“They adored their children and grandchildren, and loved nothing more than spending time with them”, said a GoFundMe page to raise money for their funeral.
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Of the three passengers, only one was injured. Balloon pilots are not required to hold an FAA medical certificate to fly. Investigators said the balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing Saturday, July 30, 2016, into a pasture near the Central Texas town of Lockhart.
In the note, Sarah Nichols said investigators have not given Heart of Texas any information about the crash, so the company is not speaking with passengers’ families. She helps set up and is responsible for watching for obstructions where the balloon will land.
“That’s the only thing I want to talk about, is that he’s a great pilot”, Lirette said, speaking to The Associated Press from a house he shared with Nichols in Kyle, Texas. Pilots descend by pulling a rip cord, which opens a vent to release hot air from the balloon.
Pilot Alfred “Skip” Nichols, operator of Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, is fully being investigated for his responsibility and role in the death of all sixteen passengers. How quickly can a pilot maneuver the balloon – especially an aircraft that’s weighed down with a large gondola filled with people?
Nichols was the pilot of a hot-air balloon that crashed into power lines Saturday morning when the weather south of Austin, Texas, turned from clear to foggy and overcast.
“All of us were sort of calling them and texting them and messaging them and just trying to get anything back and just sort of time went on and we didn’t hear anything back”, Rowan said, noting that authorities later told the family his brother and sister-in-law were aboard the balloon.
According to his Ex- Girlfriend he was declared a drink-driving and drug offences charges and went to jail in 2000, according to records that were criminal. Sixteen people, including Nichols, were killed in the crash, the worst such disaster in US history. Alan Lirette, who was Nichols’ roommate and helped launch the balloon, said it was created to take up to 16 passengers plus the pilot, meaning it was not full.
Carlton said the FAA requires every balloon pilot to have a flight review every two years by a certified instructor and to stay current on their take-off and landing procedures. It was unclear whether Nichols was the pilot on that day.
Nichols’ ballooning operations in Missouri also came under scrutiny by the Better Business Bureau, which in 2008 issued a warning to consumers about booking flights with his company, Air Balloon Sports. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. In a 2013 deposition, Nichols said he received a second 10-year license suspension in Missouri in 2010.
Ballooning is safe, he said, because it’s so simple. While the NTSB attempts to divine the cause of the crash – a process that could take a year – it has begun to piece together the last few moments before the balloon caught fire.
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The Better Business Bureau also took aim at Nichols’ criminal record: “Nichols is now on probation with the Missouri Department of Corrections for distribution, delivery or manufacturing of a controlled substance”.
