Texas hot air balloon tragedy

[kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Washington Post....

No survivors after a hot-air balloon carrying
at least 16 people crashes in Texas

By PETER HOLLEY | 9:15PM EDT - Saturday, July 30, 2016


The partial frame of a hot air balloon is visible above crops in a field as investigators comb the wreckage after it crashed
near Lockhart, Texas. — Photograph: Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via Associated Press.

LLOCKHART, TEXAS — A hot-air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in central Texas on Saturday, and there did not appear to be any survivors, authorities said.

Authorities would not confirm the exact number of deaths, but Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the balloon was carrying at least 16 people, and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it did not look as if anyone survived.

If 16 people were killed, it would be one of the worst such disasters, possibly the worst in U.S. history. The deadliest such disaster happened in February 2013, when a balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1,000 feet to the ground, crashing into a sugar-cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists.

Saturday's crash happened at about 7:40 a.m. in a pasture near Lockhart, which is about 30 miles south of Austin.

Two officials familiar with the investigation into the crash said the craft was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. The officials spoke Saturday on the condition that they not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Heart of Texas's website said it offers rides in the San Antonio, Houston and Austin areas. The operation does not appear to be registered with the state of Texas.

Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel C. Law told the Associated Press that it was the kind of situation where people can walk up and by a ticket, unlike an airplane, which would have a manifest.

The land near the crash site is mostly farmland, with corn crops and grazing cattle. Cutting through that farmland is a row of massive high-capacity transmission lines about four to five stories tall. The site of the crash appears to be right below the overhead lines, although authorities did not immediately provide further details about what happened.


Though isolated, the crash site is below a row of massive high-capacity transmission lines.
— Photograph: Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via Associated Press.

Margaret Wylie, who lives about a quarter-mile from the crash site, told the Associated Press that she was letting her dog out on Saturday morning when she heard a “pop, pop, pop.”

“I looked around, and it was like a fireball going up,” she said, noting that the fireball was located under large power lines and almost high enough to reach the bottom of them.

Wylie, who called 911, said the weather seemed clear and that she frequently sees hot-air balloons in the area.

Two years ago, safety investigators recommended that the FAA impose greater oversight on commercial hot-air balloon operators, government documents show. The agency rejected those recommendations.

In a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in April 2014, the National Transportation Safety Board urged the FAA to require tour companies to get agency permission to operate and to make balloon operators subject to FAA safety inspections.

“The potential for a high number of fatalities in a single air tour balloon accident is of particular concern if air tour balloon operators continue to conduct operations under less stringent regulations and oversight,” then-NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman wrote.

The FAA's Huerta responded that regulations were unnecessary because the risks were too low.

“Since the amount of ballooning is so low, the FAA believes the risk posed to all pilots and participants is also low given that ballooners understand the risks and general hazards associated with this activity,” Huerta responded last November.

The NTSB's Erik Grosof said on Saturday at a news conference that the agency has deemed the Texas crash to be a major accident and that a full investigation will begin on Sunday when more federal officials arrive.

• Associated Press news story.

__________________________________________________________________________

More on this topic including an earlier story:

• PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY: Photos from the scene after hot air balloon carrying at least 16 crashes in Texas

• Morning Mix: No survivors after Texas hot air balloon crashes with 16 on board

www.washingtonpost.com/national/no-survivors-after-a-hot-air-balloon-carrying-at-least-16-people-crashes-in-texas/2016/07/30/a9cd3ea4-568a-11e6-88eb-7dda4e2f2aec_story.html

[kiwithrottlejockey]

When you see those high-voltage power lines in the immediate vicinity, you've really got to wonder if this is a repeat of the Carterton hot air balloon tragedy.

[Dave Homewood]

Very sad to see.

[The Red Baron]

Make the basket out of something inflammable or fire proof the wicker.
It will stop these calamities happening.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Associated Press....

NTSB: Balloon hit power lines before crashing, killing 16

By WILL WEISSERT | 7:18PM EDT - Sunday, July 31, 2016


In this aerial photo, authorities investigate after a hot air balloon caught on fire and crashed near Lockhart, Texas.
— Photograph: Rodolfo Gonzalez/Austin American-Statesman via Associated Press.

LOCKHART, TEXAS — A hot air balloon made contact with high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in Central Texas, killing all 16 on board, according to federal authorities who are investigating the worst such disaster in U.S. history.

A power line was tripped at 7:42 a.m. Saturday, and the first call to 911 came a minute later, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said during a news conference. The crash site was near a row of high-tension power lines, and aerial photos showed an area of scorched land underneath. One witness described to The Associated Press seeing a “fireball” near the power lines.

The NTSB will look at all factors that might have played a role, including weather, but is concentrating on gathering “perishable evidence, the evidence that goes away with the passage of time,” Sumwalt said, noting some of that is witness statements that can fade with time.

“This wreckage will not be here more than another day or so,” he added.

The pilot was Skip Nichols, 49, said Alan Lirette, who identified Nichols as his best friend, roommate and boss. Lirette said he helped launch the balloon, which was carrying a total of 16 people, none of them children. The NTSB has not yet publicly identified the pilot or the passengers.

Matt Rowan and his wife, Sunday Rowan, were among those on board the hot air balloon. His brother, Josh Rowan, said that as the two prepared to take the balloon ride they texted family and posted on social media pictures of the balloon set up, the rising sun, them in the basket.

“It's a bit haunting now but I guess it was a bit of a play-by-play,” Josh Rowan told The Associated Press on Sunday.

He said the two, both 34, lived in San Antonio and just got married in February. “They were really happy and they were in love and they were really starting a life together,” he said.

The NTSB said the balloon was run by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Nichols' Facebook page identifies himself as the chief pilot of that business, which does not appear to be registered with the state of Texas.

