Seems like this is the best place to leave condolences.
A difficult time for all three families, from the reactions on the site, Dr Boylan was much loved in the community he served.
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071117/NEWS01/711170363/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
Iowa balloon crash kills local doctorBY MILES BLUMHARDT MilesBlumhardt@coloradoan.com
Fort Collins balloonist Dr. Tom Boylan and a Littleton man died and one man was injured when their helium balloon hit a power line Friday morning and crashed in north-central Iowa.
Boylan, 62, an osteopathic physician at Front Range Pain Medicine, 3744 S. Timberline Road, was pronounced dead at the scene, as was Bradley Brookhart, 37, of Littleton. Doug Chaplin, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., was listed in fair condition Friday night at a hospital in Mason City, Iowa.
Reached on her cell phone late Friday afternoon, Boylan's wife, Margo, said she had no comment.
Shannon White, co-owner of Mountain Breeze Ballooning in Fort Collins, said he would have likely been in the balloon basket with Boylan had his wife passed on the message Boylan left on their answering machine Tuesday asking White to join him.
"I'd probably be dead right now," White said. "She just forgot to pass along the message. Usually she is on the ball about that. I think my angels were looking out for me. That's all I can figure because I'm sure I would have been right there. It's not my nature to turn down a flight."
The balloon was descending when it hit the line around 8:15 a.m. MDT. The balloon and the basket separated and the basket fell 60 feet to the ground, Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said. Residents who had come out of their house to wave at the balloonists saw it hit the power line, called 911 and rushed to the scene, Richtsmeier said. They found the basket on its side in the pasture, about three miles southwest of Coulter, which is about 85 miles north of Des Moines.
Fort Collins resident Bob McCluskey, who had known Boylan about 20 years, said he had flown with him and called Boylan a "very conservative pilot."
"He didn't take a lot of chances," McCluskey said, who also called Boylan "a great mentor for me."
On Friday morning, there were high scattered clouds and winds of 15 to 20 mph, Richtsmeier said. Investigators from the sheriff's office were at the scene Friday afternoon and officials from the Federal Aviation Administration had arrived to assist in the investigation.
"Sometimes, with that wind, you get stuck in a situation that has bad consequences," McCluskey said.
According to a phone call Boylan made to the Coloradoan on Tuesday inquiring about the possibility of coverage of his flight, he and a friend, Troy Bradley, were going to launch two balloons from Greeley on Wednesday evening. Boylan said he was going on a training flight.
Paperwork found in one of the men’s pockets indicated they had left Greeley on Wednesday and spent Thursday night in the Omaha, Neb., area. They were flying beneath a helium balloon, rather than a more common hot air balloon inflated by air warmed by propane burners.
White, of Mountain Breeze Ballooning, said helium balloons are more difficult to control than hot air balloons. Helium balloons only have ballasts to release to adjust elevation. Hot air balloons have ballasts and heated air blowing into the balloon to adjust elevation.
Boylan had more than 20 years of experience piloting balloons,
“It takes a lot of time for a helium balloon to respond,” White said. “I’m sure that had a lot to with it.”
White said Boylan was an excellent pilot who was respected and willing to help others. He never flew with Boylan in his basket but went to events where Boylan flew.
“My best memories of Tom were up at Snowmass,” White said. “We used to tailgate after flying and it was a lot of fun. He was a great guy. It’s like losing a family member.”
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Coulter, Iowa, said to be a gas balloon??
COULTER, Iowa (AP) - Authorities have identified the two men killed when a helium-powered balloon hit a power line and crashed in north-central Iowa yesterday.
They are 62-year-old Thomas Boylan of Fort Collins, Colorado, and 37-year-old Bradley Brookhart of Littleton, Colorado.
Injured was 58-year-old Doug Chaplin of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was in fair condition at a hospital.
Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier says the balloon was descending when it struck a power line, separating the balloon and the basket. The basket then fell 60 feet to the ground in a cattle pasture.
Richtsmeier says paperwork found in 1 of the men's pockets indicated they had spent the night before in the Omaha, Nebraska, area.
They are 62-year-old Thomas Boylan of Fort Collins, Colorado, and 37-year-old Bradley Brookhart of Littleton, Colorado.
Injured was 58-year-old Doug Chaplin of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was in fair condition at a hospital.
Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier says the balloon was descending when it struck a power line, separating the balloon and the basket. The basket then fell 60 feet to the ground in a cattle pasture.
Richtsmeier says paperwork found in 1 of the men's pockets indicated they had spent the night before in the Omaha, Nebraska, area.
Iowa Balloon Accident
COULTER — The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) is en route to rural Franklin County where two men from the western U.S. were killed this morning when their hot air balloon crashed near Coulter.A third man was injured and was taken to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, Mason City, for treatment.No names of the victims are available at this time.Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said onlookers saw the balloon in the sky and saw it separate from the basket about 65 feet above the ground.The accident was reported at 9:15 a.m. and happened three miles west of Coulter, near the junction of Finch Avenue and 110th Street.Authorities at the scene included the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Iowa State Patrol, Franklin medical examiner, Coulter Fire Department, West Franklin EMS and Franklin County Hospital.
Friday, November 16, 2007
More sad hot air balloon news
Its with heavy heart that I report yet more fatalities this year.
Perhaps 2007 will go down as one of the worst years ever for hot air balloon accidents.
