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Tragedy on the home front

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Basil

Basil

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Hot Air Balloons are a common thing in this area. It's rare to have one crash like this, but it does happen. RIP to whoever the occupants were (one still alive but critical)

ktla.com

5th person dies after hot air balloon crashes in New Mexico

Five people died after a hot air balloon they were riding in hit power lines in New Mexico’s largest city and the gondola crashed to the ground, police said Saturday. The crash happened aroun…
ktla.com ktla.com
 
More videos at our local news site. Not clear exactly what happened. We know they hit a power lines and knocked out power, but to clear if that caused the crash or if the power lines were hit on the way down.

www.krqe.com

Fifth victim dies in SW Albuquerque hot air balloon crash, cause under investigation

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Police and fire crews responded to a fatal hot air balloon crash just after 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning in the area of Central SW and Unser. Officials say four people…
www.krqe.com www.krqe.com
 
Sad, that. Power lines seem to figure into a number of hot air balloon incidents.
 
Looking at the first video from KTLA, I'd say the latter. The balloon is still way up there after its collapse. I've never seen power lines that high except in canyons due to plane traffic.
 
Last edited:
That’s what I thought too, but nit sure what might have happened prior to the start of the video
 
From KRQE update: "Authorities say a catastrophic error occurred while in the air and the gondola detached from the envelope. According to witnesses, the gondola crashed into power lines that run east-west along Central near the CVS Pharmacy. The gondola caught fire and crashed into the roadway at Unser Boulevard, south of Central."

Also, the one survivor of the iinitial crash has died.
 
Local news just now - now they are saying the balloon did in fact hit the lines, then came detached from the envelope. The basket fell to the ground while the envelope, sans basket, continued to rise, then eventually deflated and fell to the ground about 2 miles from where the basket landed.
 
Speculation: Hitting the power lines would have quickly melted the lines attaching basket to envelope. Ibid post #3.
 
Back in 04 I was manning a "Funnel Cakes" booth at the Balloon Fiesta (Cancer fund raiser) when I witnessed an accident right in front of me. A rather famous balloon, the Smokey the Bear balloon, ran into the top of a radio tower that was west of the field. Fortunately, there were no injuries or deaths. An older man (pilot) and a couple of young boys managed to climb down the tower to safety. Here are a few shots I took from the Funnel Cake booth. Sorry for poor resolution - it was one of the first DSLR digital cameras and only 6MP.

Smokey Bear-1.jpg

Smokey Bear-2.jpg

Smokey Bear-3.jpg
 
Update on this tragic balloon crash that killed 5 people a few weeks back. Article in this morning's paper says the pilot had marijuana and cocaine in his system. That's all I've got to say about that.
 
Terrible thing, and the pilot being someone unable to make smart decisions. I have never had a desire to try drugs, saw too many I knew who ruined their lives with them.
 
Lost my best friend from high school to drugs in his 20s.
 
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