Balloon safety! Should they be certified?
Balloon safety! Should they be certified?
the coroners court in session for the NZ ballon crash and fire which took 11 lives in 2012. I would like to pose the question:
Should hot air balloons be certified? If they did not have 'Grandad rights' and were instead a new invention, not previously seen before, would todays certification rules prohibit certification and commercial operations.
Lets review some issues.
Single lifting source (envelope ) no redundancy for rupture or failure.
Single burner, no redundancy.
Highly explosive and flammable fuel source (Propane)
Open basket with no energy absorbing seats or restraints for passengers/crew
No control of direction of travel except prevailing wind at various altitudes. theres many more problems with balloon's but I think those above are the major flaws.
So if this design were proposed as a new form of commercial passenger carrying aircraft, would it be deemed safe? Has the age for balloons passed?
Last edited by Heli-phile; 16th May 2014 at 01:13.
Reason: reposted as moderators deemed it was in wrong category and then closed further comments??