good morning,
yesterday I visited a balloon festival with about 40 balloons... and I, too, was amazed at how many pilots "bent" the rules! flying too low, at least 5 pilots handeled their burners without gloves on, not following the given instrutions. It seem like "burner on, brain out". At least 2 were still up in the air after official sunset! One landed at the field where all the public was (he had started elsewhere), let out a passenger, then took-off again!
Whether any of them will get in trouble, I don't know... maybe the member of the authority (who was present) will just reprimand the organisors, close one (or both?) eyes, which is unlikely, and make the rules for next year stricter!! So, in the end, all suffer!!
Westy