you will need land owner permission to launch - previously I have found some airfields amenable to balloon launches.

    Steve G8KHW

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[Nick McCloud]

I believe Westminster School in the heart of London launch at 5am - that is they prep so they can release at 5am - because at that time of day London Airspace is mostly empty - if you search this group their comments should come up.

Being sensible helps - which a student plan for a well known private school based near Slough totally failed on that test. 

Typically you'll have some restrictions on the balloons flight direction. Previously I launched from the High Peak at a flying club before they started flying in the morning. It was just outside one of the Manchester approaches to the East, so we had to launch with the balloon going West. New location on the outskirts of Bolton requires a Northerly flight. Look at the maps and run some predictions to see what the flight profile is like, export the KML and import to Google Maps to get a better idea of where your payload will be at various heights.

[Andrew Mulholland]

The Westminster school permission holder here! I can confirm it was quite a pain each launch to get the kids on site for 4am, with latest launch of 5:30am. It was always a dance though with ATC, as they never knew what it was, nor were they ever very happy about it... (as the CAA had done the approval, but Swanwick ATC still had to approve it on the day).

There was 2 occasions where we had everything ready, only for ATC to decide they didn't like the idea and cancel it last minute.

So I would suggest avoiding central London, it's a lot of hassle and a real risk they end up cancelling it on the morning. Best bet would be at least outside the M25, away from any of the major airports. We've had luck in the past contacting sports clubs or schools with fields in the countryside and asking to partner or just asking nicely about borrowing their facilities for an afternoon when they aren't otherwise in use.

[Iqbal Hussain]

We attempted a launch last year from a school in Rugby but due to some technical issues it wasn't successful. :-( 

We are going to try again as the costs of transporting the Helium from London to Rugby was quite a bit! Does anyone have advice on a site closer to London? 

[Nick McCloud]

On Sunday, 26 April 2026 at 18:21:02 UTC+1 Iqbal Hussain wrote:

We are going to try again as the costs of transporting the Helium from London to Rugby was quite a bit!

How so? It is a compressed gas but it's not explosive - just put in on the back seat of a car strapped in with a seat belt!

 

Does anyone have advice on a site closer to London? 

Unless you like getting up super early (4am), this is going to be problematic given the nature of London airspace & all the airports surrounding it.

[Iqbal Hussain]

Can we do that with a L - 9m3 cylinder? Is it in accordance with ADR? Sorry for the many questions but this is all very new to me! Last time I was informed by CLEAPPS that i needed a ADR approved transport.

We are happy to travel out of London for a launch site but wanted to stay close to reduce travel time. Also, somewhere convenient to take a group of students.

[Nigel Worsley]

They appear to have given the wrong advice, look at the exemptions here:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/cdg/manual/exemptions.htm

It says:
"Carriage that is "ancillary" to main activity. Note the second part
of this exemption which limits its scope. This is not easy to define.
For the present the following guidance is offered.
A driver taking dangerous goods with him for use with some machine or
process that will be operated on arrival will be exempt."
That seems to cover you.

I am not an expert in this though, do your own checks!

Nigel Worsley

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[Nick McCloud]

On Monday, 27 April 2026 at 11:26:38 UTC+1 Iqbal Hussain wrote:

Can we do that with a L - 9m3 cylinder? Is it in accordance with ADR? Sorry for the many questions but this is all very new to me! Last time I was informed by CLEAPPS that i needed a ADR approved transport.

ADR? CLEAPPS? You may know, but don't assume others do. 

If you are doing something for fun and there are no employees, do a risk assessment and then get on with life etc!

[Nigel Worsley]

On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 at 17:01, Nick McCloud <nick.at....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, 27 April 2026 at 11:26:38 UTC+1 Iqbal Hussain wrote:
> Can we do that with a L - 9m3 cylinder? Is it in accordance with ADR? Sorry for the many questions but this is all very new to me! Last time I was informed by CLEAPPS that i needed a ADR approved transport.
> ADR? CLEAPPS? You may know, but don't assume others do.

ADR is the international agrement on the transport of dangerous goods,
and the regulations that implement that. CLEAPSS is a body that
supports science services, including health and safety advice, for
schools so that each local education authority doesn't need their own
department for this

I had to look these up...

Nigel Worsley

[Nick McCloud]

On Monday, 27 April 2026 at 18:20:45 UTC+1 Nigel Worsley wrote:

On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 at 17:01, Nick McCloud  wrote:
> On Monday, 27 April 2026 at 11:26:38 UTC+1 Iqbal Hussain wrote:
> Can we do that with a L - 9m3 cylinder? Is it in accordance with ADR? Sorry for the many questions but this is all very new to me! Last time I was informed by CLEAPPS that i needed a ADR approved transport.
> ADR? CLEAPPS? You may know, but don't assume others do.

ADR is the international agrement on the transport of dangerous goods,
and the regulations that implement that. CLEAPSS is a body that
supports science services, including health and safety advice, for
schools so that each local education authority doesn't need their own
department for this

Indeed, I was being somewhat rhetorical lest the OP come back with a pile more acronyms to respond to.

 

I had to look these up...

Me too.

My point is that for a private endeavour, HSE doesn't hold sway. If you are transporting in your own private vehicle for a private launch that is not commercial, a vehicle that doesn't have a pile of Nuns / Junior School Students in it - literally not the school minibus but your own private car then these don't really apply.

What does apply is the reality of not being an idiot and not thinking about sensible precautions. This is because of the Daily Mail & lawyers. If you have a compressed gas cylinder to hand and do something dumb and people get hurt, you may end up on the front page of the Daily Mail but you will almost certainly find out how much paperwork can be generated by solicitors & the courts etc. Even if you don't do something dumb and people get hurt, the same applies. It's a cruel ambulance chasing world of vampire lawyers out there. Just don't feed them.

In all adventurous activities, if you can demonstrate that you took reasonable precautions, it helps enormously.

So, no random young people in the car with the compressed gas. Handle it bottom down - ie so you can't drop it on the tap end. Think about the weight when moving it. Use the correct fittings purchased or hired from a documented, reputable source.

Same deal with something like the line we use. Gloves are mandatory once the balloon is attached - if it runs through your fingers at any speed, it could get hot and slice through the flesh on your fingers.

Or the lithium batteries. Student putting batteries in battery pack and then putting it terminals down on a metal surface.

Or not telling the balloon wranglers to wear gloves, you supply the nitrile ones - because some people can come out in a rash when they touch latex.

So, for each bit of kit, look at it, figure out if there are any obvious potential issues and document them. And circulate the docs so everyone is clear about hazards.

[Iqbal Hussain]

Thank you everyone for your advice and guidance. Any recommendations for a site? I must have contacted at least 50 different sites that have either said no or not responded!

[Hyde00001]

Iqbal,

I’ve launched a few HABs from a site in East Oxford. It’s not perfect - launches can only happen with a predicted north easterly drift (to keep away from Heathrow and Birmingham) and I’ve always limited dates to occasions when large urban areas (Milton Keynes, Northampton...) or Luton/Stanstead airspace won't be challenged. Together this significantly restricts options. Let me know if you want to talk more about using it. Kind regards Steve Hyde [contact details here: https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/people/stephen-hyde]