A hot air balloon that went down in a fiery crash in a Texas pasture, killing all 16 people on board, likely struck a power line, an investigator said Sunday.
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They said Nichols owned at least three balloons, one well-known in the area for sporting a huge yellow smiley face against a red, white and blue background. Officials have not confirmed whether or not the lines were a factor in the crash.
CNN confirmed the pilot’s identity after speaking with Alan Lirette, the ground crew supervisor who was working with Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Lirette called Nichols his “best friend, boss and roommate”, in an interview at his home in Kyle. “[Nichols] was a great pilot”, he said.
It was one of the deadliest hot air balloon crashes in history. They have a five year old son, who was not on board the balloon. Previously, the highest number of fatalities in a single U.S. hot air balloon crash was six. “We look at the human, the machine and the environment”, Sumwalt said. The company also has Austin and San Marcos locations listed online and provided rides around south and central Texas.
NTSB experts will first examine “the operation of the balloon, the pilot, the company that operated the balloon”, Sumwalt said. Part of the investigation will include whether the balloon operator filed a passenger manifest although it is not a requirement for hot air balloon operators.
A sheriff who responded to the crash told investigators there was some fog in the area and electricity at the crash site was tripped when the balloon reportedly hit nearby power lines.
Investigators were also hoping to retrieve evidence from 14 devices, phones, cameras and an iPad, recovered from the crash site, the Austin American-Statesman newspaper said. This is the second fatal hot air balloon crash of 2016 in the United States according to the NTSB. The FAA rejected those recommendations, and the NTSB classified the FAA’s response to the two balloon-safety recommendations as “open-unacceptable”, which means the safety board was not satisfied with the FAA’s response.
Deborah Hersman felt that should change because hot air balloons use heated propane gas to float in the air.
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FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said it’s hard to say whether the Texas crash will cause the agency to reconsider NTSB’s recommendations “until we’ve had a chance to gather and examine the evidence in this particular case”. In 2013, 19 people were killed and two were injured when a balloon caught fire over Luxor, Egypt, and plunged 1,000 feet.
