Law enforcement officers responded to a 911call about a possible auto accident in the Maxwell area, but found the balloon basket on fire on the ground.
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Lockhart is located less than 30 miles south of Austin and 70 miles northeast of San Antonio.
One of the final messages Mr Rowan sent was to tell his volleyball team that he’d be late to a game because he was taking a hot air balloon ride that he didn’t expect would interfere because it had “been rescheduled a dozen times”. “Sunday was a very social person”, Jones said.
“The first time I saw him, he was flying in that balloon”, Alvarez said.
Local residents speculated that the balloon had struck a power line that runs prominently across the field.
He said Skip Nichols brought his balloon into his inspection facility in May 2014 and was issued a one-year recertification.
It is unclear whether Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides implemented any of the NTSB’s recommended measures.
16 people died when the hot air balloon went down..
The utility company responsible for the lines reported they were tripped at 7:42 a.m.
He speculated that pilot error likely contributed because the equipment was in good shape.
Lise Peralez came to the edge of the perimeter around the crash site, her walking stick in her right hand and a small bible in the other. Authorities have not released the passengers’ names.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are assisting in the inquiry. “He felt like a lot of the stuff he was doing would have benefits for soldier and other service members who had been injured by burns”, Joshua Rowan said.
The statement says that the National Transportation Safety Board and medical professionals have said identification of the victims will be “a long process”. Authorities have not named any of the people on board.
“Weather plays a very big role in ballooning”, said Spencer.
The NTSB said the balloon was owned by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides.
“I would see it all the time in San Marcos”. He did not say the location of the balloon launch. He provided a brief overview of the steps the investigation would take, saying the three elements investigators will look at are, “human, machine and environment” to try and understand what contributed to the crash.
The NTSB is interested in any cellphone video of the balloon’s flight, and investigators will look for devices in the wreckage that have recoverable video shot by passengers, as well as any video from witnesses.
The family of passengers Joe and Tresa Shafer also feared they had lost their loved ones. Previously, the highest number of fatalities in a single hot air balloon crash was six.
In a statement to NBC29, the president of the Balloon Federation of America says, “The hot air balloon community is a small community and news like this is hard to hear”.
Sumwalt said 60 ballooning accidents have been investigated by the agency since August 2011, including five that resulted in seven deaths.
Jones added that Sunday Rowan had intended for the balloon flight to be a birthday gift for her husband a year ago, though it had taken them some time to schedule the flight.
The crash and ensuing fire took place near – or possibly under – high-capacity power lines. Caldwell County Justice of the Peace Matt Kiely said it could take weeks or months to identify the victims because they will have to use dental records to do so.
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An investigation has been launched into what caused the worst such disaster in USA history.
