“He was well-known because he helped people… if you ever needed anything, he would give it to you.” In the Associated Press interview, Bartsch also said Nichols was a recovering alcoholic, he was sober for the past four years and he never piloted a balloon after drinking. Included in the 16 killed on board the balloon was Heart of Texas owner and Chief Pilot, Skip Nichols.
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The towers holding the power lines were about 140 feet high, he said, and the power lines showed about 30 feet of abrasions, where the balloon may have made contact, Sumwalt said.
Joe and Tresa Owens took the balloon ride as a belated anniversary present to themselves, his sister, Angie Nadolny of Mattoon, Illinois, said by phone Monday.
They can also go the extra mile by researching a particular company or pilot on the FAA’s website.
Monday afternoon, the National Transportation Security Board held its final on-scene media briefing on the site in Lockhart, Texas.
He said investigators are “trying to nail down as best we can” whether fog was a factor.
At this time officials have not determined the cause of the crash, though one witness claims to have seen the balloon hit power lines before falling to the ground and bursting into flame.
Authorities were still working to identify the victims using dental records.
The balloon ride was Sunday’s gift to Matt. “He was very well-known”, said Wendy Bartsch, an ex-girlfriend. “They have hundreds and hundreds of friends”. She said she and other family members kept trying to call her brother, but they never heard back.
Authorities haven’t identified the pilot, but his roommate and friend confirms the pilot was 49-year-old Alfred “Skip” Nichols. However, Cannon said, there is no oversight of that reporting requirement for balloon pilots. He is a former in Mineral Wells police officer who, in 2011, was placed on 10 years deferred adjudication for setting as many as four fires in the Mineral Wells area a year earlier, including one that injured a firefighter.
“We get reports from the National Weather Service, meet with our pilots, and then they meet with each other in another tent”, Pessagno said.
He noted that the pilot and crew used a navigational app called “Glimpse” to communicate throughout the voyage.
Some of those aboard posted Twitter images that investigators will examine as well, Sumwalt said.
The passengers assembled for the ride at 5:45 a.m.in a Walmart parking lot and rode in a van to the launch site, Sumwalt said. “We’re broken and somehow we will find some strength in all of this”.
At this point, it’s clear that the balloon hit power lines about thirty miles south of Austin, crashing into a field in Caldwell County, Texas.
The tragedy brings the number of deaths in USA balloon accidents since 2000 to 37, according to NTSB figures.
Reporter Vicky Nguyen will have more on what you can do to prepare for hot air balloon flights and more on what pilots practice to ensure safety.
The country continues to mourn a tragedy in Texas, in which a downed hot air balloon caught fire, killing all 16 people on board.
The Spiedie Fest has a balloon committee of about 50 people who work to make sure pilots are properly screened and have accumulated a certain number of trips, as well as review other details of the festival, including how far apart tents are placed. Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides has since suspended operations. They don’t really know what to think.
The FAA responded to the NTSB request previous year, saying the proposed letters of authorization “would not result in a significantly higher level of operational safety”.
The NTSB fired back in a 2016 statement, saying the FAA’s reply was unacceptable.
Commercial hot air balloons like the one destroyed in a fireball in Texas this weekend often carry more passengers than airplane and helicopter tours, but have long received less government scrutiny, according to aviation experts.
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A photo on Facebook showed him piloting a balloon with a large wicker basket holding more than a dozen passengers.
