Ashes scattering

[Luftfahrt22]

AIBU to consider scattering ashes while on a hot air balloon flight, rather than leaving them in a cupboard or scattering them on the golf course? I assume they would simply blow away in the wind, just like smoke and ashes from a bonfire.

Unfortunately, you couldn't guarantee they wouldn't hit someone underneath. Or you. My poor old brother tried to tip my Dad's ashes somewhere and the wind blew a load back on him.

Talk to the hot air balloon company as I’m sure they’ve dealt with this before.

They're very gritty, not just like ash from a fire.

From that height you'd have very little control over where they went which might annoy/upset land owners below. I'm sure it's been done/tried before though. Hot air balloon companies will know

Oh gosh. No

Make take a tiny amount in a pot?

I remember collecting the ashes of a relative: the box was really heavy. The amount of ashes was huge!l we planned to scatter them in our garden but couldn't do the whole amount so ended up digging a large hole

Find a reputable hot air balloon company and ask them. You'd have to be careful I'd imagine because hot air balloons aren't usually flying that high so it's unlikely they'd disperse in the way you're thinking. It'd be unpleasant at best for someone on the ground to be covered by a stranger's ashes. If it were really windy they might disperse but then balloons don't fly in strong winds.

Could you go on a parachute jump, refuse to jump but chuck the ashes out of the door? That'd have the same effect as the balloon idea but from higher up, at least four times the height on average.

Have you looked at the ashes? They can be quite a bit bigger pieces than expected. I don't know but I'm guessing hot air balloon companies don't allow you to throw things out whilst up there, for health and safety reasons, but I may be wrong so check with them, see what they say!

We scattered my Mum's last year. Some in the Lake District where she'd scattered Dad's 25 years before and the rest in Scarborough which was undoubtedly her favourite place in the entire world.

Initially we thought we'd put them along the Esplanade provided we could do it early doors and discreetly but my sis and my adult kids were edgy about the practicality/legality. Instead we dropped them over the sea wall below/beyond the Spa Theatre at near to high tide. They're realtively fine, I suspect ground down to avoid anything looking vaguely human, and quickly sank and/or dispersed.

They can certainly blow in the wind; Mum got a bit of her Father in Law in her eye that way - c1953.

A quick Google suggests that dropping from a Hot Air Balloon is a pretty common choice. They may not advertise it as a service but I doubt there's a long running balloon company in the UK who've not been asked to do it.

Sure there are practical issues like wind, having sufficient height over the ground for them to disperse etc. I guess with a bit of thought as to take off landing and route they could be scattered over an decent expanse of inland water Lakes? Scotland? or even the sea.

Thinking some more about my Dad some were in the Lakes. A lot more were in the upper reaches of the Wharfe Valley at least part of which is on Yorkshire Water's gathering grounds. Folks seen dumping powder into the public water supply would have the police on you now!!

Could you go on a parachute jump, refuse to jump but chuck the ashes out of the door? That'd have the same effect as the balloon idea but from higher up, at least four times the height on average.

Isn't there a possibility of them clogging the plane's engine(s)?

You can't just fling them out on a standard balloon flight - there are companies that do this but you'd need to do some research.

AIUI refusing to jump is a massive thing in parachute world and ends up with you being blacklisted. I also think trying to get on the plane with several kilos of ash might be an issue.

Suppose you could do the jump with the ashes down your trouser legs and let them go as you descend like PoWs spread spoil from tunnels in WW2 😀

I can’t see why it’s be an issue, but you’d probably need to run it by the balloon company.

Ashes are not really ashes. they’re the ground up bones, and despite this, pretty fine.

There is a lot more ashes than you'd think and more like cat litter than wood ash, maybe just take a small amount to release from the balloon and bury the rest or plant them under something

Thank you to everyone who has replied. I now see it's entirely doable with specific companies offering to do it for £750 (although I feel it would be nicer to do it without their intervention in such a personal event). My worry is whether the matter will spread far and wide or end up on someone below. I'm assuming that from high up it will blow in the wind and scatter to the 4 corners of the fields below.

I rather fancy the balloon ride too...will be a special event, rather than just something sombre.

Sounds like a lovely idea to me.

If you did go up in a balloon, you could scatter at intervals? Rather than doing the whole lot in one go?

It's not ash-y. More like gravel