My mind can instantly think of a couple of incidents in the past that involved large balloons so the numbers of deceased were realitively high in single incidents. I don't think I can remember a year in which so many individual incidents caused so many fatalities.
Thoughts and condolences to the families involved.
2 dead in hot air balloon crash near Hampton
HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) Two people were killed and a third person injured Friday after the hot air balloon they were in crashed in north-central Iowa.
Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said the names of the people who were killed and the person who was hurt wouldn't be immediately released. He also declined to identify where they are from.
The balloon was descending when it struck a power line about 9:15 a.m., he said.
The balloon and the basket separated and the basket fell 60 feet to the ground in a farm field southwest of Hampton, the sheriff said.
Investigators from the sheriff's office remained at the scene and officials from the Federal Aviation Administration had arrived to assist in the investigation.
The passengers who were killed died at the scene. The third person was flown by helicopter to a Mason City hospital. That person's condition wasn't immediately known.
Perhaps 2007 will go down as one of the worst years ever for hot air balloon accidents.
My mind can instantly think of a couple of incidents in the past that involved large balloons so the numbers of deceased were realitively high in single incidents. I don't think I can remember a year in which so many individual incidents caused so many fatalities.
Thoughts and condolences to the families involved.
2 dead in hot air balloon crash near Hampton
HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) Two people were killed and a third person injured Friday after the hot air balloon they were in crashed in north-central Iowa.
Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said the names of the people who were killed and the person who was hurt wouldn't be immediately released. He also declined to identify where they are from.
The balloon was descending when it struck a power line about 9:15 a.m., he said.
The balloon and the basket separated and the basket fell 60 feet to the ground in a farm field southwest of Hampton, the sheriff said.
Investigators from the sheriff's office remained at the scene and officials from the Federal Aviation Administration had arrived to assist in the investigation.
The passengers who were killed died at the scene. The third person was flown by helicopter to a Mason City hospital. That person's condition wasn't immediately known.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Blimey its easy to set up over there, Vickers Ballooning
Good luck to them, obviously they did'nt need to go through the pain of an AOC!!!
Best wishes for your new Venture, Vickers Ballooning!!!!
New business goes up up and away over DelmarvaVickers' Ballooning takes hobby to new heightsBy Molly MacMillan Staff Writer
John King photoMembers of Vickers Ballooning Company in Dagsboro stand in front of their basket. From left is Ken Gerard, and owners Lori and Louis Vickers.
Lou and Lori Vickers are full of hot air -- literally.
Their business, Vickers' Ballooning, LLC is approaching its fifth month of operation and the owners are flying high now that they've morphed their hobby into their livelihood.
"I took my first flight in August and two weeks later I was enrolled in flight school," Lou said.
Lou said he took his sister on a hot air balloon ride in August 2006 to celebrate her birthday and found the experience so enjoyable he decided to pursue a pilot's license for himself.
Less than two weeks after his first flight, Vickers was enrolled in classes to become a hot air balloon pilot. Less than one year after his fateful flight, Vickers purchased a seven-story hot air balloon and began Vickers' Ballooning outside of Dagsboro.
"People can't believe how fast I caught on," he said. "I became a pilot in two weeks."
The couple view their vocation as an element of the entertainment industry. They serve a variety of snacks and offer a champagne toast at the end of each flight.
"It's a new adventure," Lori said. "In this business we can cater to people and show them a really over-the-top experience they wouldn't be able to find anywhere else."
The Vickers said a flight is a great way to celebrate a birthday or a personal achievement, fulfill a dream, or even get engaged -- though they have yet to fly a "big question" flight. The company offers gift certificates also.
Connie Frey was recently treated to a flight for her birthday, despite her fear of heights.
"It was phenomenal," she said. "The flight was very calm and peaceful and it was a gradual rise so you don't really feel anything."
Lori is also afraid of heights, but described the experience as "zen-like."
"It's very calm-- you don't feel the wind and you ride where it takes you," she said. "It's quiet and close to nature and you see the world from a different perspective."
mmacmillan@dmg.gannett.com
Best wishes for your new Venture, Vickers Ballooning!!!!
New business goes up up and away over DelmarvaVickers' Ballooning takes hobby to new heightsBy Molly MacMillan Staff Writer
John King photoMembers of Vickers Ballooning Company in Dagsboro stand in front of their basket. From left is Ken Gerard, and owners Lori and Louis Vickers.
Lou and Lori Vickers are full of hot air -- literally.
Their business, Vickers' Ballooning, LLC is approaching its fifth month of operation and the owners are flying high now that they've morphed their hobby into their livelihood.
"I took my first flight in August and two weeks later I was enrolled in flight school," Lou said.
Lou said he took his sister on a hot air balloon ride in August 2006 to celebrate her birthday and found the experience so enjoyable he decided to pursue a pilot's license for himself.
Less than two weeks after his first flight, Vickers was enrolled in classes to become a hot air balloon pilot. Less than one year after his fateful flight, Vickers purchased a seven-story hot air balloon and began Vickers' Ballooning outside of Dagsboro.
"People can't believe how fast I caught on," he said. "I became a pilot in two weeks."
The couple view their vocation as an element of the entertainment industry. They serve a variety of snacks and offer a champagne toast at the end of each flight.
"It's a new adventure," Lori said. "In this business we can cater to people and show them a really over-the-top experience they wouldn't be able to find anywhere else."
The Vickers said a flight is a great way to celebrate a birthday or a personal achievement, fulfill a dream, or even get engaged -- though they have yet to fly a "big question" flight. The company offers gift certificates also.
