Roy Smith wrote in message ...
Since a balloon is drifting with the surrounding airmass, there should
be no relative wind. So, what are the "wind deflectors" shown in the
following diagram all about?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h.../html/platform
.stm

Note the intended altitude of flight.....At those levels, the vertical
height of the entire assembly will be enough that the gondola can and
probably will experience slightly different wind direction and speed
as the envelope. It also appears that they would be of use when/if the
gondola is on the water surface.

Craig C.