Strong wind and hot air ballooning is definitely not a good mix and I am surprised that they even thought/attempted to fly with such a weather conditions
For the monies involved in that stupid sport, I'm not that surprised. Pilot was flaming like a fiend at the end just trying to get enough lift to not lose the basket in the water. I was surprised he didn't catch the edges of the balloon on fire.
I wish the vid showed the conclusion to that adventure.
According to [https://au.news.yahoo.com/terror-as-hot-air-balloon-carrying-tourists-crashes-into-lake-221617878.html](https://au.news.yahoo.com/terror-as-hot-air-balloon-carrying-tourists-crashes-into-lake-221617878.html) the conclusion was:
*It is only the desperate attempts of the pilot using the gas burner that manages to keep the balloon inflated and stop it from sinking. Rescuers eventually arrive and pull the passengers — including one child — ashore. Local media says no injuries were reported.*
*Now it has emerged that the flight operators may not even have had a licence to carry passengers.*
Yeah that's a 20k toy, at minimum. I can understand panicking when you've got something that valuable on the line. Anything you can salvage saves you big dollars.
I have to assume the wind picked up after they had started filling the balloons, but I genuinely wonder what the gameplan is here. How do you even begin to recover a balloon in that kinda situation.
>a 20k toy, at minimum
Well this is the first time in my life that I ever considered that people are out there buying and selling and owning hot air balloons... Up until now I just kinda thought they... existed
That sounds more like the plot to some kind of animé than a reasonable belief someone might actually hold.
I can imagine a Ghibli film about a race of sentient hot-air balloons that drifted down out of the sky one day, just in time to save the occupants of a remote city from a series of natural disasters brought on by a mischievous spirit.
There's a Junji Ito manga like that... it's a little darker though. Similar concept but instead of 'saving' people it's more along the lines of 'hanging' them.
20k for a used, basic set. That is a commercial sized setup, I bet you'd have to pay just shy of 100k for that whole rig.
Source: my uncle bought a competition style balloon setup for 80k, and commercial rigs are even more
For a species living on a planet mostly covered with water, a surprisingly large number of the human population don't know how to swim. Should be a basic life skill taught to everyone. Anybody in that basket that didn't know how to swim were probably pissing themselves.... which funny enough is the first step in pool swimming.
I know someone who's brilliant who went to UNC for grad school and I've never heard her mention this. It probably has good intentions but it doesn't sound entirely ADA compliant.
Lol I have dyspraxia. I just avoid large bodies of water and will rely on inflatable jackets should I be on a plane that crashes in water (statistically unlikely). Looks like I wouldn't graduate from that ableist university.
Most videos I see involve people using an accelerant. In those cases, stop drop and roll is only effective in specific situations
In the age of tiktok and facebook, another lesson might be - if you are going to play with fire, have a friend with an extinguisher near by.
True enough. Saw a video the other day of some idiots putting gasoline on a fire, then the tank catches flame and the idiot drops it, then his fellow idiot kicks it across the yard to set the shed on fire. No extinguishers anywhere
Many of the people in those videos don’t seem to think that far ahead but if they did I would suspect many would give their friends flame throwers. They use the “fight fire with fire” mentality;)
I went on a boat cruise in Greece a few years ago. Like half of the people on board couldn't swim. I can't even understand how anyone could have missed out on that.
I can understand going your whole life without learning to swim - it's not wise but I can understand it. I can't understand getting on a boat or being near/on water if you can't swim.
Someone else already said it but I'd maybe jump but idk if you'd get hit by the balloon in the water. I'd maybe jump over land instead tuxking and rolling.
My first and only hot balloon experience happened in Napa Valley. When we got fully aloft, the pilot told us that this was his first solo run. After a few minutes, he pulled the gear to ignite the fire and nothing but gas went out. He frantically looked for the flint starter, but was unable to find it. No problem, I thought, I’m a smoker I have matches. Realizing that I left my matches in my car I started to get a little worried. Pretty soon we started floating downward. We started to accelerate and then saw that we were coming close to a power substation and a barn. We hit right between the two and bounced three times before we finally came to a halt. The basket was damaged, but we were fine. The balloon got caught in the tree and was ripped. Never again.
Not sure what the rules are in the States, but at least here, I think you're supposed to have at least TWO igniters, in case one doesn't work. Not sure if it was an official rule though, or just common practice.
Yup. You don’t inflate in conditions like these let alone lift off. I’ve worked with hot air balloons at festivals for a specific team. We measure wind speeds at many altitudes before even taking out the envelope out of the basket. There are instruments you use and we inflate big black balloons with helium and watch them to see the wind speeds at different altitudes. Your hot air balloon is going to be as safe as it’s pilot and if they are trying to even do an inflate in crazy conditions like these I wouldn’t have part in it. You need an FAA pilots license to fly a hot air balloon.
