Pierre Testu-Brissy (or possibly Tessu-Brissy) (1770? – 1829) was a pioneering French balloonist who achieved fame for making flights astride his horse.
Testu-Brissy made his first balloon ascent in 1785 or 1786, and the first night ascent on 11 May or 18 June 1786 in a hydrogen balloon. He subsequently undertook more than 50 flights in his lifetime.
Gaston Tissandier's Histoire des ballons et des aéronautes célèbres (History of famous balloons and aeronauts) (published in 1887) described Testu-Brissy's earliest ballooning thus :
He also described his first ascent, thus:
On 18 June 1786 he flew for 11 hours and made the first electrical observations as he ascended into thunderclouds. He stated that he drew remarkable discharges from the clouds by means of an iron rod carried in the basket. He also experienced Saint Elmo's Fire, a phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object in an atmospheric electric field.
In 1786 Testu-Brissy was the first man who was called upon to pay damages for crops which had been trampled (mostly) by the rustics who flocked to see him.
On 15 October 1798 in Paris, Testu-Brissy completed the first balloon flight on horseback, ascending from Bellevue, Meudon (Château de Bellevue). The horse, which had been trained to stand perfectly still regardless of surrounding activities, endured bleeding from its nose and ears due to the altitude.
Gaston Tissandier's Histoire des ballons et des aéronautes célèbres (History of famous balloons and aeronauts) described Testu-Brissy's equestrian ballooning thus :
This article currently shows contradictions between sources regarding dates.