NBC: 16 might be dead in hot air balloon fire, crash

[Songbird]

Nothing confirmed.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Can't understand why anyone would choose this mode of transportation in the 21st century. A balloon. A basket. Fire. WCGW?

 

[User 1019]

It's recreation. Same reason choose to float down Class III rapids with 20 pounds of plastic between their ass and 10,000 GPM of rushing water. WCGW?

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Not nearly as much, given the recent hot air balloon tragedies.

 

[Earthman]

Source tells CNN that they are ruling out terrorism as cause

 

[Armchair_QB]

Pictures from the crash site seem to indicate they hit a power line.

 

[Chef2]

It's recreation. Same reason choose to float down Class III rapids with 20 pounds of plastic between their ass and 10,000 GPM of rushing water. WCGW?

Funny you mention that. We went rafting down the Royal Gorge 3 weeks ago. Saw everything from Class 1 float trip rapids to Class 5 Niagara Falls rapids. Very good experience, but my wife said there's not a way in hell she'd do it again. I probably would.

 

[CD Boogie]

I took my gf on a hot air balloon ride for her birthday last year. I'm not afraid of heights but it was pretty damn nerve wracking, not least when we started descending and almost hit power lines. Like missed them by 15 feet. I mean, you really can't shake the knowledge you're in an open air basket hundreds of feet off the ground. Ten times more exhilarating than any roller coaster I've ever been on. Woman in other basket freaked out and they had to land to drop her off before resuming. We landed in a parking lot and the other basket in our group landed in someone's front yard. Still, the scenery was pretty damn breathtaking in the Hudson valley and I would probably do it again. It was pretty expensive though, like a couple hundie for like 45 minutes. And you have to go at sunrise before the ground heats up and the air is hot.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Before we go, any questions?

"Where will we land?"
"I don't know."

"What about power lines?"
"We might hit some."

 

[JohnHammond]

Saw a hot-air balloon crash when I was a teenager bike riding in the hills on the edge of my town. Gondola hit the ground hard, but the two on board quickly got out and dusted themselves off.

 

[ChrisLong]

Did it once in Perris, CA., in Riverside County. We flew over a railroad graveyard, which was OK. I was trying to be cool. The pilot seemed like a whackadoodle. We landed in a field that was pretty safe. At the end, he said he had a trainee he was taking up and we could go again with them. I volunteered to drive the chase truck.

 

[Football_Bat]

I set up a balloon ride for a football tab photo shoot about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, we got stormed out and we had to do the photos on the ground.

That was my first and to date only chance to ride a hot air balloon. I still want to do it someday.

 

[Earthman]

Classic nbc chutzpah. They wanted to change order of parade so usa athletes would come in towards end. But they line up alphabetical by language of host country. Estados Unidos

 

[SpeedTchr]

Friends of a friend were among those who died. What a terrible accident and senseless loss of life.

I am extremely risk averse so I would never think of getting in one of those, or a helicopter. Then again, I do drive a lot.

 

[Songbird]

I've been in a copter. Loved it.

Will never step foot into a balloon basket.

 

[User 1019]

Friends of a friend were among those who died. What a terrible accident and senseless loss of life.

I am extremely risk averse so I would never think of getting in one of those, or a helicopter. Then again, I do drive a lot.

Army aviation accidents are pretty rare, even with 15 years of combat to add to the numbers. We have 1.4 Class A accidents (loss of $2M, or the loss or damage of a missile or rocket, or a permanent total disability or a fatality) per 100,000 flight hours. Civilian numbers aren't quite as good, but they're still pretty rare.

 

[SpeedTchr]

Oh, I definitely understand that they are probably safer than my daily driving expeditions, but after losing a cousin in a stupid Army helicopter accident many years back I just haven't had an urge to get in one. I'm guessing you're a much better pilot than the jagoffs around here are at driving cars.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I went up in one once with my mother. Cool experience, although, as someone else pointed out earlier, it is a bit nerve-wracking to be up a thousand feet in the air with only a wicker basket keeping you up.

The other interesting thing is that, I don't know if it's a general tradition or not, but the pilot of the balloon always brought a bottle of champagne, and gives it to the owner of the property where the balloon lands. A nice little prize for the property owner who suddenly finds a hot-air balloon in their yard.

 

[swingline]

After a float down the Colorado River, I took a helicopter from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top. My buddy on the trip -- who's afraid of heights -- was damn near green by the time we go to the canyon rim. I was pretty much fine, but it sure seemed we were damn close to the canyon wall going up.

 

[Dick Whitman]

"I don't want to die that way" is a nice guideline to live by.