The passengers met the balloon operator in the San Marcos Wal-Mart parking lot at about 5:45 a.m. Saturday, and traveled to Fentress Texas Airpark. Ground crew members told the NTSB that they launched about 20 minutes after the expected 6:45 a.m. time, communicated with the balloon by cellphone and the pilot navigated with an iPad.

The balloon traveled about 8 miles from takeoff to crash, and the basket was found about three-quarters of a mile from the balloon material itself.

Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel Law said in a statement that NTSB and medical professionals have said identification of the victims will be “a long process.”

An online Federal Aviation Administration database said an Alfred G. Nichols of Chesterfield, Missouri, was medically certified to fly in 1996 and was rated a commercial pilot of lighter-than-air balloons on July 14th, 2010. The rating is limited to hot air balloons with an airborne heater. Missouri records also listed Nichols as the owner of Air Balloon Sports LLC, based from the same Chesterfield address as the FAA record.

Lirette said Nichols went by the first name of Skip. Speaking to The Associated Press from a house he shared with Nichols in Kyle, Lirette would not answer specific questions about the balloon's launch or its crash.

“That's the only thing I want to talk about, is that he's a great pilot,” Lirette said of Nichols. “There's going to be all kinds of reports out in the press and I want a positive image there too.”

Wendy Bartch, a former girlfriend of Nichols, told the Austin American-Statesman that he was “a good pilot and loved people,” was cautious about keeping passengers safe, and had been involved with hot air balloons for about two decades.

Philip Bryant of Ballooning Adventures of Texas in Richmond, which also does inspections and maintenance for other operators, said the balloon had “very good equipment, very new equipment.” Nichols brought his balloon into his inspection facility in May 2014 and was issued a one-year recertification, Bryant said. The manufacturer of Nichols' balloon mandates an annual inspection, he said, adding that he couldn't do it this year but believes Nichols took it to another inspector.

Bryant said Nichols told him he moved from the St. Louis area to Texas because there was less competition.

Numerous calls to Heart of Texas operations manager Sarah Nichols, 72, rang unanswered, and a woman in Missouri believed to be the pilot's sister did not return phone calls.

Heart of Texas' website said it offers rides in the San Antonio, Houston and Austin areas. The company's Facebook page has photos of a hot air balloon flying with a smiley face with sunglasses on it, people waving from a large basket on the ground and group selfies taken while aloft.

NTSB investigators will look at “three things — human, machine and environment,” Sumwalt reiterated on Sunday afternoon. The investigation will include the balloon's maintenance history and the weather at the time of the crash.

They also will look into whether the operator filed a passenger manifest before taking off, Sumwalt said.

Crews recovered 14 personal electronic devices, including cellphones, and iPad and three cameras, which will be sent to the NTSB's lab in Washington for investigation.

Margaret Wylie, who lives about a quarter-mile from the site, told The Associated Press she was letting her dog out when she heard a “pop, pop, pop” and saw what looked “like a fireball going up.”

Safety investigators recommended two years ago that the FAA impose greater oversight on commercial hot air balloon operators, government documents show. The FAA rejected those recommendations, and the NTSB classified the FAA's response as “open-unacceptable,” which means the safety board was not satisfied with it.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said it's difficult to say whether the Texas crash will cause the agency to reconsider NTSB's recommendations “until we've had a chance to gather and examine the evidence in this particular case.”

Saturday's crash was one of the worst hot air balloon accidents on record. In 2013, 19 people were killed and two were injured when a balloon caught fire over Luxor, Egypt, and plunged 1,000 feet.

• Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno, Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Emily Schmall in Fort Worth, Texas, and Chad Day and Joan Lowy in Washington contributed to this report.

hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOT_AIR_BALLOON_CRASH_TEXAS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-31-19-18-37

[kiwithrottlejockey]

If you want to see considerably more detail in that photograph accompanying The Associated Press news article, click on the photo and a large-sized high-resolution version (6000 x 4000 pixels) will automatically download via The Washington Post website. However, it is a 6.22MB download.

[kiwithrottlejockey]

from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

EDITORIAL: Crash a tragic reminder

By SEAMUS BOYER | 10:06AM - Monday, August 01, 2016

I STILL get a twinge of sadness driving past Somerset Road, just north of Carterton.

Knowing the tragedy that took place there four years ago is hard to shake.

Eleven people lost their lives in a paddock when a hot air balloon they were travelling in hit powerlines and caught fire.

The aftermath is well known, and the repercussions for the passengers' families and the ballooning industry was enormous.

On Saturday another crash took place, this time in Texas, with eerily similar circumstances.

A hot air balloon carrying 16 people caught fire and crashed in a field, killing all onboard.

It took place near high-voltage power lines, at 7.40am.

The Carterton crash also happened on a summery Saturday, at 7.20am.

The Texas crash happened near the town of Lockhart, population 13,000 — no doubt a small, peaceful, rural town.

Just like Carterton.

I was the first reporter on the scene that January day in 2012, overhearing on arrival that there were no survivors.

I will never forget the faces of the victims' families on being told the terrible news.

For them, this new accident will bring back awful memories of that day.

That such a thing could happen in an industry which brings great happiness to its customers is heartbreaking.

Following the Carterton crash flowers piled up near the scene in a spontaneous tribute to those who had lost their lives.

The community response was one of shock and terrible sadness.

No doubt the Texas community at the heart of their tragedy will react in a similar fashion.

Commenting on the crash a spokesman for the Balloon Federation of North America said, rightly, that such events were rare.

“There are thousands of balloons that go up every year. This is unspeakably tragic, but it is rather unique.”

That may be so, but for all those affected by the Carterton crash, this new tragedy will be all too familiar.

times-age.co.nz/crash-tragic-reminder