Hot Air Balloon Down in Somerset
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Location: Hampshire
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Hot Air Balloon Down in Somerset
Sad news today as a hot air balloon is down in Somerset with the loss of two lives. I was not a million miles away taking pictures of the chalk man with the club today. There were several layers of cloud and about a six knot northerly. The lower layer was broken at 1k' to 1.1k' with a clear gap to higher cloud at around 2k'. The purpose of the weather report is to provide a little context.
Videos on the news show the balloon falling, totally deflated. Witnesses say part of the envelope was in flames. It crashed on a sports field and continued to burn. Witnesses also say that it was lucky it didn't hit nearby houses. It seems a pity it didn't as I would contend that if it had then the reduced deceleration forces might have allowed the pilots to survive.
There are rumours that the pilots were going for an altitude record. Would a six knot northerly and a Somerset takeoff not seem a little odd?
All speculation aside, as a fellow aviator my thoughts go out to the families of these two pilots.
Videos on the news show the balloon falling, totally deflated. Witnesses say part of the envelope was in flames. It crashed on a sports field and continued to burn. Witnesses also say that it was lucky it didn't hit nearby houses. It seems a pity it didn't as I would contend that if it had then the reduced deceleration forces might have allowed the pilots to survive.
There are rumours that the pilots were going for an altitude record. Would a six knot northerly and a Somerset takeoff not seem a little odd?
All speculation aside, as a fellow aviator my thoughts go out to the families of these two pilots.