Connie Frey was recently treated to a flight for her birthday, despite her fear of heights.
"It was phenomenal," she said. "The flight was very calm and peaceful and it was a gradual rise so you don't really feel anything."
Lori is also afraid of heights, but described the experience as "zen-like."
"It's very calm-- you don't feel the wind and you ride where it takes you," she said. "It's quiet and close to nature and you see the world from a different perspective."
mmacmillan@dmg.gannett.com
Love this, Champagne related foolery
1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known dataA hot air balloon rises from the ground with a velocity of (2.0m/s)y. A champagne bottle is opened to celebrate takeoff, expelling the cork horizontally with a velocity of (5.0m/s)x. When opened, the bottle is 6 m above the ground. a) What is the initial velocity of the cork, as seen by an observer on the ground? What is the speed of the cork, and its initial direction of motion, as seen by the same observer? b) Determine the maximum height above the ground attained by the cork. c) how long does the cork remain in the air?
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=198392
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=198392
Monday, November 12, 2007
Steve Fosset Amazon Mechanical Turk search called off.
Stephen HutcheonNovember 9, 2007 - 9:50AM
Two months after adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared over the Nevada desert, the plug has been pulled on an experimental online search mission that harnessed the collective efforts of some 50,000 volunteers around the world.
Last week, without warning, online retailer Amazon.com shut down the collaborative search it began hosting just days after the 63-year-old aviator failed to return from a routine flight on September 3.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) site enabled volunteers to pore over high-resolution photographs covering parts of the 44,000 square kilometres of uninhabited wilderness where the physical search mission has been taking place.
The decision to wrap it up was made, according to Amazon spokeswoman Kay Kinton, in consultation with the official Fossett search team on the ground, which is now pinning its hopes on computer-aided image-scanning technology.
It came exactly four weeks after the US Civil Air Patrol ended what it said was "one of the largest, most intensive searches for a missing aircraft in modern history".
The online component of the search reached a similar scale. "Tens of thousands of people participated in the [online] search overall", Kinton said in an email, with "several thousand" participating on any given day,
The Amazon decision, however, came as a surprise to Kenneth Barbalace, an internet publisher from Portland in the US state of Maine who had been scanning the satellite images posted on MTurk since day one.
"We had just gotten all the tools in place for it to become really effective and then they cut us off," he said in a telephone interview.
An enthusiastic supporter of the online effort, Barbalace spent between 10 to 14 hours a day examining images on is computer during the first few weeks after Fossett went missing. Overall, he perused 25,500 photos over eight weeks.
He considers this exercise to be one of the "noble uses of the internet" and has mused on his blog about how enabling volunteers to scour the landscape from their desks could one day revolutionise the practise of search and rescue.
But, in the early weeks of the Fossett search, he had to take a reality check. Poor coordination and communication, the use of images with less than optimal resolution and a large posse of well-meaning but uninformed helpers combined to hobble the online effort.
And according to Landis Bennett, a volunteer searcher from San Francisco who participated in both the physical and online missions, the experiment in mass collaboration even disrupted the official search effort on the ground.
"In the beginning, it was a lot along the lines of the boy who called wolf," Bennett said in a telephone interview.
To make matters worse, some of the online volunteers circumvented the protocol for reporting finds, opting to "go vigilante" - as Bennett put it - and convey their theories directly to the official search coordinators.
He recalled one incident where a man spotted something on a satellite image, insisting it was a strong lead in the search for Fossett's single-engine Bellanca Super Decathlon.
Bennett, who is also a cartographer, examined the image and concluded it was old data. "But we ended up going out just to keep everyone happy," he said.
The Amercians' take on the experience is supported by Kevin Pusey, the publican at the Grand Hotel in Kookynie, a mining town about 150km north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
Pusey is also one of 16 moderators on the Google Earth Community site and he monitored much of the conversation about the online search that was taking place on the forums.
A record number of comments - over 5000 - have been posted on the Steve Fosset thread on the Google Earth forums and Pusey observed that some people were "a bit pissed off" when Amazon pulled out.
Mechanical Turk - named after an 18th century chess-playing mannequin that was dressed in Turkish costume and controlled by a chess master secreted inside - is a site where people perform paid or unpaid tasks that cannot be adequately performed by computers.
It was first used in a similar search mission when Jim Gray, a renowned Microsoft computer scientist, went missing in his yacht in the seas off San Francisco in January. He was never found, but when Fossett disappeared, Amazon quickly put the MTurk experiment back into action.
Thousands of photographs, each representing about 85 square metres of the rugged Nevada terrain, were posted onto the Amazon site initially from data supplied by satellite imaging companies DigtialGlobe and GeoEye.
Anyone interested could sign up and participate in the search by overlaying the recent images onto the Google Earth program. This made it easier to scan the photos and check their findings against the reference point of older satellite shots.
The process of tapping a distributed knowledge base is known as crowdsourcing. It is similar to the way Wikipedia works, for instance. Entries in the online encyclopedia are the culmination of the efforts of many different contributors and editors.
The downside to crowdsourcing is that when every man and his dog jumps in, it can swamp the exercise. And that's exactly what happened in the Fossett search.
Both Barbalace and Bennett say because many volunteers had no idea what to look for, the process began to get overwhelmed with false positives.
