Hot Air Balloon crash

[Sir Osis of the river]

A hot air balloon has crashed near Al Ain. Two tourists lost their lives. RIP

If the weather was as bad there, as here in Abu Dhabi, what were they doing flying a balloon in it?

Anyone know the wind limits on a Balloon?

Sir O

[BLOGGSON]

15 Kts..........

[Sheikh Your Bootie]

Gotta love the highlighted bits of the report.

I took a trip a few years back, to say the landing was interesting is an understatement, more a crash of sorts! That day was calm, Cavok.

SyB :zzz:

Two people were killed in a hot-air balloon accident near Al Ain this morning, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said.

A French and an Indian national were killed in the crash at 6.45am in the Nahel area, the GCAA said in a statement. Fourteen people were on-board the balloon.

One of the passengers, Christopher Bouwer, 25, of South Africa said that when the passengers arrived for the balloon flight at 4am the pilot was concerned about the wind.

"After about 30 or 40 minutes of waiting the pilot said it was safe to take off," Mr Bouwer said.

"We flew for 30 minutes, and when we came to land, we were told to get in the 'landing stance.'

"We were coming down way too fast.

"There was a huge impact with a sand embankment, and we began tumbling in the basket for about 300 metres. Three people were flung out. Two were dead and one was severely injured.

"Two people were buried in the sand that entered the basket. We had to dig them out.

"We waited two hours for help to arrive," he said.

"It's too early to tell if this was human error or God's will," said Saif al Suwaidi, director general of the GCAA. "I cannot predict the causes; it could be that there was a problem with the balloon, the weather, or pilot error."

He said the investigation into the causes of the crash is entirely the responsibility of the GCAA, with no police involvement, and could not give details on when it would be completed.

[canadair]

is there a box to check on the GCAA accident reporting form marked
"Gods Will"?

that would be interesting as it appears all GCAA regulations, and in fact their entire CARS are copy paste from other regulatory authorities.

[fluffy5]

Yep its not a surprise.
I was just getting airbourne from Al ain at 6.30 and saw the dust and wind just pick up, it was on the TAF. The wind speed must have suddenly picked up to 30 kts plus and the zone went IMC. The ballon crashed at 6.46 aprox.
It's not a surprise.
Condolences to the families.
fluffy

[HAWK21M]

Wern't there seat restraint belts/harness on it.

[gasbag1]

No belt restraints for the passengers but maybe for the PIC.

[BladePilot]

took a trip with these guys a few weeks back. It was amazing, first we shot up to 4500ft and watched the sun rise then we dropped to pylon height then dune height and as our Polish Pilot proclaimed we 'rode the magic carpet' I couldn't believe how manouverable the kit was. Landing was a 'gentle kiss' didn't even know we had touched down!

Shocked by the news. Prayers with those families who have lost loved ones.