Officials Believe No Survivors in Texas Balloon Crash

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JLSChook

JLSChook

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[video=twitter;759438371299037184]https://twitter.com/MarcusonFOX7/status/759438371299037184[/video]
 
Ugh....what a horrific way to die - I can't even imagine, nor do I want to. Prayers for those that passed, their families and loved ones.
 
July 30, 2016
14 minutes ago

16 dead in hot air balloon crash in Lockhart

More from KVUE

http://www.kvue.com/mb/news/local/16-dead-in-hot-air-balloon-crash-in-lockhart/284526260

When emergency crews arrived on the scene, it was apparent that the basket portion of the hot air balloon had caught fire. Jolly Road has been closed until further notice as investigators work on the scene. The approximate location of the crash "can be seen in this link"

No names of any fatalities will be released until next of kin has been notified.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the balloon company has been identified as Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Their website says that they service the Austin, San Antonio and Houston areas and up to 24 people were allowed on a flight.
 
GeeEm said:
July 30, 2016
14 minutes ago

16 dead in hot air balloon crash in Lockhart

More from KVUE

http://www.kvue.com/mb/news/local/16-dead-in-hot-air-balloon-crash-in-lockhart/284526260

When emergency crews arrived on the scene, it was apparent that the basket portion of the hot air balloon had caught fire. Jolly Road has been closed until further notice as investigators work on the scene. The approximate location of the crash "can be seen in this link"

No names of any fatalities will be released until next of kin has been notified.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the balloon company has been identified as Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Their website says that they service the Austin, San Antonio and Houston areas and up to 24 people were allowed on a flight.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this news update. There was a lady interviewed on sky news UK who took a photo Of The balloon whilst going past on the motorway she said it was flying really low and looked it was struggling to gain height. The flame was apparently going constantly off and on. Another lady a neighbour near the crash site said she regularly saw hot air balloons in the area which makes me wonder why they are flying regularly near powerlines. I don't know if this can be avoided and I certainly don't blame the pilot who must have been desperately trying to prevent the tragedy.
 
gregjrichards said:
Thanks for this news update. There was a lady interviewed on sky news UK who took a photo Of The balloon whilst going past on the motorway she said it was flying really low and looked it was struggling to gain height. The flame was apparently going constantly off and on. Another lady a neighbour near the crash site said she regularly saw hot air balloons in the area which makes me wonder why they are flying regularly near powerlines. I don't know if this can be avoided and I certainly don't blame the pilot who must have been desperately trying to prevent the tragedy.
Click to expand...

You are always welcome Greg, here is some more information just in 12 minutes ago:

Close friends told KVUE that the pilot of the hot air balloon, Skip Nichols, was killed in the crash. According to his Facebook page, Nichols was the Chief Pilot for Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides.
Nichols_1469918899456_4413723_ver1.0_320_240.PNG

No other victims have been identified, pending the notification of next of kin.



The balloon company has been identified as Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Their website says that they service the Austin, San Antonio and Houston areas and up to 24 people were allowed on a flight.

The company is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau and has a D+ rating. On their BBB Business Review, Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides had six complaints with BBB in the last three years. The most recent complaint claimed that a flight reservation was rescheduled and the complainant was unable to get a refund from the company. Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides responded to the complaint, citing weather and their terms that customers agree to when they sign up for a flight.

People who live near the crash scene described hearing a sound like an explosion.
Margaret Wiley, who lives on Jolly Road near the crash scene, said, "I first thought the neighbors had a tractor out there and it exploded."
Another neighbor, Don Schulle, also heard the crash. "I heard a loud, like a gunfire, explosion and a little bit later I heard another one."
Schulle said he drove down the train tracks to see what was happening.
"You could tell it was a fire, a big ball of flames," Schulle said.

Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement on the crash


http://www.kvue.com/mb/news/local/16-dead-in-hot-air-balloon-crash-in-lockhart/284526260
 
gregjrichards said:
Thanks for this news update. There was a lady interviewed on sky news UK who took a photo Of The balloon whilst going past on the motorway she said it was flying really low and looked it was struggling to gain height. The flame was apparently going constantly off and on. Another lady a neighbour near the crash site said she regularly saw hot air balloons in the area which makes me wonder why they are flying regularly near powerlines. I don't know if this can be avoided and I certainly don't blame the pilot who must have been desperately trying to prevent the tragedy.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the hot air balloon was operating normally and flying at a low elevation. Combined with reports that other balloon flights were cancelled due to high winds. It sounds to me like the balloon was functioning properly when it flew into the power lines, possibly as a result of high winds. That makes me think it was pilot error, possibly flying in unsafe conditions.