"Let's just say that the signal-to-noise ratio was really not good enough to be of much use," said Bennett who flew a total of eight 2½- to 3½-hour sorties over the search zone as well as spending hours online.
The inadequate image resolution meant there was a lot of guessing going on. "People were reading into the imagery and seeing whatever it was they wanted to see," he said.
Like a poorly organised ground search, the online version was literally going around in circles.
Despite the initial hiccups, Barbalace said the experience was gained from the Fossett search could be used to improve the system the next time a similar opportunity arose.
And, even as Amazon was winding down its involvement, the fog was clearing. The searchers were better informed, there were fewer cowboys and the images were of a higher resolution.
"I'm sure [with some refinements] it could become a fantastic search tool," said Barbalace.
And Kevin Pusey pointed out that although the online searchers failed to find any trace of Steve Fossett, they did discover about half a dozen earlier crash sites - vindicating the theory that the wisdom of the crowds works ... sometimes.
Links:
:: Official Steve Fosset site
:: Landis Bennett's site
:: Kenneth Barbalace's site
:: The Google Earth Community Steve Fossett discussion thread
:: Mechanical Turk's Steve Fossett page
Two months after adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared over the Nevada desert, the plug has been pulled on an experimental online search mission that harnessed the collective efforts of some 50,000 volunteers around the world.
Last week, without warning, online retailer Amazon.com shut down the collaborative search it began hosting just days after the 63-year-old aviator failed to return from a routine flight on September 3.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) site enabled volunteers to pore over high-resolution photographs covering parts of the 44,000 square kilometres of uninhabited wilderness where the physical search mission has been taking place.
The decision to wrap it up was made, according to Amazon spokeswoman Kay Kinton, in consultation with the official Fossett search team on the ground, which is now pinning its hopes on computer-aided image-scanning technology.
It came exactly four weeks after the US Civil Air Patrol ended what it said was "one of the largest, most intensive searches for a missing aircraft in modern history".
The online component of the search reached a similar scale. "Tens of thousands of people participated in the [online] search overall", Kinton said in an email, with "several thousand" participating on any given day,
The Amazon decision, however, came as a surprise to Kenneth Barbalace, an internet publisher from Portland in the US state of Maine who had been scanning the satellite images posted on MTurk since day one.
"We had just gotten all the tools in place for it to become really effective and then they cut us off," he said in a telephone interview.
An enthusiastic supporter of the online effort, Barbalace spent between 10 to 14 hours a day examining images on is computer during the first few weeks after Fossett went missing. Overall, he perused 25,500 photos over eight weeks.
He considers this exercise to be one of the "noble uses of the internet" and has mused on his blog about how enabling volunteers to scour the landscape from their desks could one day revolutionise the practise of search and rescue.
But, in the early weeks of the Fossett search, he had to take a reality check. Poor coordination and communication, the use of images with less than optimal resolution and a large posse of well-meaning but uninformed helpers combined to hobble the online effort.
And according to Landis Bennett, a volunteer searcher from San Francisco who participated in both the physical and online missions, the experiment in mass collaboration even disrupted the official search effort on the ground.
"In the beginning, it was a lot along the lines of the boy who called wolf," Bennett said in a telephone interview.
To make matters worse, some of the online volunteers circumvented the protocol for reporting finds, opting to "go vigilante" - as Bennett put it - and convey their theories directly to the official search coordinators.
He recalled one incident where a man spotted something on a satellite image, insisting it was a strong lead in the search for Fossett's single-engine Bellanca Super Decathlon.
Bennett, who is also a cartographer, examined the image and concluded it was old data. "But we ended up going out just to keep everyone happy," he said.
The Amercians' take on the experience is supported by Kevin Pusey, the publican at the Grand Hotel in Kookynie, a mining town about 150km north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
Pusey is also one of 16 moderators on the Google Earth Community site and he monitored much of the conversation about the online search that was taking place on the forums.
A record number of comments - over 5000 - have been posted on the Steve Fosset thread on the Google Earth forums and Pusey observed that some people were "a bit pissed off" when Amazon pulled out.
Mechanical Turk - named after an 18th century chess-playing mannequin that was dressed in Turkish costume and controlled by a chess master secreted inside - is a site where people perform paid or unpaid tasks that cannot be adequately performed by computers.
It was first used in a similar search mission when Jim Gray, a renowned Microsoft computer scientist, went missing in his yacht in the seas off San Francisco in January. He was never found, but when Fossett disappeared, Amazon quickly put the MTurk experiment back into action.
Thousands of photographs, each representing about 85 square metres of the rugged Nevada terrain, were posted onto the Amazon site initially from data supplied by satellite imaging companies DigtialGlobe and GeoEye.
Anyone interested could sign up and participate in the search by overlaying the recent images onto the Google Earth program. This made it easier to scan the photos and check their findings against the reference point of older satellite shots.
The process of tapping a distributed knowledge base is known as crowdsourcing. It is similar to the way Wikipedia works, for instance. Entries in the online encyclopedia are the culmination of the efforts of many different contributors and editors.
The downside to crowdsourcing is that when every man and his dog jumps in, it can swamp the exercise. And that's exactly what happened in the Fossett search.
Both Barbalace and Bennett say because many volunteers had no idea what to look for, the process began to get overwhelmed with false positives.
"Let's just say that the signal-to-noise ratio was really not good enough to be of much use," said Bennett who flew a total of eight 2½- to 3½-hour sorties over the search zone as well as spending hours online.
