>>One of them appeared to do a touch and go in a field of stubble <<<
The one time I had a go at flying a hot air balloon I was suprised at the time lag between pulling the handle to activate the burners to actually getting any lift... the pilot really does need to think and plan well ahead... I scraped our a**ses along a couple of fields before getting the hang of it and vividly rememeber looking into the oak tree as we passed by!!!!