Hot air balloon crash

[Dan_1981]

If only we didn't insit on putting these pesky power lines everywhere.....

[DeputyDawg]

Kaelic said:

Oops off to Egypt on the 15th

Hot air balloon already booked (with Sinbads hot air balloons) and paid for...

To be honest I think it will be a "decide on the day" thing and see what sort of condition the balloon is in, not like I would get a refund

Tragic accident for those killed though

Sinbads you say??
I did the trip last year with Sinbads and for someone that has a serious problem with heights I didnt have a issue. Didn't even cross my mind about safety I guess due to how infrequent these things happen, or maybe I'm just foolish...who knows. The equipment used looked ok and in good order (unlike the comments made earlier) but what do I know.

[Digga]

Robatr0n said:

You'll never catch me in a hot air balloon again. We went in one almost 10 years ago and thanks to an utterly clueless pilot we ended up crash landing and narrowly missing over-head powerlines. Was more than enough to put all of us in the basket off for life!

Which, I guess, illustrates how one man's life-affiorming near-miss is another man's brown-trousered moment of terror and misery. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

Just dug out my hastily snapped pic of the road bridge:

[Andy Zarse]

That looks like the sort of balloon that should have a sheep, a duck and a rooster in the basket...

[singlecoil]

Andy Zarse said:

That looks like the sort of balloon that should have a sheep, a duck and a rooster in the basket...

...and Edward Woodward.

[Oakey]

How does one survive by jumping out of the basket before it crashes? Is it because those still in the basket were caught up in the fire as it hit the ground? At what height could you safely jump out?

[anonymous-user]

mrmr96 said:

el stovey said:

Commercial aviation and airline operations in the UK are much more regulated than ballooning is, god knows what it's like in Egypt. UK Training checking and safety standards in ballooning are vastly inferior to those in any airline.

I've got professional ballooning buddies who'd disagree with you there.

In what way do you think the "UK Training checking and safety standards in ballooning are vastly inferior to those in any airline"?

As a Balloon pilot how often are you assessed and examined what sort of recurrent training do you receive? Who is maintaining and testing your equipment, how are they trained and assessed, how are they regulated?

[anonymous-user]

Can I just say that I love going up in balloons

Ok, as you were.

[V41LEY]

Oakey said:

How does one survive by jumping out of the basket before it crashes? Is it because those still in the basket were caught up in the fire as it hit the ground? At what height could you safely jump out?

Luck. It's what you land on and at what speed you hit. You would probably break bones jumping out at anything more than 12ft from a stationary balloon. States on the news the pilot survived by leaping out at 10/15 metres but had suffered 70% burns. Lucky man. If the balln was descending rapidly from operational height I would have thought your chances were slim - fire or not. Very sad. Was planning a sunrise trip over Angkor Wat next month with the family. Not so sure now.

[ehonda]

I went up in one years ago, was expecting it to be exciting/scary. Instead it was rather relaxing and sedate. Until we landed and got dragged along the ground into a termite mound. I'd do it again, but only if the location was right and the views spectacular.

[Pints]

ehonda said:

I went up in one years ago, was expecting it to be exciting/scary. Instead it was rather relaxing and sedate. Until we landed and got dragged along the ground into a termite mound. I'd do it again, but only if the location was right and the views spectacular.

That's like saying you had a great flight on a 747, except that the landing gear failed to open and the plane went skidding on its belly across the runway.
It's not, by my interpretation of a good experience, a good experience.

[Digga]

singlecoil said:

Andy Zarse said:

That looks like the sort of balloon that should have a sheep, a duck and a rooster in the basket...

...and Edward Woodward.

That was a reconstruction of the original Montgolfier effort.

My pic was taken from the gondola of another balloon, just before we 'hopped' over the road bridge. What with the lamposts & stuff, there wasn't much room for error.

[y2blade]

lazyitus said:

julian64 said:

Its probbaly less dangerous than a BBQ.

Try telling that to those on that flight who had a burger the night before.

[ehonda]

Pints said:

That's like saying you had a great flight on a 747, except that the landing gear failed to open and the plane went skidding on its belly across the runway.
It's not, by my interpretation of a good experience, a good experience.

The crash landing was at walking speed though, it was fun and provided the bit of excitement I had been expecting.

[Du1point8]

After watching one come down in Luxor as the pilot had run out of gas (its expensive you know) and make a very bumpy landing in something I would describe as a basket last April, I would call them a death trap out there as they are not pilots, they do it for the money they can make.

It was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

Bet he was using a gas cylinder that you would normally find in a gas bbq rather than a proper one.

[mrmr96]

el stovey said:

mrmr96 said:

el stovey said:

Commercial aviation and airline operations in the UK are much more regulated than ballooning is, god knows what it's like in Egypt. UK Training checking and safety standards in ballooning are vastly inferior to those in any airline.

I've got professional ballooning buddies who'd disagree with you there.

In what way do you think the "UK Training checking and safety standards in ballooning are vastly inferior to those in any airline"?

As a Balloon pilot how often are you assessed and examined what sort of recurrent training do you receive? Who is maintaining and testing your equipment, how are they trained and assessed, how are they regulated?

You made the assertion, you provide your facts please.

[mattnunn]

All hot air baloon landings are crash landings aren't they?

[julian64]

V41LEY said:

the pilot survived by leaping out at 10/15 metres but had suffered 70% burns. Lucky man.

Not sure about the lucky. At 70% burns his chances of survival are still rather low. Added to the fact that the amount of pain he is currently in would probably make him wish he hadn't survived at all.

Not very lucky, in fact.

[Robatr0n]

Digga said:

Robatr0n said:

You'll never catch me in a hot air balloon again. We went in one almost 10 years ago and thanks to an utterly clueless pilot we ended up crash landing and narrowly missing over-head powerlines. Was more than enough to put all of us in the basket off for life!

Which, I guess, illustrates how one man's life-affiorming near-miss is another man's brown-trousered moment of terror and misery. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

Just dug out my hastily snapped pic of the road bridge:

In fairness, it was a little more than narrowingly missing a power cable. We were scrapping along tree tops to begin with, then he got completely lost from the group with the faint noise of "WTF are you doing?!" over the two way radio and then ended up missing a power cable by a couple of feet and then crashing down hard between a row of houses.

By some extremely weird coincidence, when we were checking all our limbs were still intact a van drove pulled into the road and skidded to a stop. A fairly elderly couple hopped out and said "Hey, is everyone okay?! We're a couple of Hot Air Balloon experts and saw you were in big trouble!".

They helped us pack the balloon and basket up and then got on the two way radio to guid the support van to our location.

All in all, a very weird experience.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Andy Zarse said:

That looks like the sort of balloon that should have a sheep, a duck and a rooster in the basket...

Bonjour M. Montgolfier!