The inadequate image resolution meant there was a lot of guessing going on. "People were reading into the imagery and seeing whatever it was they wanted to see," he said.
Like a poorly organised ground search, the online version was literally going around in circles.
Despite the initial hiccups, Barbalace said the experience was gained from the Fossett search could be used to improve the system the next time a similar opportunity arose.
And, even as Amazon was winding down its involvement, the fog was clearing. The searchers were better informed, there were fewer cowboys and the images were of a higher resolution.
"I'm sure [with some refinements] it could become a fantastic search tool," said Barbalace.
And Kevin Pusey pointed out that although the online searchers failed to find any trace of Steve Fossett, they did discover about half a dozen earlier crash sites - vindicating the theory that the wisdom of the crowds works ... sometimes.
Links:
:: Official Steve Fosset site
:: Landis Bennett's site
:: Kenneth Barbalace's site
:: The Google Earth Community Steve Fossett discussion thread
:: Mechanical Turk's Steve Fossett page
Friday, November 09, 2007
Wife to sue husband and Cameron Balloons Michigan over incident.
The Star-Ledger
FLEMINGTON A Phillipsburg woman who plunged 50 feet from a hot air balloon after dangling by her rope-tangled foot is now suing her husband and the balloon's manufacturer over the harrowing incident.
Kathleen Long filed the civil lawsuit less than two weeks ago in state Superior Court in Hunterdon County.
Kathleen Long sustained "substantial head injuries" when she plunged through a barn in Bethlehem Township and has not been able to return to work as a corporate executive, said her lawyer, Salvatore P. DiFazio.
"Clearly, the injuries she has sustained have been difficult for them," said DiFazio. "But they're still married" after 27 years.
Kathleen Long is simply protecting her rights, he explained.
DiFazio said liability in the wife's suit will be "apportioned" between both defendants. If the wife doesn't act, the manufacturer, Cameran Balloons of Michigan, is likely to file a third-party claim against the husband that "puts the principal blame on him," DiFazio said.
Andy Baird, general manager at Cameran Balloons, was unaware of Kathleen Long's suit, and declined to comment. Baird did say he knew about the Oct. 30, 2005, accident.
FLEMINGTON A Phillipsburg woman who plunged 50 feet from a hot air balloon after dangling by her rope-tangled foot is now suing her husband and the balloon's manufacturer over the harrowing incident.
Kathleen Long filed the civil lawsuit less than two weeks ago in state Superior Court in Hunterdon County.
Kathleen Long sustained "substantial head injuries" when she plunged through a barn in Bethlehem Township and has not been able to return to work as a corporate executive, said her lawyer, Salvatore P. DiFazio.
"Clearly, the injuries she has sustained have been difficult for them," said DiFazio. "But they're still married" after 27 years.
Kathleen Long is simply protecting her rights, he explained.
DiFazio said liability in the wife's suit will be "apportioned" between both defendants. If the wife doesn't act, the manufacturer, Cameran Balloons of Michigan, is likely to file a third-party claim against the husband that "puts the principal blame on him," DiFazio said.
Andy Baird, general manager at Cameran Balloons, was unaware of Kathleen Long's suit, and declined to comment. Baird did say he knew about the Oct. 30, 2005, accident.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Record Day for accidents at Albuquerque
With thanks to Carrie Smith who sent me the link
http://www.koat.com/video/10012094/index.html
Lots and lots of videos contained there with news of the Balloon Fiesta and accidents occuring.
The 911 calls from members of the public reporting the incidents were interesting.
Also the footage of the balloon that was involved in the fatality.
Not the place to speculate but it looked like there was plenty of room to deflate it beyond where it was stuck in wires.
Perhaps the American tradition of adding the time from when the burner is first lit to there flying time will be called into question and real flight time experience ie from when the balloon lifts from the ground to when it touches down, what everyone else does, will come into play.
Using my poor mathes, an American pilot that claims 2000 hours will actually have flown in the order of 1700 and a bit hours.
The bottom line is that avoidable sad accidents have occured yet again at Albuquerque.
G
http://www.koat.com/video/10012094/index.html
Lots and lots of videos contained there with news of the Balloon Fiesta and accidents occuring.
The 911 calls from members of the public reporting the incidents were interesting.
Also the footage of the balloon that was involved in the fatality.
Not the place to speculate but it looked like there was plenty of room to deflate it beyond where it was stuck in wires.
Perhaps the American tradition of adding the time from when the burner is first lit to there flying time will be called into question and real flight time experience ie from when the balloon lifts from the ground to when it touches down, what everyone else does, will come into play.
Using my poor mathes, an American pilot that claims 2000 hours will actually have flown in the order of 1700 and a bit hours.
The bottom line is that avoidable sad accidents have occured yet again at Albuquerque.
G
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Another Albuquerque Accident
From MSN
Is it just me, and I am going to flamed for this, is Albuquerque the most dangerous balloon festival in the world??
Why on earth did this guy have a six month pregnant woman on board!!
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=66facfcc-3a41-439f-9654-23a19cdec1a8&from=05
Is it just me, and I am going to flamed for this, is Albuquerque the most dangerous balloon festival in the world??
Why on earth did this guy have a six month pregnant woman on board!!
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=66facfcc-3a41-439f-9654-23a19cdec1a8&from=05
Video showing tank falling from Alburquerque balloon
Not sure what happened but this tank clearly is ripped out or the floor collapses.
