I missed that. My bad! If there was something he could have quickly done to control it, then it was his responsibility to try. The reason I made that comment is that I can't recall reading about a balloon fire that was put out before things went really bad. Now maybe I didn't see articles describing that result from a fire. It's certainly possible.
Normally the only thing you can do is shut off the gas and use a fire extinguisher to stop the burn on the basket. I have only seen one catch on fire and that was a small balloon that was getting ready to take off. It was amazing how fast the wicker basket went up and the fabric melted. I have only flown one a few times as a student so I don't know if any other options might have been available.
i went on a hot air balloon ride right here in san diego and we packed about 15-18 people in our balloon too
Everyone died? I had originally heard the pilot of the balloon and one other person (who jumped?) were in critical condition. This is sad. Ever since I saw people flying over Egypt in those hot air balloons, I wanted to go do it. I love that country, though I've never been. So depressing.
Three people jumped off (@ 40ft from the ground) before the balloon began its rapid ascent and collapsed (@ 1000ft from the ground); the pilot and two British tourists. One of the tourists died later in the hospital.
Not to be insensitive, but "epic" seems a bit of a stretch. Still...count me as someone who might be a bit less interested in hot air balloon rides from now on - at least in "suspect" locales anyhow.
OK rhad, tell me about a balloon disaster with more fatalities. Hey, I'll help you out. The balloon crashed near the town of Luxor, the site of the Valley of the Kings, King Tut's tomb, and other pharaonic monuments frequented by tourists. The 18 deaths associated with the incident makes it the deadliest hot air balloon accident on record, according to CNN. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles...t-hot-air-balloons-accidents-in-recent-memory I've never ridden in a hot air balloon, although I'd like to, but I've been to Egypt. I loved it. Of course, that was a long time ago, before Sadat.
One of the earlier news in Hong Kong reported that a hose connected to the gas tank was broken by the rope while the balloon was landing. I doubted the pilot could further prevent the gas leaking if that was the case. The activity itself has little to none margin for error, it's almost no remedial actions nor contingencies when the leaking occurred and I believe the pilot knew that well. I don't blame him for jumping off when he knew that his life was on the line. [Edit:] It there's any responsibility the pilot should bear, I would say I hope he could honestly testify the incident and gave every details of it so that the cause of error could be prevented in the future.