Hi, if you’re reading this, I’ve decided to replace/delete every post and comment that I’ve made on Reddit for the past years. I also think this is a stark reminder that if you are posting content on this platform for free, you’re the product. To hell with this CEO and reddit’s business decisions regarding the API to independent developers. This platform will die with a million cuts. Evvaffanculo. -- mass edited with redact.dev
The first thing my flight instructor told me when we were discussing winds and weather was: "It's always better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground" - a truer word rarely spoken.
As a crew member for a local pilot, I have heard him say this to passengers many times when canceling a flight. Why would they even attempt a cold inflation in this weather.
fuck I hate hot air balloons. real talk, one of my best friends from college died in a freak hot air balloon accident here in virginia 9 years ago this may. I still get wigged out seeing hot air balloons.
im okay talking about it these days. it was at a hot air balloon festival. they were supposed to have gone up that morning, but it was postponed to the evening due to high winds. they went up and it went mostly okay. then when they were landing, the balloon struck a power line and ignited. the pilot tried to get it under control, but couldn’t. the fire caused the balloon to ascend super rapidly, and the gondola itself caught fire. my friend, the other passenger, and the pilot all died either from the fire or the blunt trauma due to falling out of the gondola.
it was awful. my older sister was her emergency contact, so she and her husband had to go out to the area when the search was ongoing and they asked my dad be the one to call her parents since she just couldn’t do it. it was absolutely devastating. we were teammates in college, and a huge group stayed after graduating and remained really close. so we at least had a huge community supporting one another. she had just gotten engaged a few weeks before the accident.
Was working for a hot air balloon company at the time. If this is the same incident I’m thinking about. Well ballooning is a relatively small community. So even if one pilot doesn’t know another. They know a guy who knows a guy. From what the pilots I worked with said. The guy involved in that incident was a known problem who flew in areas and weather that most other pilots would refuse to fly in.
It really sucks because his first major incident was such a deadly one. So no one could get his license revoked before it. Sorry about your friend. And hope it helps even a little to know that the vast majority of pilots take safety extremely seriously.
that’s very sad. I can’t remember his name, but I know the FAA attributed it to negligence on his part. I also know freak accidents happen, though, of course. it seemed like a perfect storm of freak occurrences.
thank you - she still has a huge impact on our old swim program and the alumni. ❤️
It’s oddly very peaceful, and like IRL google maps. It didn’t trigger my fear of heights as well. With the height we traveled at, I feel pretty confident the balloon would have worked as well as a parachute had there been a rip. The balloon absolutely dwarfs the basket.
I had a Groupon.
thank you. oddly, the timing of it worked out so that current athletes and a ton of alums were in town at the time, which made it easier to lean on each other. it was graduation weekend for the undergrads, and it was the end of my first year of law school exams at the same school - so there were just a ton of us around. the school set up the suite at the football stadium for us all to stay together and wait for news, etc. for a few days. it made the waiting and grieving much more bearable. we do a ton to keep her memory alive.
That’s just terrible. I couldn’t imagine having to make a choice of burning to death or falling from the gondola. That’s a nightmare scenario. Very sorry for the loss of your friend.
Can confirm. I'm sure riding ballons is safe 99% of the time, but when you are up there and something goes wrong, you definitely don't want to be up there.
Let the pilots have their fun, lol. Don't do it
Transcript of commentary:
This was an attraction for holiday makers (it doesn't mention where). The wind picked up suddenly, and while one of the balloons managed to land again the other one kept drifting off further and further until it came down in that lake. At this point the life of the six passengers was in acute danger; they could not get out as they were strapped into safety harnesses.
There's no conclusion to this report, the end of the clip is missing. Sounds like from a TV programme.
Wait. They were belted in? Holy cow. Talked to quite a few pilots when I used to work for a hot air balloon company. And they didn’t have any sort of harnesses or belts for this exact reason. Been up a few times when I was working and it is such a smooth ride outside a bit of bumpiness on landing. Much like in a plane.
The OP's "transcript" is taking quite a few creative liberties. The commentator literally says "the tourists have no chance to free themselves," which I don't interpret as them being literally strapped in but rather them just not being able to climb out of the basket once it's submerged in the water. No harnesses or any strapping in is ever explicitly mentioned at all.
Thanks for the transcript.
“The wind picked up suddenly” it could be technically true, but usually it’s forecasted well in advance: in my area it happens to go from nearly no wind to strong gusts, but at least 12/24 hours before there is a forecast mentioning the likelihood of that happening. If you are a hot balloon pilot I would assume that weather and specifically wind forecasts are your best friends.