Check the guy at the end of the clip putting his hand through the floor, and at the beginning all the debris flying out as the tank falls. Sounds like the poor lady fell out of the resulting hole.
No doubt more will be forthcoming but it certainly explains why the final landing was not being piloted at all.
http://www.cbs8.com/flv/video_pop_hd3.php?startID=105286
G
Check the guy at the end of the clip putting his hand through the floor, and at the beginning all the debris flying out as the tank falls. Sounds like the poor lady fell out of the resulting hole.
No doubt more will be forthcoming but it certainly explains why the final landing was not being piloted at all.
http://www.cbs8.com/flv/video_pop_hd3.php?startID=105286
G
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Final landing of Albuquerque balloon filmed
Its no wonder everyone else was injured in that crash.
Take a look at the final touch down, here..
http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=80dc047e-c9bd-42c8-9af4-77b1e3ec7027
Take a look at the final touch down, here..
http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=80dc047e-c9bd-42c8-9af4-77b1e3ec7027
Albuquerque Accident
California woman dies in balloon accident in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
A California woman fell at least 70 feet to her death Monday and three other women were hospitalized, two with broken legs, after a hot air balloon they were aboard snagged a utility line during the city's annual balloon fiesta.
The woman who died and the other three women were from Oceanside, Calif., north of San Diego.
"Our balloon community is a close-knit family and a time like this is difficult for all of us," said Gary Bennett, president of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
The balloon named "Heavenly Ride" became caught on a utility line at 7:45 a.m. The pilot threw down a tether to a pickup truck on the ground in an apparent attempt to reel the balloon down and free it, a state police spokesman said.
But the tether broke and the balloon bounced back up, causing its gondola to tip. The woman fell more than 70 feet.
"It probably was a lot higher than that," state police Sgt. Kevin Bruno said. "That's just an estimate."
Paramedics tried to revive the woman, Rosemary Wooley Phillips, 60, in a dirt field where she fell. She was pronounced dead a short time later at University of New Mexico Hospital.
Bill Birkley of Albuquerque was driving to visit a client when he saw the balloon flying low and fast, then getting snagged in the utility line "like a fish hook."
He stopped his vehicle and was standing about 100 feet from the trapped balloon when he saw Phillips fall.
"She was screaming and flailing her arms," Birkley said. "It was the most helpless feeling in the world. There she was, coming down through the air, and there wasn't a thing you could do for her."
The balloon, meanwhile, came free and drifted across a road near Interstate 25. It crash-landed, inflicting injuries on the other passengers and a pilot. Bruno said two women had broken legs and another had minor bumps and bruises.
The three were admitted to University Hospital, he said. The pilot sustained minor scratches and was treated at the scene.
The women booked the flight through Rainbow Ryders, a concessionaire contracted to provide flights from the fiesta's launch field.
A company official, Scott Appleman, said pilot Tom Reyes had 30 years' experience and more than 1,900 flying hours.
Authorities were careful not to assign immediate blame on winds, saying an investigation was continuing. Yet hot air balloons, which don't have engines like an airplane or helicopter, are entirely subject to the wind.
"Wind is part of the unknown. Weather is part of the unknown, relative to hot air ballooning, all the time," Appleman said.
The crash site is about three miles south of the launch field, where flights were halted later in the morning after winds exceeded the maximum allowed 10 knots.
Organizers said the crash had no relation to the decision to halt flights. Meteorologists monitor weather conditions each day and information is presented to pilots, who otherwise can decide if they'll launch.
"If the wind gets to a certain level, 10 knots, then we'll stop operations," fiesta executive director Paul Smith said.
At the launch field, balloonists expressed condolences for the victim's family.
"It puts a bit of a cloud over the fiesta," said pilot Chris Hinde of Rugby, England, flying in Albuquerque for the 10th year. "People always ask if we should keep going. We made the decision not to fly today after we heard the news."
One woman was killed during the 1998 event when a balloon plowed into two sets of power lines before plummeting about 30 feet to the ground at Kirtland Air Force Base on Albuquerque's south side.
During the 1993 fiesta, two men were killed when their balloon hit power lines, severing the gondola, which plunged about 90 feet to the ground. Two other men died during the 1990 fiesta when their balloon crashed into power lines and burst into flames.
Four people died and five were injured during the 1982 fiesta when propane tanks on a large balloon exploded.
Balloonists, however, say such fatalities are rare and that their sport is not particularly dangerous.
"It's no riskier than driving a car," said pilot Anthony Haynes of Houston. "It's a sad thing when it happens. But when you see a car accident, you don't stop driving."
The fiesta, meanwhile, remained on schedule and a telephone recording at Rainbow Ryders said all flights would take off Tuesday as planned.
"All we can do is be safe in our planning and execution as best we know how," Bennett said.
___
On the Net:
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta: http://www.balloonfiesta.com
___
Associated Press Writer Melanie Dabovich contributed to this report.
Published: Monday, October 8, 2007 16:17 PDT
Balloon Crashes
Amazing how Google works, yesterdays fatal accident at Albert Turkey has started throwing up the following link.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/279/13/1011.pdf
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/279/13/1011.pdf
Monday, October 08, 2007
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta death
Woman killed in balloon crash in Albuquerque 12:20 PM CT
12:35 PM CDT on Monday, October 8, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A woman participating in the city's annual balloon festival fell from the tipped basket of a hot air balloon Monday, and plunged 60 to 70 feet to her death, state police said.
