Sky lanterns are popular at events such as weddings, as well as being an alternative to fireworks at New Year celebrations.

There are a number of obstacles that can affect the flight of your lantern and even present a fire hazard if a lantern were to crash into them.

Before you plan on launching your lanterns it is essential that you find the right location, here are a few hints and tips on how to select your perfect lantern launch location and some of the hazards you need to think about avoiding.

Trees

Tall trees can present a hazard on a windy night, especially if a lit lantern snags on a branch during its ascent. Take care to release your sky lanterns in wide open areas that are far away from tall trees.

If this is not possible due to time and location, such as a wedding venue, wait for the weather to settle a little before releasing the lanterns in order to help reduce the risk.

Pylons and telegraph poles

Electrical wires will not mix well with paper and it’d be embarrassing to cause an outage, don’t set off lanterns where there are a lot of overhanging wires.

Buildings

Setting off a lantern in an enclosed area is not usually a good idea, particularly as they can get snagged on roofs and decorative ornaments. If you’ve access to a rooftop garden this can be an ideal launch location providing the wind conditions are right.

Airports

If you live within 5 miles of an airport or airfield, you must let the Civil Aviation Authority know of your intention to release sky lanterns to avoid any disruption to planes.

The same applies to the coastline, as lanterns have been used as distress beacons in the past, if you want to launch a lantern from the cliffs be sure to tell the local coastguard to be on the safe side.

In short, make sure it’s not too windy, that the lanterns have got plenty of room to rise without hitting any obstacles and that you release the lanterns at varying times in order to ensure an even display and to avoid lanterns colliding in the air.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 29th, 2013 at 9:00 AM and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.