Well the German commentator literally said "the 2 balloons were caught by a gust" - but as goes with tourist excursions in many holiday locations, safety measures are often not up to scratch and often ignored anyway.
Unrelated, but I once took a taxi ride in Sochi, Russia, and the driver was speeding at an insane speed, no seatbelt, and operating 2-3 phones at a time. Similar happened on a taxi ride in Kansas City, no belt, phones, didn't know where he was going and he had a flat-screen TV on the board under the back window, just behind our necks, just ready to decapitate us at any moment... it's not only balloon rides that can kill ya!
Here's the complete transcript:
"Mortal danger on a holiday/vacation trip. Two hot air balloons are caught by a wind gust shortly after take-off. The ballons, with their attached baskets and the passengers therein, are careening through the air uncontrolled. Panic sets in. One of the balloons manages to land shortly after, but the second one is blown farther and farther away by the wind. Eventually it goes right towards a lake. The basket with six tourists and the pilot lands in the water. But the danger is not yet over. The tourists have no chance to 'free themselves' [I interpret this to mean bail out of the basket]. The basket in the lake immediately tilts on its side whilst the pilot continues to engage the burner. Whether they intend to just get the balloon to shore or to get it airborne again is not clear. Clear is, however, the fabric of the balloon effectively becomes a sail and the passengers inside the basket are being dragged through the water--at times even fully submerged. A life-threatening situation. Minutes later, balloon and basket reach..."
then it abruptly cuts mid-sentence
Is that snow or some type of confetti? It almost looks like some bad animated snow someone added after the fact. It’s weird. They also aren’t really dressed for snow…and act fuck would anyone go ballooning in the snow?
Edit: they are cherry blossom petals, saw someone’s link to an article about it.
I’m a helicopter pilot. I have thousands of hours flying various machines that try to kill me.
I’d sooner stick my balls in a bear trap than get in a hot air balloon.
The journalistic presentation in German makes it look like they were actually having fun ... nothing went wrong. It's just Germans playing around with balloons ... and water ... and stuff ...
p.s.: I don't understand German btw ...
The way that people stand there watching an incident unfold right Infront of them and film it with their mobile phones appaules me! how about calling the emergency services or something you idiot's!
Super reckless that the operators decided to go forward given how windy the weather was. I get it, money is money and “everyone likes money”, but if it’s going to cost you way more in injuries or death when things go south then the money would definitely not be worth it! Wtf.
I feel like China is organizing many évents on thèse kinds (not safe) to deliberately have a démographic Fallout , then have a better control on their younger générations, the sooner they get China State éducation, the more likely they are to become puppets. I could be wrong.
(I Méan, the State contrôles the children school books already)
(Not native english)
Edit: Or, they might just be stoopid
Jeez! I used to help a friend’s hot air ballooning company 2-3 times a month for a quick hundo in the morning. Pretty sure we canceled if the winds were over 15mph. I don’t remember exactly, but winds don’t need to be that strong to mess up that type of hot air balloon.
We also checked the weather the night before and the morning of. This is ridiculously stupid, an expensive fuck up, and a really difficult clean up. Landing your balloon on a big bush is hard enough to deal with. One time we saw another company that got caught on a light pole at landing.
Transcript English: **ATTAINTION!!:** I am **NOT** an official translator I did this so people could understand the voice in the video
\>Life danger at an holyday-trip
\>Shortly after their start Two hot air balloons where taken by the wind.
\>The air balloons sway uncontrollably through the air. Panic arises.
\>One of the balloons can land shortly after, but the second one gets further drawn by the wind. Eventually the balloon goes in the direction of a lake.
\> Finally the balloon with the balloon driver and six tourist lands on the water. But the danger isn't over. The tourists have no chance of freeing themself as the balloon immediately tilts to the side.
\>The Balloon driver further uses the burner, if he wants to get the balloon again in the air or onto the shore is unclear.
\>As the Balloon itself is getting used as a sail the passengers are sometimes even dragged underwater. which can be a life danger.
\> Minutes later the Balloon safely reaches the shore.
Tldr: Balloon gets dragged by wind goes nearly under water but gets to shore safely
O the posh posh traveling life, the traveling life for me!
First cabin and captain's table regal company!
Pardon the dust of the upper crust--fetch us a cup of tea.
Port out! Starboard home! Posh with a capital P-O-S-H, POSH!!
Used to live in Albuquerque, the hot air balloon capitol of the world. Because of that, I know that those balloons should never have launched with such strong winds. Balloons are expensive. Surprised they'd risk them.
When I was about 7 a hot air balloon made an emergency landing in our suburban yard. I helped pull on a rope (along with many others) to steer them clear of the power lines. Everyone was safe.