State police spokesman Andrew Tingwall identified the victim, one of five people aboard the balloon's gondola, as Rosemary Wooley Phillips, 60, of California. He did not have a hometown.
The balloon became stuck on a fiberoptic line about 9 a.m. Dallas time, and the pilot, Tom Reyes, 57, of Sandia Park threw a tether to a pickup truck on the ground to reel the balloon down and free it, Tingwall said.
However, the tether broke and the balloon flew back up, causing its gondola to tip and the woman to fall out, Tingwall said.
Emergency medical technicians tried to revive her in a dirt field where she fell, but were unsuccessful, he said.
The balloon, meanwhile, flew across a road near Interstate 25 and crash landed, he said.
The balloon, flying in the 36th annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, also carried Sheryl Diaz, 60; Susan Simpson, 57; and Doris Currier, 52, all of California.
Tingwall had no information about any injuries to the others aboard.
The crash site is about three miles from the launch field for the nine-day ballooning fiesta, which takes place every October and draws hundreds of balloons. The fiesta features mass ascensions of balloons, events for special shapes balloons and competitions for pilots.
There have been fatalities in previous years.
One woman was killed during the 1998 fiesta when a balloon plowed into two sets of power lines before plummeting about 30 feet to the ground at Kirtland Air Force Base on Albuquerque's south side.
During the 1993 fiesta, two men were killed when their balloon hit power lines, severing the gondola, which plunged about 90 feet to the ground.
Two other men died during the 1990 fiesta when their balloon crashed into power lines and burst into flames.
Four people died and five were injured during the 1982 fiesta when propane tanks on a large balloon exploded.
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
Aftermath video clip here, no sound.
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=6501
Condolences, lets hope the enquiry is accurate.
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=6501
Condolences, lets hope the enquiry is accurate.
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta death
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A hot air balloon pilot tried to free his craft after it became stuck Monday, but the balloon’s basket tipped, throwing out a female passenger who fell as much as 70 feet and died, police said.
The balloon got stuck on a fiberoptic line running above a power line about 8 a.m. during an annual balloon festival. The pilot threw down a tether to a pickup truck on the ground to reel the balloon down and free it, state police spokesman Andrew Tingwall said.
The tether broke, and the balloon flew back up, causing its gondola to tip and the woman to fall about 60 to 70 feet to the ground, Tingwall said.
Paramedics tried to revive the woman in a dirt field where she fell, but were unsuccessful, he said. The balloon, meanwhile, flew across a road near Interstate 25 and crash landed, Tingwall said.
The unidentified woman who died was one of four passengers. Tingwall did not know the conditions of the other three passengers or the pilot.
The crash site is about three miles from the launch site for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a nine-day event that began Saturday and features mass ascensions of balloons, events for special shaped balloons and competitions for pilots.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Steve Fossett
New York Times
October 4, 2007 By Steve Friess
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 3 — The Air Force destroyed all records from unsuccessful searches for aircraft missing before 1989, which is likely to make it much harder for Nevada investigators to determine the victims of three wrecks found in the recent search for the aviator Steve Fossett.
The planes were found in the Sierra Nevada region in the four-week search for Mr. Fossett, which was officially suspended on Tuesday without locating him or the single-engine plane in which he vanished on Sept. 3.
During the hunt through 20,000 square miles of rugged terrain in northern Nevada, searchers spotted three crashed planes that had never been noticed. Now that the Fossett search is over, the Civil Air Patrol and the Nevada Division of Emergency Management plan to return to those sites to investigate.
One resource that had been expected to help in the inquiry was “suspended mission files,” kept at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla. Those files are the paper trails of all failed searches for missing aircraft by the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer Air Force auxiliary group, or any other Air Force resources.
But in 1994, the Air Force instituted a regulation requiring the destruction of records of noncombat missions after seven years. At that time, officials say, personnel at Tyndall destroyed suspended mission file records up to 1989.
Michael Strickler, a spokesman for the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, said, “In theory, we’re not supposed to have any records from anything past October 2000. Why we didn’t do that? I guess we just didn’t get around to it.”
Mr. Strickler said he did not know the reason for the regulation, which did not require Congressional approval. Calls to the Air Force division responsible for such regulations were not returned.
It is believed that the wreckages discovered in the Fossett search date back further than 1989, said a spokeswoman for the Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing, Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan.
Major Ryan said she was stunned that the files were destroyed. The hope had been that, even if Mr. Fossett was not found, an exhaustive search would at least resolve other mysteries.
“That’s a little disheartening,” Major Ryan said. “They can transfer this stuff to microfilm. So what’s the problem? They’re keeping better track of your tax records.”
William C. Ogle of Gainesville, Fla., was among those disappointed about the destruction of the records. Mr. Ogle’s father, Charles Ogle, disappeared in 1964 after flying out of Oakland, Calif., for Reno in a single-engine plane.
“It sounds sort of dumb,” said Mr. Ogle, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida. “I don’t understand why they’d even do that. It sounds like some colonel or something probably got upset that there was too many files taking up too much space and said get rid of them.”
It is unlikely that the files were that voluminous. Of hundreds of search missions in the last decade, 18 ended without locating the target aircraft, according to Brig. Gen. Amy S. Courter, the air patrol’s acting national commander.
A spokesman for the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, Gary Derks, said he was less bothered by the destruction of the files because he was not convinced that they would resolve questions about the newly found wrecks.
