Officials Believe No Survivors in Texas Balloon Crash

[Indy Anna]

Ok well. Those pictures creeped me out considering what happened. Of course I looked at them right before bed.


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I know what you mean. I like to see pictures of victims to feel a connection to them, but I couldn't bring myself to look at the selfies of passengers enjoying themselves, knowing what happened only moments later.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Pilot in fatal Texas hot air balloon crash may have been trying to land


"At 7:27 a.m. Saturday, pilot Alfred "Skip" Nichols used an app to send a position update to a crew following the balloon in a vehicle, normally an indication he planned to land, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt at a press conference on Monday afternoon."

"The balloon hit power Lin es at 7:45 a.m. about 30 miles south of Austin, according to the NTSB. It then caught fire, with the gondola completely burning up and only the balloon crashing to the ground."


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pilot-fatal-hot-air-balloon-crash-land-article-1.2736024

 

[Hiandmighty]

As much as I hate to think about it, I think they all burned alive. My brother and I saw an enlarged photo of the basket in flames and it almost looks as if 2 people are on fire in the conflagration. Maybe its just the movement of the flames.

Those poor people. My condolences to their families.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Hot-air balloon pilot who killed 16 in a fiery crash was on a 'cocktail of drugs' during doomed flight - and was allowed to fly despite FIVE previous DWI arrests

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4017816/Balloon-pilot-cocktail-drugs-time-Texas-crash.html

 

[nrdsb4]

Sickening. Those poor people. Think of all of the devastation wreaked upon these people and their loved ones by one person with an addiction problem. So so sad...

 

[Indy Anna]

From the article Blondie linked above:

Nichols got his commercial license to pilot hot-air balloons in Missouri in July 1996. His first drunken driving conviction came in St. Louis County in 1990, followed by two more convictions in 2002 and a fourth in 2010, according to online court records.


After they receive a license, all pilots are supposed to notify the FAA within 60 days of a drug or alcohol conviction. However, Cannon said, there is no oversight of that reporting requirement for balloon pilots.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ail-drugs-time-Texas-crash.html#ixzz4SN4eIroT
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Why have regulation if there's no oversight? He couldn't get a license to pilot an airplane. That should have precluded him from piloting a balloon.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Hot air balloon operator who crashed into powerlines killing 16 was on a cocktail of drugs including Valium, oxycodone and Benadryl which meant he was NOT allowed to fly

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-impaired-balloon-operator.html#ixzz4voxSFtNa