Horrific balloon crash in B.C.

[rotornut]

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6c1e1d2d-3c66-4c50-b74d-e62dee233c1b&k=40120

[Yacov]

tragic
I presume the fuel was leaking
Why would they not have a gas sniffer on the basket I wonder- seems like a required safety with gas
Y

[rotornut]

You'd think they might have smelled it if it was leaking. Mayber not, though, as propane is heavier than air .

[Codger]

I used to swap flights, fixed for hot air, with an operator in Edmonton. Met quite a few of the pilots and learned more about micro-meteorology from them than than you'd even think exists. The baskets are made of wicker. Great material with good flexibility and shock absorption but also porous enough that a gas sensor would be next to useless.
Quite a bit of brass plumbing in those craft. Watched a 100 hour inspection being done once and they go through and check every valve, hose and O-ring.

Something failed with tragic consequences. What a damned shame.

[rotornut]

A terrible tragedy. The pilot is apparently very highly regarded. Also, I wonder if the smell of the burning propane masked the smell of the fresh propane which presumably leaked?

[Yacov]

They have had a 100 years to fail safe them but nothing is 100 percent.
Sounds like the bag combusted too
y

from cbc
A woman who jumped about 15 metres from a blazing hot air balloon before it plunged to the ground said she knew she would die if she stayed in the basket.
Diana Rutledge spoke to reporters from the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, B.C., where she lay with two broken ankles, two broken heels and cracked ribs.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2007/08/25/balloon070825.jpgThe hot air balloon caught fire shortly after lift off.
(Cheryl Birch/CBC) Rutledge was one of 11 people who survived when the hot air balloon crashed into the Hazelmere RV Park in Surrey on Friday evening. Two people died in the incident, which family members witnessed from the ground.
Rutledge said she felt uneasy before the flight.
"I didn't feel right about it," she said. "I'd never done it before and once I got in that basket I didn't like it."
Rutledge said passengers aboard the balloon noticed the fire shortly after it lifted off.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2007/08/25/5balloonBC.jpgThe balloon came down in the Hazelmere RV Park near the U.S. border.
(Cheryl Birch/CBC) She said a friend in the basket saw the flames before she did.
"I felt this flash of fire come past my ear and I thought, 'He [the pilot] wasn't kidding when he said this fire is going to make this balloon go up'," Rutledge said.
"And then another one came closer and [her friend] Leanne started screaming, 'Diana, we're on fire. We're on fire. We have to get out of here.'"
Rutledge said she had to make a split-second decision to save her life.
"Then I looked out again and because some people had jumped, that made the balloon go straight up. Now we're at about 50 or 60 feet and it was like do or die — jump or perish."
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2007/08/25/6balloonsmoke.jpgSmoke from the balloon crash billowed into the sky.
(Cheryl Birch/CBC) She said she landed hard and lay on the ground begging for help as debris showered down around her.
"I couldn't stand and I was begging, 'Help me, help me. This debris is going to fall on me,'" she recalled.
Rutledge praised emergency workers

[rotornut]

Pilot of hot-air balloon faced three counts of reckless endangerment in 1985 case (But was acquitted of all charges by a higher court)

Sunny Freeman
CanWest News Service

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The pilot of a hot-air balloon that caught fire Friday, killing a mother and daughter, faced three counts of reckless endangerment in a 1985 case that was believed to mark the first such charge involving hot-air ballooning in Canada.

Steve Pennock was initially convicted of two counts and fined $750 under the Aeronautics Act following a precarious flight in September 1985. But an appeal court overturned his convictions.

During the flight, court documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun show, several passengers were frightened when the balloon dipped into Elk Lake, near Victoria, instead of landing in a nearby field. Later in the flight, the documents said, Mr. Pennock flew too low over a field, causing a stampede of cows. Later still, the balloon lifted a 12-year-old boy clinging to a rope 20 metres in the air.

"The flight was alleged to have been operated in such a negligent or reckless manner as to endanger or be likely to endanger the life or property of the passengers," according to the court documents.

Mr. Pennock was convicted of two counts -- the ones related to dipping into the lake and taking off with the boy in tow -- in 1987. But the County Court of Vancouver Island overturned the convictions later in 1987. The judge wrote that there was insufficient evidence to determine whether Mr. Pennock was "reckless or negligent to a degree deserving of punishment."

Mr. Pennock has been the owner and chief pilot of Fantasy Balloon Charters in Langley for 16 years. He piloted the 12-passenger balloon that slammed into two homes in the Hazelmere RV and Campground in south Surrey.

Mr. Pennock escaped from the flaming balloon basket with first-degree burns. The accident killed a Langley mother and daughter, Shannon and Gemma Knackstedt.

Doreen Knackstedt confirmed Monday that her daughter-in-law and granddaughter died. She said her son, August, who jumped from the balloon, was still in hospital. Eleven others were also sent to hospital.

Monte Aguilar, whose mother, Diana Rutledge, broke several bones in her feet when jumping from a height of five storeys, wanted to know why the pilot escaped with only minor injuries.

"It doesn't make sense to me that the guy got out first. . . . The lighter the basket, the faster it goes up," Mr. Aguilar said Sunday. "I don't know the safety regulations. I do know that a woman and her daughter are dead and other people are badly injured."

A 12-person balloon typically has three 20 or 25-U.S.-gallon (76 or 95-litre) propane tanks on board, said balloonist Michael Gianetti of Lifecycle Balloons in Colorado. He said that in an emergency, a pilot would normally stay on board and help the passengers off.

"But if your own life is in danger, you got to do what you got to do. If you put yourself in that situation, you might think if you save yourself, you have a better chance at getting something accomplished."

Investigators with Transport Canada have recovered pieces of the wreckage and began examining them Monday, said Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesman John Cottreau. The investigation will include examining debris, interviewing people involved and reviewing records of the history of the aircraft, the company, and the operation of the flight.

"The pilot's certification, training and history will be part of investigation," Mr. Cottreau said. He would not comment on the 1985 charges against the pilot. Pennock could not be reached Monday, but John Kageorge, a balloon crew member and employee of Fantasy Balloon Charters, said Pennock was helpless in Friday night's crash.

"He was in a ball of fire at the centre of the cockpit," Mr. Kageorge said. He said he has flown with many hot-air balloon pilots, and none of them were in Pennock's league for his ability to handle the aircraft and their passengers.

Mr. Kageorge said the charges against Mr. Pennock in the 1980s were determined by the courts not to constitute negligence. "Clearly the authorities believed there were no infractions," he added.

Mr. Pennock's profile on the company's Web site states, "Steve proudly maintains a perfect flight record after 21 years of commercial flying." Mr. Kageorge said the statement on the website was inaccurate -- but not because of the reckless endangerment charges. He said the site should be updated to show that Mr. Pennock has had a perfect record for 24 years, not 21.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/canada/story.html?id=5fa05a5b-bb3b-4fea-9cc1-a6d18af23b8d

[Yacov]

quite a track record:rolleyes: