Man falls from hot air balloon in Melbourne.

[RickNRoll]

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/man-dies-after-falling-from-hot-air-balloon-in-melbourne/vi-BB1k4FZE?ocid=socialshare#details

You can't just fall from one of these. He must have jumped. They are giving a referel to lifeline, which is always and indication of suicide when people die for no reason. The other passengers must have been shaken up.

[segfault]

There is some speculation about the future of balloon flights over metropolitan Melbourne. Makes me wonder if they will start to mandate safety harnesses while in flight to at least make it slower for somebody to exit the aircraft.

[MechEngr]

I expect it is like seatbelts on American school buses. The odds that they will help are nearly zero. The odds they may cause harm are also nearly zero. Neither has a clear advantage, but the safety harness has a definite cost to install, to manage, to check to see it's not worn, not been too blasted by UV, that the buckles operate correctly, that they release easily.

I recall the helo flight in NYC where power was lost because something snagged the controls. It landed on the water but only one float deployed. Since it was an open door flight for photography all the passengers had safety harnesses, with the attachment at the back where the passengers could not reach their own; it's not clear to me if it required a special tool or key to prevent passengers from releasing each other. The helo flipped and pulled all the passengers under to drown, unable to escape the harnesses.

The main deaths seem to be from contacting power lines with a distant second being fire.

Apparently sky diving from balloons is dangerous - for the balloon. https://www.reddit.com/r/SkyDiving/comments/196p9tk/hot_air_balloon_crash_in_eloy_january_14_2024/

It is just stunning how close this guy was to killing someone on the ground. If one has decided to go it is certainly going to work, but I feel horrible for all the other passengers, the pilot and his crew, and all the people living in the neighborhood who either heard or saw the outcome.

Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ballooning_accidents

[heretolearn]

I sincerely hope CASA make NO changes due to this incident - all article references point to one particular cause that has nothing to do with ‘safety’ and all to do with mental health. Imagine if they put rules in place to stop mentally ill people flying - half the pilots would be grounded for a start.. 🥴

[Duck Pilot]

Safety harnesses in balloons would in my opinion be more of a hazard than being safe, specially if the basket topples and slides on the ground at slow speed when landing due to wind, that is quite common if landing with any wind.

Statistically the likelihood of a passenger jumping out of a balloon due to mental health issues would have to be rare, hence from a risk perspective it would probably be acceptable to take the risk opposed to mandating harnesses.

[Desert Flower]

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/man-dies-after-falling-from-hot-air-balloon-in-melbourne/vi-BB1k4FZE?ocid=socialshare#details

You can't just fall from one of these. He must have jumped. They are giving a referel to lifeline, which is always and indication of suicide when people die for no reason. The other passengers must have been shaken up.

It was stated in another news report (can't remember on what channel) that other passengers said he jumped. Very sad.

DF.

[ShyTorque]

It’s by no means the first case of someone jumping from an aircraft and sadly, no doubt it won’t be the last, in spite of any procedural changes caused by legislation.

Years ago I was told the story of a suicidal father who booked a “sight seeing” flight in a four seater for himself and two small children and once airborne tried to take control and dive the aircraft into the ground. The pilot, who was one of my instructors at the time, eventually had to subdue the man using the blunt end of the portable fire extinguisher. I can’t imagine how traumatic this would have been for all concerned.

[DogTailRed2]

Wasn't there an SAS man who jumped from his girlfriends Cessna. Mental health can get the best.

[MALT68]

A suicidal passenger jumping out of a flyable aircraft or balloon is not necessarily a victimless crime to those on board (apart from the jumpee and any potential people on the ground hit by a jumper).
In particular aircraft, a Pax self jettisoning could lead to an unflyable aircraft due to the weight and balance being now outside of the C of G envelope.
Such a situation is a front seat passenger/student (the passenger is usual placed in the front seat to get the best view, the student normal sits in the front seat of the glider because that is the seat they will fly solo from) in a glider deciding to jump out , The rear seat passenger pilot/instructor would now be in danger in a most likely uncontrollable aircraft.
Other small two seater aircraft (motored or motorless) with in-line seating (rather than side by side) could potentially become unflyable.

Mental health is everyone's concern.
Are you OK?
Be kind to each other.

[treadigraph]

A woman jumped from a Super King Air in the UK many years ago. It was on approach into Leavesden I think, she opened the rear air stair.