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Hot Air Balloon Crashes in Texas; 16 dead

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thoughtbeast
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30 Jul 2016, 11:49 am

Hot Air Balloon Carrying at 16 People Crashes in Texas; Likely No Survivors


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naturalplastic
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30 Jul 2016, 12:51 pm

No media source shows a pic of this thing.

It must have been as big as the Hindenburg.

Okay. Maybe not THAT big, but as at least as big a Goodyear Blimp, to hold sixteen passengers!

Never before heard of a hot air balloon that big.



thoughtbeast
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30 Jul 2016, 2:51 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
No media source shows a pic of this thing.

It must have been as big as the Hindenburg.

Okay. Maybe not THAT big, but as at least as big a Goodyear Blimp, to hold sixteen passengers!

Never before heard of a hot air balloon that big.


Note: The following is NOT a picture of the hot air balloon that crashed; I'm providing it to show that such large balloon baskets do exist. Also, I would not be surprised to learn that overcrowding possibly had something to do with it.
Image


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thoughtbeast
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30 Jul 2016, 3:24 pm

The Austin Statesman newspaper has identified the operator of the balloon as "Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides"

Okay, the following pix are photos of either the balloon in the crash or another of similar size operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. This is from their facebook page

Image


Image


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naturalplastic
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30 Jul 2016, 4:33 pm

Your normal shaped hot air balloon.Like Phineas Fog flew in "Around the World in 80 Days". But BIG. A big basket to hold all of those people, and a big envelop for lift.

And unlike a football shaped Goodyear blimp with motors it cant be driven nor steered. Its just at the mercy of the wind. Surprised that this kinda thing doesnt happen more often with non directable balloons.



BirdInFlight
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31 Jul 2016, 6:41 am

It's starting to come out that witnesses saw the balloon hit a power line, which started a fire that brought the whole thing down. Balloon eye witness

I gather that the man in a black t-shirt in the center of that Heart of Texas picture posted is Skip Nichols the chief pilot, who died in this crash.

Very sad incident.



thoughtbeast
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31 Jul 2016, 8:55 pm

NTSB Predicted Deadly Texas Balloon Crash Scenario in 2014, But FAA Rejected Safety Regulation Recommendations


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