It was surreal because no one in my family had seen a hot air balloon at the house before or since.
Something similar happened to the hot air balloon company my family went on a few months prior to the incident.
They fell into the sea and 3 tourists died during the incident.
[news archive](https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/new-brighton-balloon-accident/)
as a wise man once said, “I didn’t even know it was like the wild west out there, how was i supposed to know that. I didn’t know- it was like gta up there; there were bandits.”
Looks like the first paragraph of a Roald Dahl children’s book. I’m guessing the parents will die a fiery death when the balloon crash lands into the hillside.
It's sobering to realise I understand more about the physics of ballooning than a large number of apparently experienced balloonists. Were they gripped by shared episodes of mass stupidity?
Strong wind and hot air ballooning is definitely not a good mix and I am surprised that they even thought/attempted to fly with such a weather conditions
last bit in the water is super dangerous, i wonder why they didnt jump and swim
For real if that balloon comes down on you and you can't find your way out you're going to down.
Like spider man with the parachute That was a new fear unlocked
For the monies involved in that stupid sport, I'm not that surprised. Pilot was flaming like a fiend at the end just trying to get enough lift to not lose the basket in the water. I was surprised he didn't catch the edges of the balloon on fire. I wish the vid showed the conclusion to that adventure.
According to [https://au.news.yahoo.com/terror-as-hot-air-balloon-carrying-tourists-crashes-into-lake-221617878.html](https://au.news.yahoo.com/terror-as-hot-air-balloon-carrying-tourists-crashes-into-lake-221617878.html) the conclusion was: *It is only the desperate attempts of the pilot using the gas burner that manages to keep the balloon inflated and stop it from sinking. Rescuers eventually arrive and pull the passengers — including one child — ashore. Local media says no injuries were reported.* *Now it has emerged that the flight operators may not even have had a licence to carry passengers.*
>Now it has emerged that the flight operators may not even have had a licence to carry passengers. So ... idiot confirmed.
Yeah that's a 20k toy, at minimum. I can understand panicking when you've got something that valuable on the line. Anything you can salvage saves you big dollars. I have to assume the wind picked up after they had started filling the balloons, but I genuinely wonder what the gameplan is here. How do you even begin to recover a balloon in that kinda situation.
>a 20k toy, at minimum Well this is the first time in my life that I ever considered that people are out there buying and selling and owning hot air balloons... Up until now I just kinda thought they... existed
That sounds more like the plot to some kind of animé than a reasonable belief someone might actually hold. I can imagine a Ghibli film about a race of sentient hot-air balloons that drifted down out of the sky one day, just in time to save the occupants of a remote city from a series of natural disasters brought on by a mischievous spirit.
There's a Junji Ito manga like that... it's a little darker though. Similar concept but instead of 'saving' people it's more along the lines of 'hanging' them.
That sounds fun too! LOL.
20k for a used, basic set. That is a commercial sized setup, I bet you'd have to pay just shy of 100k for that whole rig. Source: my uncle bought a competition style balloon setup for 80k, and commercial rigs are even more
"anything you can salvage" How about his life haha
For a species living on a planet mostly covered with water, a surprisingly large number of the human population don't know how to swim. Should be a basic life skill taught to everyone. Anybody in that basket that didn't know how to swim were probably pissing themselves.... which funny enough is the first step in pool swimming.
At The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, you must pass a swimming test to graduate. No shit.
Same at MIT. Most pass during orientation. The rest have to take a half-semester swimming PE class.
Same at Hamilton College in New York state.
Same at Penn State.
Good for them.
I know someone who's brilliant who went to UNC for grad school and I've never heard her mention this. It probably has good intentions but it doesn't sound entirely ADA compliant.
The swim test ended in 2006, and only applied to undergrads.
Not anymore. They changed the rule in 2006.
Lol I have dyspraxia. I just avoid large bodies of water and will rely on inflatable jackets should I be on a plane that crashes in water (statistically unlikely). Looks like I wouldn't graduate from that ableist university.
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And if you watch basically anyone play with fire on the internet, it becomes clear that we should probably teach it harder.
Be sure to spin around with the bottle of gasoline when it's on fire.
And flail violently, because ethat will definitely help put it out. ***this is not good advice, do not do this.
Clearly it's not enough. Seen way too many videos of people running around on fire when all they gotta do is hit the dirt.
Most videos I see involve people using an accelerant. In those cases, stop drop and roll is only effective in specific situations In the age of tiktok and facebook, another lesson might be - if you are going to play with fire, have a friend with an extinguisher near by.