At one point in the search for Mr. Fossett, officials thought that they had found as many as eight new wrecks. But Mr. Derks said some were spotted more than once, and others had been logged by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Initial surveying of the remaining three wrecks did not find human remains, Mr. Derks said.
“I suspect that in these cases the aircraft was located, the pilot was removed, and aircraft was left there,” Mr. Derks said. “Animals don’t eat shoes and pants. There would be something there to say a person was there.”
The Fossett search files will probably not be destroyed even if he is not found, because an Air Force regulation requires that cases “which have wide media coverage” or missions “having historical research interest” be sent to the National Archives after five years.
Mr. Fossett, 63, set more than 110 aviation records, including becoming the first person to complete a solo uninterrupted flight around the world in a hot-air balloon, and making the longest nonstop flight in aviation history.
He vanished while taking what was to be a short morning jaunt around the region surrounding a ranch 90 miles southeast of Reno owned by William Barron Hilton, the hotel magnate.
Mr. Fossett has yet to be declared presumed dead.
The Fossett and Hilton families continue to send out private search planes. Patrick H. Arbor, a close friend of Mr. Fossett and the former chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade, said, “It looks pretty hopeless,” but pointed to the extraordinary survival skills of Mr. Fossett, who is president of the National Eagle Scouts Association.
“If anyone on this earth could be out there crawling around surviving,” Mr. Arbor said, “it would be Steve.”
October 4, 2007 By Steve Friess
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 3 — The Air Force destroyed all records from unsuccessful searches for aircraft missing before 1989, which is likely to make it much harder for Nevada investigators to determine the victims of three wrecks found in the recent search for the aviator Steve Fossett.
The planes were found in the Sierra Nevada region in the four-week search for Mr. Fossett, which was officially suspended on Tuesday without locating him or the single-engine plane in which he vanished on Sept. 3.
During the hunt through 20,000 square miles of rugged terrain in northern Nevada, searchers spotted three crashed planes that had never been noticed. Now that the Fossett search is over, the Civil Air Patrol and the Nevada Division of Emergency Management plan to return to those sites to investigate.
One resource that had been expected to help in the inquiry was “suspended mission files,” kept at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla. Those files are the paper trails of all failed searches for missing aircraft by the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer Air Force auxiliary group, or any other Air Force resources.
But in 1994, the Air Force instituted a regulation requiring the destruction of records of noncombat missions after seven years. At that time, officials say, personnel at Tyndall destroyed suspended mission file records up to 1989.
Michael Strickler, a spokesman for the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, said, “In theory, we’re not supposed to have any records from anything past October 2000. Why we didn’t do that? I guess we just didn’t get around to it.”
Mr. Strickler said he did not know the reason for the regulation, which did not require Congressional approval. Calls to the Air Force division responsible for such regulations were not returned.
It is believed that the wreckages discovered in the Fossett search date back further than 1989, said a spokeswoman for the Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing, Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan.
Major Ryan said she was stunned that the files were destroyed. The hope had been that, even if Mr. Fossett was not found, an exhaustive search would at least resolve other mysteries.
“That’s a little disheartening,” Major Ryan said. “They can transfer this stuff to microfilm. So what’s the problem? They’re keeping better track of your tax records.”
William C. Ogle of Gainesville, Fla., was among those disappointed about the destruction of the records. Mr. Ogle’s father, Charles Ogle, disappeared in 1964 after flying out of Oakland, Calif., for Reno in a single-engine plane.
“It sounds sort of dumb,” said Mr. Ogle, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida. “I don’t understand why they’d even do that. It sounds like some colonel or something probably got upset that there was too many files taking up too much space and said get rid of them.”
It is unlikely that the files were that voluminous. Of hundreds of search missions in the last decade, 18 ended without locating the target aircraft, according to Brig. Gen. Amy S. Courter, the air patrol’s acting national commander.
A spokesman for the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, Gary Derks, said he was less bothered by the destruction of the files because he was not convinced that they would resolve questions about the newly found wrecks.
At one point in the search for Mr. Fossett, officials thought that they had found as many as eight new wrecks. But Mr. Derks said some were spotted more than once, and others had been logged by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Initial surveying of the remaining three wrecks did not find human remains, Mr. Derks said.
“I suspect that in these cases the aircraft was located, the pilot was removed, and aircraft was left there,” Mr. Derks said. “Animals don’t eat shoes and pants. There would be something there to say a person was there.”
The Fossett search files will probably not be destroyed even if he is not found, because an Air Force regulation requires that cases “which have wide media coverage” or missions “having historical research interest” be sent to the National Archives after five years.
Mr. Fossett, 63, set more than 110 aviation records, including becoming the first person to complete a solo uninterrupted flight around the world in a hot-air balloon, and making the longest nonstop flight in aviation history.
He vanished while taking what was to be a short morning jaunt around the region surrounding a ranch 90 miles southeast of Reno owned by William Barron Hilton, the hotel magnate.
Mr. Fossett has yet to be declared presumed dead.
The Fossett and Hilton families continue to send out private search planes. Patrick H. Arbor, a close friend of Mr. Fossett and the former chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade, said, “It looks pretty hopeless,” but pointed to the extraordinary survival skills of Mr. Fossett, who is president of the National Eagle Scouts Association.
“If anyone on this earth could be out there crawling around surviving,” Mr. Arbor said, “it would be Steve.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