I don’t see how not flying near power lines would be possible. The power lines are everywhere, at least in the US. It would be the pilots responsibility to keep the balloon above the power lines.
 
July 31, 2016
6:23 pm EDT

Texas hot air balloon hit power lines before crash, NTSB says



Sixteen victims

Friends of three of the victims identified them Sunday. They include the pilot, Alfred "Skip" Nichols, and newlyweds Matt and Sunday Rowan.

The Rowans got married in February, said Brent Jones, the father of Sunday's 5-year-old son, Jett. "Sunday was a very social person," Jones said. "They have hundreds and hundreds of friends."

Sunday, Rowan bought the balloon flight for her husband as a birthday gift last year and it had taken them a while to schedule it, Jones said.

"Sunday was messaging her mom before getting on the balloon. Soon after takeoff, she stopped all communication," he said.

"It's hard, but I want everyone to understand how great our lives were together and how amazing these two people are."

Alan Lirette, the ground crew supervisor for the balloon operator, Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, described Nichols as his "best friend, boss and roommate."

Philip Bryant, a balloon pilot, told CNN he knew Nichols.

"I knew him to be a safe, competent pilot," Bryant said. "He has done this for a very long time."

The NTSB said the identities of all of the victims would be made public later by local authorities.

Electronic devices recovered

The FBI has found 14 personal electronic devices from those aboard the balloon, Sumwalt said. They include cell phones, one iPad, and three cameras.

The cameras, he said, are destroyed, but he said he hopes NTSB lab technicians can recover the images.









https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cn...ot-air-balloon-crash/index.html?client=safari
 
August 1, 2016
8:15 AM EDT


Friend defends doomed Texas hot air balloon pilot

The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard was arrested in Missouri in 2000 for driving while intoxicated, and the Better Business Bureau warned consumers about doing business with a balloon touring company he used to operate in that state.

Authorities haven't publicly named anyone killed in the crash, saying it could take a while to identify the bodies. But Alfred "Skip" Nichols, 49, was identified as the pilot by his friend and roommate Alan Lirette, who said that Nichols was a good pilot.

A Missouri officer, though, told The Associated Press that Nichols was arrested there in 2000 on a felony driving while intoxicated charge. The case was resolved two years later when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor version of the charge.

The officer said that based on photographs, he is confident the man arrested in Missouri is the same man who piloted the Texas balloon. Nichols had lived in Missouri before moving to Texas. He was known as "Skip" in both places and owned a hot air balloon touring company in St. Louis County at the time, said the officer, who spoke to the AP on condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to comment publicly.













https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbsn...oon-crash-friend-defends-pilot/?client=safari
 
I'm saddened by this news. Years ago, I took my boys up in a balloon, but the trip had been cancelled and rescheduled three times due to winds. Once, it was blowing the wrong way, and would have taken us into restricted DC airspace, so it was cancelled due to that. I was unaware prior to the trip that we had no known landing spot. Basically, it floated until the pilot found a place to land. There was a truck that followed as a tracker. We landed literally in someone's yard in a rural area. I don't recall looking for power lines, probably because I was distracted by the quiet and peaceful flight.
 
I don't know much about hot air balloons but from what I have read it is looking like, (to me) that there may have been too much weight and not enough time to get lift to get up and over the wires, I am thinking/wondering if they were electrocuted and not burned alive. From the pictures it looks like all were in the basket when it landed. And from pictures the balloon does not look burned. jmo idk
 
Ok well. Those pictures creeped me out considering what happened. Of course I looked at them right before bed.


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Elley Mae said:
I don't know much about hot air balloons but from what I have read it is looking like, (to me) that there may have been too much weight and not enough time to get lift to get up and over the wires, I am thinking/wondering if they were electrocuted and not burned alive. From the pictures it looks like all were in the basket when it landed. And from pictures the balloon does not look burned. jmo idk
Click to expand...
I've also wondered if weight was a factor. I read that some of the baskets have capacity for 24 people. It would be difficult to get appropriate lift quickly with that much weight, especially coupled with resistance from high winds. IMO, it was probably a combination of factors that contributed to the incident.

I read today of the pilot's history of DUI, but this is what his former GF had to say:

Nichols’ ex-girlfriend, Wendy Bartch, told The Associated Press that Nichols had several drunken-driving convictions in Missouri, but that he was in recovery and had been sober for at least four years.
Click to expand...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...d62092-577f-11e6-8b48-0cb344221131_story.html

And at the same link:
A Federal Aviation Administration accident report shows that a balloon registered to Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides made a hard landing in a church soccer field on Aug. 3, 2014. The crash injured two female passengers.
Click to expand...
 
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