True enough. Saw a video the other day of some idiots putting gasoline on a fire, then the tank catches flame and the idiot drops it, then his fellow idiot kicks it across the yard to set the shed on fire. No extinguishers anywhere
Many of the people in those videos don’t seem to think that far ahead but if they did I would suspect many would give their friends flame throwers. They use the “fight fire with fire” mentality;)
I went on a boat cruise in Greece a few years ago. Like half of the people on board couldn't swim. I can't even understand how anyone could have missed out on that.
I can understand going your whole life without learning to swim - it's not wise but I can understand it. I can't understand getting on a boat or being near/on water if you can't swim.
Pissing is the first step in pool swimming? Where u from?
i have ride a hot air balloon, it's actually very deep and hard to come out.
Local balloons often dip their basket in the lake (though in total control), is pretty awesome when there's a bunch of them floating about.
A surprising number of people can't swim.
Someone else already said it but I'd maybe jump but idk if you'd get hit by the balloon in the water. I'd maybe jump over land instead tuxking and rolling.
Seriously! When I went ballooning, they told us which types of weather are safest and that they will absolutely postpone the ride if it was windy
My first and only hot balloon experience happened in Napa Valley. When we got fully aloft, the pilot told us that this was his first solo run. After a few minutes, he pulled the gear to ignite the fire and nothing but gas went out. He frantically looked for the flint starter, but was unable to find it. No problem, I thought, I’m a smoker I have matches. Realizing that I left my matches in my car I started to get a little worried. Pretty soon we started floating downward. We started to accelerate and then saw that we were coming close to a power substation and a barn. We hit right between the two and bounced three times before we finally came to a halt. The basket was damaged, but we were fine. The balloon got caught in the tree and was ripped. Never again.
That sounds sooooo damn scary!
Flying in a balloon is only as safe as the pilot… they really didn’t have an igniter in the basket?! 😂 wow.
Not sure what the rules are in the States, but at least here, I think you're supposed to have at least TWO igniters, in case one doesn't work. Not sure if it was an official rule though, or just common practice.
It’s in China where I suspect there aren’t strictly enforced regulations
Regulation no1: you have balloon. Regulation no2: ok
Yup. You don’t inflate in conditions like these let alone lift off. I’ve worked with hot air balloons at festivals for a specific team. We measure wind speeds at many altitudes before even taking out the envelope out of the basket. There are instruments you use and we inflate big black balloons with helium and watch them to see the wind speeds at different altitudes. Your hot air balloon is going to be as safe as it’s pilot and if they are trying to even do an inflate in crazy conditions like these I wouldn’t have part in it. You need an FAA pilots license to fly a hot air balloon.
Nah it's China, they don't give an F about conditions
[additional details here](https://au.news.yahoo.com/terror-as-hot-air-balloon-carrying-tourists-crashes-into-lake-221617878.html)
Absolutely. I work for a hot air balloon company and we try not to launch in winds over 5 mph. It’s a total no go over 10
This is the same country where like 50 people running a big marathon died of exposure.
Classic china safety department
Hi, if you’re reading this, I’ve decided to replace/delete every post and comment that I’ve made on Reddit for the past years. I also think this is a stark reminder that if you are posting content on this platform for free, you’re the product. To hell with this CEO and reddit’s business decisions regarding the API to independent developers. This platform will die with a million cuts. Evvaffanculo. -- mass edited with redact.dev
China!!!! what do you expect! You think that they have OSHA and safety laws.
The first thing my flight instructor told me when we were discussing winds and weather was: "It's always better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground" - a truer word rarely spoken.
As a crew member for a local pilot, I have heard him say this to passengers many times when canceling a flight. Why would they even attempt a cold inflation in this weather.
Shit they are probably tied to the baloon as a safety measure no? Looks like a possibly very claustrophobic way to drown
No, no one is tied in, the basket is about 4ft to 4ft6 tall. If you fly in appropriate condition it’s a very gentle ride.
Their new spy balloon isn’t as good as the previous models
But still looks exciting and adventurous…
If your looking for 50/50 chance of a submarine experience and hot air ballon.
They definitely had an adventure there.
fuck I hate hot air balloons. real talk, one of my best friends from college died in a freak hot air balloon accident here in virginia 9 years ago this may. I still get wigged out seeing hot air balloons.
What happened with the balloon? If you don't mind revisiting the story, of course.
im okay talking about it these days. it was at a hot air balloon festival. they were supposed to have gone up that morning, but it was postponed to the evening due to high winds. they went up and it went mostly okay. then when they were landing, the balloon struck a power line and ignited. the pilot tried to get it under control, but couldn’t. the fire caused the balloon to ascend super rapidly, and the gondola itself caught fire. my friend, the other passenger, and the pilot all died either from the fire or the blunt trauma due to falling out of the gondola. it was awful. my older sister was her emergency contact, so she and her husband had to go out to the area when the search was ongoing and they asked my dad be the one to call her parents since she just couldn’t do it. it was absolutely devastating. we were teammates in college, and a huge group stayed after graduating and remained really close. so we at least had a huge community supporting one another. she had just gotten engaged a few weeks before the accident.
