Posted on 07/30/2016 11:53:28 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Sixteen people died this morning when a large hot air balloon struck a high-voltage power line, caught fire and crashed in a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, according to Texas authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Sounds as if you have lovely grandchildren. How great you were/are able to create special memories for them. I am sorry about your daughter’’s death. I too believe in creating special vacation memories with our children. We went to Vail, Colorado this summer and had a beautiful time. Expensive yes, but as they say, you can’t take it with you when you go.
I had a Beagle many years ago who was scared to death of hot air balloons. She was fat and lazy bit could run like a greyhound when one flew over.
I have a recurring nightmare about being in a plane avoiding power lines.
How awful for these people!
I took a blimp ride a number of years ago. I didn’t enjoy it and won’t go again but a balloon ride.......never!
Cropdusters in the cotton fields in our area undergo (semi-intentional pun) that danger many times daily. There must be a thrill in dodging those lines. But it’s not for me!
but as they say, you cant take it with you when you go.”
My son, dil and other grandson just got back from two weeks in Colorado. Went to fireworks and jazz fest in Avon. Really wonderful this time of year, particularly compared to south Texas.
No you can’t take your money with you. We go to Scottsdale and Sedona, Arizona for two weeks during Christmas and the trip is my Christmas gift to them. I just tell them I’m spending their inheritance. But that way we go where I want to go and do things I want to do which the grandsons prefer anyway as they think it’s more fun. Last year family went camping in Colorado and got caught in torrential rains and a mud slide. Ended up staying at the YMCA for two nights. Youngest grandson said next time I had to go so they could stay in a decent hotel. LOL.
Looks like one of the fuel cylinders
Yikes!
Intellectually, I understand these to be the random acts and accidents they are. It’s just hard to watch your neighbors (that’s what my fellow Texans are) go through this kind of pain time and again. In the end, however, all any of us can do is offer support where we can, donate what we can, and pray.
Some ppl on Twitter were posting pics of other balloon accidents, so it's hard to know which pics are from this particular incident.
cement truck = concrete truck??
God help those poor people.
.
Could the basket have struck the powerlines, ignited the fuel
tanks and the subsequent heat caused the craft to rise until
the fabric burned?
Hope that a definitive conclusion is announced.
There was an aviation death in Texas in the 1890s.
A stunt parachute jumper leapt from a hot air balloon
and struck a tree on the grounds of a girls college in
Dallas IIRC.
I think the first balloon fatality in the US was in the 1830s.
First recorded ones might be a couple of Frenchmen who tried
to cross the English Channel @1789.
You remind me of a Disney(?) movie about some people who escaped communism by means of a homemade balloon.
You remind me of a Disney movie about some people who escaped communism by means of a homemade balloon. Based on a true story “Night Crossing” directed by Delbert Mann and starring John Hurt and Beau Bridges, was released in 1982
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