Balloon Crash Turkey - 1 fatality

[lonkmu]

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Briton 'killed in balloon crash' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8073317.stm)

Just seen this on BBC

Apparently two commercial flights collided

Anyone know any further details?

[hetfield]

Very sad. Me and my daughter did such a trip last year with a company owned by a brit/swedish couple. Very professional. They were also the first in place, thereafter three more mostly owned by turks came up.

In the morning there are sometimes more than 70 or so ballons.....

Brit killed in balloon crash | The Sun |News (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2455271/Brit-killed-in-balloon-crash.html)

Yes, "Kapadokya Balloons"

[latetonite]

definately balloon`s fault.

[HotDog]

The balloon obviously didn't have a see through crown, very handy in a crowded launch area.

[Kelly Hopper]

Having just read that 2 hot air balloons collided in a fatal accident yesterday a thought has just occured to me...

How can this happen? The 2 balloons were at the same altitude so not only sharing the same airspeed, (zero), but also the same groundspeed.

Or perhaps the balloon that was hit was in the lee of the other but then the collision would be very gentle?

Any thoughts?

[suzesue]

Flew with these guys last year.
They take risk assessment and safety very seriously.
I'd fly with them again -and my profession is risk management.

Anyone know of any reports of the cause of the accident ?

[lonkmu]

Initial reports are sketchy but it looks like it was a case of lower balloon climbing unsighted and its envelope came into contact with basket of balloon above causing extensive damage to envelope. Not sure if this was on take off or not

KM

[onetrack]

Kelly - The cause is simple, and I think you'll find it's classified in two phrases, under the final accident reports - inadequate separation - and inadequate observance and communication.

Alice Springs, NT: Hot Air Balloon Crash (http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/00ed8726e14caddfca256d09001da856/423610001ea7747aca256d33000583dd?OpenDocument)

[Ripline]

How can this happen? The 2 balloons were at the same altitude so not only sharing the same airspeed, (zero), but also the same groundspeed.Not really. The balloon that had just taken off would not have matched the speed of the upper balloon (inertia). It usually takes a couple of minutes for a large passenger balloon to do this at you are talking about several tons of mass to accelerate.

My initial reaction is "double pilot fault". Why? Because the lower pilot has a duty to launch into clear airspace and should have checked this before release by reference to an outside observer for the cone of space above him that he can't see for himself. That said, a balloon climbing has priority over any other aircraft including another, higher, balloon.

The higher balloon MUST keep clear and give way to a lower, climbing balloon. There is a tendancy (and I have done this myself) to complete the launch and establish a gentle climb and then get distracted by something, say a passenger question, tidying up the lines and quick release, calling the crew for an airborne radio check etc. during which the balloon cools down and starts descending. When a large balloon starts a descent it will take a positive action to return to level flight and there will be a typical delay of at least 15 seconds before it responds to burners. That's the time when this sort of basket-to-(top)envelope strike is so dangerous.

I have clear observation panels in the parachute tops of both my balloons, but have yet to observe ANYTHING through them yet, even when I'm waiting on the ground pre-launch for an overflying balloon to clear, even when I KNOW he's there!

Envelope-to-envelope contact in stable flight is generally a gentle non-event, albeit alarming for some passengers. Carried to excess it can lead to "squeeze" and hot air is dumped back through the mouth. When bounce is complete, cold air replaces the lost volume quickly and needs to be caught quickly by reheating, otherwise a descent is initiated.

Like most forms of aviation ballooning is a very safe sport as the contact speeds with object or the ground are low, rarely more than a few knots. I don't know of any deliberately reckless or dangerous pilots, although there are a few that I wouldn't be entirely happy to be flown by := , but outside the safe limits there be Dragons......

Ripline