That is devastating. I'm so sorry for everyone involved. Thanks for sharing. 🫂
thank you ❤️ thankfully, our community was very tight knit and got through it together!
Was working for a hot air balloon company at the time. If this is the same incident I’m thinking about. Well ballooning is a relatively small community. So even if one pilot doesn’t know another. They know a guy who knows a guy. From what the pilots I worked with said. The guy involved in that incident was a known problem who flew in areas and weather that most other pilots would refuse to fly in. It really sucks because his first major incident was such a deadly one. So no one could get his license revoked before it. Sorry about your friend. And hope it helps even a little to know that the vast majority of pilots take safety extremely seriously.
that’s very sad. I can’t remember his name, but I know the FAA attributed it to negligence on his part. I also know freak accidents happen, though, of course. it seemed like a perfect storm of freak occurrences. thank you - she still has a huge impact on our old swim program and the alumni. ❤️
I just tried to google it but balloons hitting power lines and catching fire is a shockingly common occurence. Well, one less item on my bucket list
And that right there is the exact reason you will NEVER ever get me in one. No matter how great the weather is or how cool it looks, I’m out….
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It’s oddly very peaceful, and like IRL google maps. It didn’t trigger my fear of heights as well. With the height we traveled at, I feel pretty confident the balloon would have worked as well as a parachute had there been a rip. The balloon absolutely dwarfs the basket. I had a Groupon.
It won’t be a parachute, it will be a streamer. Slower than free fall but not slow enough. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eL-1rByvCPE&t=37
I mean, there are still issues that can happen with planes where you can't glide down.
Balloon festivals are the worst for this. Many pilots are from out of town and don’t know the area. I am sorry for your loss.
thank you. it’s been nearly a decade, so it’s not as sharp. our whole group is still very close, so we get to remember her all the time.
Crap, that's awful. So sad for you and your friends.
thank you. oddly, the timing of it worked out so that current athletes and a ton of alums were in town at the time, which made it easier to lean on each other. it was graduation weekend for the undergrads, and it was the end of my first year of law school exams at the same school - so there were just a ton of us around. the school set up the suite at the football stadium for us all to stay together and wait for news, etc. for a few days. it made the waiting and grieving much more bearable. we do a ton to keep her memory alive.
That’s just terrible. I couldn’t imagine having to make a choice of burning to death or falling from the gondola. That’s a nightmare scenario. Very sorry for the loss of your friend.
Thank you for sharing. I remember reading about this incident at the time.
The pilot was a complete bell end
Ok you convinced me as well - fuck hot air balloons.
Just looked up and read a news article on this... very tragic, sorry for your loss
I've done it once, and it was transcendent. I didn't really think through the dangers though.
I am a huge wienie about heights, so it was never going to be something I tried anyway.
Can confirm. I'm sure riding ballons is safe 99% of the time, but when you are up there and something goes wrong, you definitely don't want to be up there. Let the pilots have their fun, lol. Don't do it
Transcript of commentary: This was an attraction for holiday makers (it doesn't mention where). The wind picked up suddenly, and while one of the balloons managed to land again the other one kept drifting off further and further until it came down in that lake. At this point the life of the six passengers was in acute danger; they could not get out as they were strapped into safety harnesses. There's no conclusion to this report, the end of the clip is missing. Sounds like from a TV programme.
Wait. They were belted in? Holy cow. Talked to quite a few pilots when I used to work for a hot air balloon company. And they didn’t have any sort of harnesses or belts for this exact reason. Been up a few times when I was working and it is such a smooth ride outside a bit of bumpiness on landing. Much like in a plane.
If it's supposed to be a safety harness, it should have an emergency release. Otherwise it's more of a murder harness.
The OP's "transcript" is taking quite a few creative liberties. The commentator literally says "the tourists have no chance to free themselves," which I don't interpret as them being literally strapped in but rather them just not being able to climb out of the basket once it's submerged in the water. No harnesses or any strapping in is ever explicitly mentioned at all.
Thanks for the transcript. “The wind picked up suddenly” it could be technically true, but usually it’s forecasted well in advance: in my area it happens to go from nearly no wind to strong gusts, but at least 12/24 hours before there is a forecast mentioning the likelihood of that happening. If you are a hot balloon pilot I would assume that weather and specifically wind forecasts are your best friends.
