Omaha -
Before I retired in 1998 I had been head of the operational regulation of general aviation at the CAA for nearly 12 years.
Back in the late 1980's there was a balloon accident in the UK where a passenger broke her back and was paralysed. Arguably the weather conditions were marginal; but in any case it would have been hard to avoid an almost invisible set of telephone lines since the poles were hidden in trees. The accident was not reported at the time to either the AAIB or the CAA so no investigative action took place before it was outside the statute of limitations due to the time delay.
At that time there was no commercial ballooning in the UK and no CPL(B) so definately no public transport in the form of paying for a passenger flight. The operator was not insured so the passenger got no compensation as the operator was the proverbial "man of straw" so not worth sueing in the civil courts.
As a result I ramrodded through a proposal to enable properly regulated and legal commercial ballooning which led to the CPL(B), transport category balloon CofA's and a balloon AOC system.
For the last 15 or so years there has been around 60,000 passenger flights each year, largely free of incident and still less of injury. Getting on for a million passengers flown and but one sad fatality, to the best of my recollection, so an enviable safety record This as a result of the BBAC and the commercial balloon operators association efforts along with the oversight provided by the CAA; though no doubt good fortune had a part to play as in all forms of aviation.
The NZ pilot involved had, it would seem, a notorious reputation for flying passengers in virtually any conditions. Probably in the dreadful interest of making as much money as was possible. A tragedy resulted.
The NZ CAA has now tightened the strings in this aspect of what they term "adventure aviation" so a repeat is unlikely.
Hope this clears up the reason for my passion on the subject.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
