The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard had been arrested for driving while intoxicated in 2000, according to police in Missouri.
Advertisement
‘That’s the only thing I want to talk about, is that he’s a great pilot, ‘ Lirette said, speaking to the AP from a house he shared with Nichols in Kyle, Texas. Then they lost contact.
The pilot was 49-year-old Skip Nichol.
The balloon crashed on Saturday into a pasture near Lockhart, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Austin, killing all aboard. But, he said, it’s likely the FAA would revoke the license of a pilot with DUI convictions.
The balloon was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, based in New Braunfels, according to the NTSB.
NTSB said on Twitter Monday afternoon that no evidence has been found about “pre-existing failures or malfunctions” with the balloon.
Sumwalt said Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides had a previous crash with a balloon. Aerial photos show a line of high-tension power lines towering over a patch of scorched earth.
It is not yet clear who was piloting the craft on August 3, 2014, when it landed hard in a church soccer field in Kyle, Texas.
Sumwalt said the ground crew communicated with the balloon by cellphone, and the pilot navigated with an iPad. They will focus on Alan Lirette, as he not only worked for the pilot but was also the pilot’s roommate.
She also said she’s grown frustrated that authorities haven’t revealed the identities of the victims in the crash, which is being investigated. The crash injured two passengers.
“They’ve been busy trying to collect the maintenance records for us”, Sumwalt said of the crew. “Sunday was a very social person”, Jones said. “They have hundreds and hundreds of friends”.
Another couple was identified as Matt Rowan and his wife, Sunday.
Sunday was “obsessed with her son’s happiness”, Jones told Dallas television station Fox 4.
“I think the fact that it is open-unacceptable pretty much speaks for itself”, he said. “They were incredible people and they were full of life and full of joy”, Josh Rowan said. Nichols’ Facebook page identifies himself as the chief pilot of that business, which does not appear to be registered with the state of Texas. Ms James, who created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the couple’s funeral, wrote that the Owens “adored their children and grandchildren, and loved nothing more than spending time with them”. Neill had worked for the company for nearly 25 years. “In lieu of flowers any donations will go to help assist the family and her daughter”.
“[Family members] knew they had their phones and they wouldn’t answer”.
The cameras, he said, are destroyed, but he said he hopes NTSB lab technicians can recover the images. Investigators would be looking into the pilot’s history and the company’s procedures.
The balloon took off about 20 minutes late, after passengers met in a Walmart parking lot and took a van to a nearby launch site, he said.
The emergency dispatchers received a 911 call at 7:44 a.m. local time, and “when the emergency responders and the sheriff’s office arrived on scene, it was apparent that the reported fire was the basket portion of the hot air balloon”, Law said. One witness described seeing a “fireball” near the power lines. Sumwalt says the envelope of the balloon was located about 3/4 of a mile northeast of the gondola.
It was the deadliest crash involving a hot air balloon in the Western Hemisphere, according to the Balloon Federation of North America.
If 16 people were killed, it would be the one of the worst such disasters, possibly the worst in USA history.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of commercial balloon operations amounts to “essentially none”, said Mark Dombroff, a former FAA attorney.
“He was a good pilot and loved people”, she said, adding that he’d been involved with hot air balloons for about two decades.
FAA’s Huerta noted in his letter that NTSB’s recommendations cited federal rules that include drug and alcohol testing as a legal basis to require greater safety oversight of balloon operations.
Advertisement
The FAA rejected the proposal, saying it did not believe it would have a significant impact on safety.
