Article updated: 2/22/2013 5:42 PM

Welch students get hot-air balloon lesson

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Students were able to walk around inside a partially inflated hot-air balloon Friday as a crew from RE/MAX visited Welch Elementary School in Naperville.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

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Bill Baker, a hot-air balloon pilot with RE/MAX, holds the partially inflated balloon so kids from Welch Elementary School in Naperville can walk around inside.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

Kids make their way out of a partially inflated hot-air balloon as a crew from RE/MAX visits Welch Elementary School in Naperville.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

Bill Baker, a hot-air balloon pilot with RE/MAX, sets off the burners for kids at Welch Elementary School in Naperville.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

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Students at Naperville's Welch Elementary School got some hands-on lessons Friday in the history of hot-air balloons and the scientific principles that allow them to fly. Bill Baker, a pilot with RE/MAX visited the school to talk to youngsters about what it's like to fly. He gave them a chance to walk around inside a partially inflated 75-foot-tall balloon and then took them outside to see a demonstration with the basket and burners that help send the craft soaring. "They always are excited at the end to see the flames," he said.