aerospace founded 1972 headquarters statesville north carolina united states key people tracy barnes founder products hot air balloons website www.fireflyballoons.net a firefly 7 balloon of 77 000 cu ft firefly balloons is an american hot air balloon manufacturer that started as the balloon works tbw in 1972 in statesville nc . the company is one of the oldest hot air balloon manufacturers in the united states behind raven industries founded by ed yost semco and piccard balloons . 1 the origins of the company s designs can be traced to the work of tracy barnes in the late 1960s . 2 design and development edit tracy barnes designs introduced many of the features found in modern hot air balloons . 2 the parachute top which replaced spring tops explosive tops and inverting envelopes used previously did much to improve the safety and maneuverability of balloons . additionally the t 3 burner offered a modern and high powered burner with redundant capability in the event of a primary burner failure in the form of the fire 2 jet . 3 barnes introduced the distinctive zig zag envelope to reduce fabric waste and the use of glossy heat resistant polyester instead of nylon for envelopes . this material choice resulted in a higher maximum envelope temperature of 300 degrees fahrenheit . 3 4 barnes also designed a distinctive triangular basket to offer increased volume tipping resistance and corner stowage of three fuel tanks . barnes most significant contribution was in drastically simplifying venting and deflation by inventing the parachute top . later barnes would invent the flexnet envelope which prevented the possibility of envelope tears growing beyond a single panel . the type certificates issued to the balloon works are still the basis of the popular line of balloons produced by firefly balloons . often early balloons manufactured by the company are referred to as barnes balloons however this was never the actual company name . the company s name from 2000 on has been firefly balloons . 4 tracy barnes is no longer directly involved with firefly instead he presently works on unmanned and advertising blimps through his company the blimp works . 4 among the characteristic design features of firefly balloons are triangular baskets 4 5 zig zag or chevron patterned envelope gores 4 6 toggle and loop envelope fasteners 3 maxflite silicone coated rip stop nylon is now used in envelopes 6 polyester was used in older systems . 3 4 bulbous gores 4 the open parachute top in a firefly 7 balloon as viewed during deflation references edit national balloon museum hot air balloon history . retrieved 2010 06 09 . a b barnes . retrieved 2010 06 09 . a b c d firefly 7 flight manual pdf . retrieved 2010 06 09 . a b c d e f g history of ballooning barnes . retrieved 2011 10 22 . about firefly baskets . retrieved 2011 10 22 . a b about firefly envelopes . retrieved 2011 10 22 . the history of ballooning firefly 7 flight manual national balloon museum tracy barnes ballooning hall of fame national balloon museum hot air balloon history the blimp works tracy barnes blimp company about tracy barnes on the blimp works about firefly baskets external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title firefly balloons & oldid 668364319 categories manufacturing companies based in north carolina navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 june 2015 at 21 54 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view