The 16 deaths make the balloon accident the deadliest on record in the US.
Advertisement
“When balloons go out on these flights, they have a chase couple of cars to go pick up the riders after they’ve landed in a field somewhere”.
Although “such an accident has yet to occur” in the U.S., Hersman wrote at the time, “based on the number of recurring accidents in the United States involving similar safety issues, the NTSB believes that air tour balloon operators should be subject to greater regulatory oversight”.
NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said the immediate focus of the investigation would be gathering witness testimony, starting with the ground crew on Monday. He and the first lady extended their condolences after the hot air balloon crash.
Sunday and Matt Rowan were married six months ago, Brent Jones, the father of Sunday’s 5-year-old son, told CNN. They remembered Nichols’ personality and the hot air balloon with a smile on the side.
Bryant said Nichols told him he moved from the St. Louis area to Texas because there was less competition.
Scheduled to take off just before sunrise at 6:49 a.m., the balloon had a delayed lift-off.
He speculated that pilot error likely contributed because the equipment was in good shape. Hot air balloon pilots must be certified and the balloons must be certified for airworthiness.
What goes up doesn’t always come down safely, which is why an east Tennessee pilot said he prepares for the worst before take off.
The FBI’s evidence response team in San Antonio has been asked to assist in the investigation of the crash, the cause of which was still undetermined, he said. He explained that people can go there to watch hot air balloons take off or to take a ride on tethered balloons.
“When the Emergency Responders and the Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene, it was apparent that the reported fire was the basket portion of a hot air balloon”, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted to Twitter. However, it remains unclear whether any of the regulations would have prevented Saturday’s deadly crash.
Investigators were still trying to identify the victims, he added.
“It’s a bit haunting now but I guess it was a bit of a play-by-play”, Josh Rowan told The Associated Press on Sunday.
An ex-girlfriend of the hot air balloon pilot says that he was made for the job.
Commercial plane and helicopter operators are required to have an LOA, but not balloon operators, according to the letter. Sumwalt said the NTSB has not yet located a passenger manifest for the flights.
Matt and Sunday Rowan were among the estimated 16 people who perished near Lockhart, Texas.
Alan Lirette told The Associated Press that Skip Nichols was also his best friend and roommate a home in Kyle, Texas.
Federal investigators have not publicly identified the pilot or the company that operated the balloon.
Given that some balloon gondolas can carry more than 20 people per flight, safety deficiencies mean a single accident could result in a “high number of fatalities”, Hersman said in the 2014 letter, referring to the 2013 accident in Egypt. Lirette said that several people on board seemed related, because “a lot of last names were the same”, but he didn’t provide specifics.
She said the store was the pick up point for passengers, who were then shuttled to the launch site.
Sumwalt said the balloon traveled approximately 8 miles between lift and crash.
They will also resume interviewing witnesses.
A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas on Saturday, and there did not appear to be any survivors, authorities said.
Nixon resident, Lisa Peralez reads a prayer at the site of Saturday’s hot air balloon crash near Lockhart, Texas, Sunday, July 31, 2016. The cameras, he said, are destroyed, but he said he hopes NTSB lab technicians can recover the images.
Local balloon pilots say the sport may look easy but it’s quite the opposite.
“I looked around and it was like a fireball going up”, she said, noting that the fireball was under large power lines and nearly high enough to reach the bottom of them.
Advertisement
The US National Transportation Safety Board, taking the lead in investigating Saturday’s crash, was asking the public for any cellphone videos of the incident.