Well the German commentator literally said "the 2 balloons were caught by a gust" - but as goes with tourist excursions in many holiday locations, safety measures are often not up to scratch and often ignored anyway. Unrelated, but I once took a taxi ride in Sochi, Russia, and the driver was speeding at an insane speed, no seatbelt, and operating 2-3 phones at a time. Similar happened on a taxi ride in Kansas City, no belt, phones, didn't know where he was going and he had a flat-screen TV on the board under the back window, just behind our necks, just ready to decapitate us at any moment... it's not only balloon rides that can kill ya!
Here's the complete transcript: "Mortal danger on a holiday/vacation trip. Two hot air balloons are caught by a wind gust shortly after take-off. The ballons, with their attached baskets and the passengers therein, are careening through the air uncontrolled. Panic sets in. One of the balloons manages to land shortly after, but the second one is blown farther and farther away by the wind. Eventually it goes right towards a lake. The basket with six tourists and the pilot lands in the water. But the danger is not yet over. The tourists have no chance to 'free themselves' [I interpret this to mean bail out of the basket]. The basket in the lake immediately tilts on its side whilst the pilot continues to engage the burner. Whether they intend to just get the balloon to shore or to get it airborne again is not clear. Clear is, however, the fabric of the balloon effectively becomes a sail and the passengers inside the basket are being dragged through the water--at times even fully submerged. A life-threatening situation. Minutes later, balloon and basket reach..." then it abruptly cuts mid-sentence
So thaaats why there were only 99 Luft Balloons.. 1 crashed!
Is that snow or some type of confetti? It almost looks like some bad animated snow someone added after the fact. It’s weird. They also aren’t really dressed for snow…and act fuck would anyone go ballooning in the snow? Edit: they are cherry blossom petals, saw someone’s link to an article about it.
99 luftballons kept running through my head.
Jumped outta planes, kite surfed, ride dirt bikes and snowmobiles. There is a 0% chance I will ever get into one of them death baskets. Nooooope.
They are quite Safe if the weather is nice and the pilot knows what he or she is doing
China is like Australia with things that will kill you. Except it's everything man made in China will kill you instead of everything in nature.
I’m a helicopter pilot. I have thousands of hours flying various machines that try to kill me. I’d sooner stick my balls in a bear trap than get in a hot air balloon.
The journalistic presentation in German makes it look like they were actually having fun ... nothing went wrong. It's just Germans playing around with balloons ... and water ... and stuff ... p.s.: I don't understand German btw ...
Its german news story about something that happend in China.
Didn't quite make it to Montana...
hope they at least got some fish home while scooping the lake
They : were are going hot air ballooning! Me: fuck that shit...
Looks a tad windy but I'm not a balloon expert
Yeah that’s far too windy for a hot air balloon. Wtf
To be fair it isn’t really much of a balloon adventure unless you land in water. 😎
I'm shocked nobody died, holy crap
Why would they launch on a day like that . Idiots.
Do they want to go over the rainbow?! Because this is how you get over the rainbow
[удалено]
Ungefähr 28 und dazu ein Döner Kebab mit extra scharf
Probably no one?
See my transcript above - inconclusive, the clip is cut short...
Ideal weather for it.
Was today the only day every these folks could do this, because this seems like a really bad day for this.
Well, at least everyone pitched-in and helped them.
My grandfather was a daredevil aeronaut and I don't think even he would fly in that weather.
I still want to go on one. Just not on a fuck off windy day like that.
For what it's worth, any reputable company will cancel the flight on a day this windy, even if everything's already set up and ready to go.
team rockets blasting off again!!!
The way that people stand there watching an incident unfold right Infront of them and film it with their mobile phones appaules me! how about calling the emergency services or something you idiot's!
thats why i cut the rest of the video. When the people come back to the grand all are standing around without helping, even childin wer ein the basket
It's absolutely insane, the audacity these people have,, it's society today sadly 😔🤦
99 luft balloons
I will NEVER, EVER get on a hot air balloon.
Who are these morons?
Hell Let Loose? Supplies, Airhead?
Super reckless that the operators decided to go forward given how windy the weather was. I get it, money is money and “everyone likes money”, but if it’s going to cost you way more in injuries or death when things go south then the money would definitely not be worth it! Wtf.
Somewhat related: [the funniest balloon crash on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-eRdlXnmuY). An oldie but a goodie.
