Hot air Balloons
 

Melbourne this morning about 5.30 am I was watching 2 balloons slowly drifting westwards. Guesstimated position around Caulfield way. The winds were very light and fickle, I'm guessing they were attempting to make the beach somewhere near Elsternwick but were drifting backwards and forwards.
My questions;
1. Are they allowed to operate IFR? One of them was definitely enveloped by low level cloud from the East.
2. Are they in contact with ATC? and
3. Do they carry a transponder?

Just curious

Thanks,

Octane

Below 500 Feet in Class G airspace they only have to have 100m visibility with no requirement to be clear of cloud. This only applies by day and as long as they are more than 10nm from an airport with an instrument approach. Refer ENR 1.2-8

Generally dont have a transponder and might or might not be in contact with ATC.

They do have transponders. Depending on where they are, they do talk to ATC. Depending on wind, they sometimes land at Essendon.

Just to clarify my above comments, Hot air balloons in general do not have to have transponders. The ones you saw might have if they occasionally operate in the class C above(with a clearance). Also they have minimum height over a populous area unless taking off or landing restrictions too.

A balloon travelling WNW crossed the approach to Essendon (appx 1km from the runway) at 6:30am this morning at pretty much identical height to that of the bizjets and so on that often come in in a batch starting just after this time. It landed in a park just West of the railway. Although there were perfectly clear and bright conditions, surely it would have had to be in contact with ATC? (Admittedly, aircraft probably would have been operating N-S and/or coming in from the East this morning, as I didn't hear any movements all day.)