3 people missing after hot air balloon bursts into flames, crashes in Virginia

[Cooley Hurd]

Source: CNN.com

(CNN) -- A hot air balloon drifted into power lines, burst into flames and crashed into a Virginia countryside Friday night. Three people believed to be in the burning gondola are missing.

Images from the scene showed the balloon soaring in the air with its bottom part ablaze.

Witnesses described people falling or jumping out of its basket from dizzying heights. Police are searching for its pilot and two passengers, who are missing after the crash 25 miles north of Richmond.

<snip>

"They were just screaming for anybody to help them. 'Help me, help me, sweet Jesus, help, I'm going to die. Oh my God, I'm going to die,'" she said.

Her daughter told her she saw someone falling out of the basket. Then Hager-Bradley also saw someone plummeting to the ground.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/10/us/virginia-hot-air-balloon-fire/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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Jesus...

[JVS]

1. Terrible.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. OMG! What a nightmare!

We have a hot air balloon festival around here and when my company sponsored a balloon they had a drawing for a couple of employees to go for a balloon ride. I was really hoping I wouldn't win. I can't imagine much worse than this...

[madokie]

3. We have a hot air balloon festival here in Chouteau, OK

every year and they give rides but the balloons are tethered when they do so the chances of a mishap are slim. I want to go up in one this year if my wife will let me

[Rhiannon12866]

7. You're braver than I am!

They're beautiful in the sky and I love to watch them - from the ground. I hope you get a chance to go up! Don't forget your camera...

[awoke_in_2003]

15. A old pilot's saying

It is better to be on the ground and wishing you were in the air then to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.

[Helen Borg]

4. Unregulated, thin cloth layer with flame inside...

A bit beyond my idea of acceptable risk/benefit ratio.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Hot Air Balloons are as regulated as any other aircraft...

[KatyaR]

8. Balloons must be inspected on a regular basis, just like aircraft.

There is a preflight checklist just like aircraft. The tiniest pinhole in a balloon envelope can ground a flight.

Pilots must be trained and licensed, just like aircraft pilots.

Passengers are briefed on safety before flying, just like the airlines.

I've crewed for balloons several times, and I"ve flown once. It was an amazing experience and felt quite secure. I learned a lot working a balloon. The pilots are amazing.

You should try it sometime. I think you'd be surprised.

[Helen Borg]

9. Thanks, perhaps I will. Yet...

It does not seem to have much redundancy, as a flying device. That makes me very nervous.

[Submariner]

12. With an extremely flammable dry straw basket suspended beneath the cloth bag

with the flame shooting into it with no escape mechanism. Accidents waiting to happen.

[Helen Borg]

13. Ah, it's not just me being a wimp then! :)

Thanks for the reality check...

[Scuba]

6. Another reason ...

[Raine1967]

10. We had tickets to go one Sunday

They have cancelled the event. http://wtvr.com/2014/05/09/hot-air-balloon-accident-reported-in-doswell-at-inaugural-event/

What a terrible thing to happen.

[ronnie624]

11. I wouldn't get in one of those damned things,

if it was the last form of transportation on earth.

[Helen Borg]

14. I hear they are regulated :)

[elleng]

16. :-(

Two members of the University of Richmond women's basketball program were among the occupants aboard a hot air balloon that crashed in Caroline County, Virginia, a person familiar with the university's athletic department told CNN on Saturday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity. . .

Thirteen hot air balloons had been soaring on the eve of the Mid-Atlantic Balloon Festival in Doswell, and three were landing in close proximity. Two landed safely, Geller said, but as the third balloon descended, it hit a power line, sparking a fire that spread quickly.

[Fumesucker]

17. . On average in 2011, 89 people were killed on the roadways of the U.S. each day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year

And yet people think absolutely nothing of getting in the car and driving.