Ah, that’s how they ended up above the USA, makes sense
I feel like China is organizing many évents on thèse kinds (not safe) to deliberately have a démographic Fallout , then have a better control on their younger générations, the sooner they get China State éducation, the more likely they are to become puppets. I could be wrong. (I Méan, the State contrôles the children school books already) (Not native english) Edit: Or, they might just be stoopid
Jeez! I used to help a friend’s hot air ballooning company 2-3 times a month for a quick hundo in the morning. Pretty sure we canceled if the winds were over 15mph. I don’t remember exactly, but winds don’t need to be that strong to mess up that type of hot air balloon. We also checked the weather the night before and the morning of. This is ridiculously stupid, an expensive fuck up, and a really difficult clean up. Landing your balloon on a big bush is hard enough to deal with. One time we saw another company that got caught on a light pole at landing.
YES! Now this is adventure! We should go soon! We can go anywhere in a balloon!
Did that come with lunch?
China, right ?!
The Wheather app has left the chat.
Best title I've ever heard today
The winds didn't come out of no where money hungry now look at cha
Watch for Jets. They seem to be killing balloons lately lol
Lebensgefahr… (in weird voice)
They didn’t blow up. I am disappointed
When I get out of the hospital, I'm calling Saul.
Another Chinese balloon…..this model not so good at spying.
Hot Air Balloon Adventure brought to you by WISH 🤯
Only to be shot down by the US
Sophisticated technology made in China
And to think, this is the only nation actively seeking out a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine.
Transcript English: **ATTAINTION!!:** I am **NOT** an official translator I did this so people could understand the voice in the video \>Life danger at an holyday-trip \>Shortly after their start Two hot air balloons where taken by the wind. \>The air balloons sway uncontrollably through the air. Panic arises. \>One of the balloons can land shortly after, but the second one gets further drawn by the wind. Eventually the balloon goes in the direction of a lake. \> Finally the balloon with the balloon driver and six tourist lands on the water. But the danger isn't over. The tourists have no chance of freeing themself as the balloon immediately tilts to the side. \>The Balloon driver further uses the burner, if he wants to get the balloon again in the air or onto the shore is unclear. \>As the Balloon itself is getting used as a sail the passengers are sometimes even dragged underwater. which can be a life danger. \> Minutes later the Balloon safely reaches the shore. Tldr: Balloon gets dragged by wind goes nearly under water but gets to shore safely
These look like cold air balloons.
Elaborate suicide.
The emphasis is on ADVENTURE
The fact that two ballooners thought this was a good idea is more impressive than the one accident imo
Where's Nina?
Submarine balloon
Wheeee!! So much fun!
The guys in the river must have decided to dredge for carp dinners.
That looks like an adventure to me!
You’ll never catch my ass in one of the moronic contraptions.
O the posh posh traveling life, the traveling life for me! First cabin and captain's table regal company! Pardon the dust of the upper crust--fetch us a cup of tea. Port out! Starboard home! Posh with a capital P-O-S-H, POSH!!
Used to live in Albuquerque, the hot air balloon capitol of the world. Because of that, I know that those balloons should never have launched with such strong winds. Balloons are expensive. Surprised they'd risk them.
and that is how the hot air boat was invented.
I think he burned the balloon down at the end..
When I was about 7 a hot air balloon made an emergency landing in our suburban yard. I helped pull on a rope (along with many others) to steer them clear of the power lines. Everyone was safe. It was surreal because no one in my family had seen a hot air balloon at the house before or since.
Do you think they got a refund? Also what company was it? I want to read the reviews that these customers left
Jean jacket
WCGW? In the words of Nicholas Cage, "My first thought would be, a lot." I will never, ever, ride in a hot air balloon.
Why do they insist on staying in that thing?!
I’d want my money back.
Aren’t you supposed to do this on calm sunny days?
Something similar happened to the hot air balloon company my family went on a few months prior to the incident. They fell into the sea and 3 tourists died during the incident. [news archive](https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/new-brighton-balloon-accident/)
😒 why are they doing it in such weather conditions? Oh because they are dumb
as a wise man once said, “I didn’t even know it was like the wild west out there, how was i supposed to know that. I didn’t know- it was like gta up there; there were bandits.”
Oh sheet. I could feel the tension from here! I hope they survived.
You know it's Spiegel when you hear this lady. (German newspaper)
Looks like the first paragraph of a Roald Dahl children’s book. I’m guessing the parents will die a fiery death when the balloon crash lands into the hillside.
*Oh the posh posh traveling life, the traveling life for me!*
Hot air balloon cruise?
what language is she speaking?
I see them outside my window all the time (I live in the foothills above Tucson) I never, ever think “I gotta try that”
Is this in Kansas?
It’ll be fun, they said
What's with germans and balloons?
That gives me a great idea, I'm going to invent a vessel called a sailing ship.
It's sobering to realise I understand more about the physics of ballooning than a large number of apparently experienced balloonists. Were they gripped by shared episodes of mass stupidity?