Fiery crash of hot-air balloon kills 16 in central Texas

[mrclose]

A hot-air balloon burst into flames over central Texas on Saturday after apparently striking power lines and plunged into a field, killing all 16 people aboard in one of the deadliest such accidents on record, police and eyewitnesses said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the fiery crash occurred at about 7:40 a.m. (8.40 a.m. ET) near Lockhart, a town about 30 miles (50 km) south of Austin, the Texas capital.

The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office said 16 people were believed to have been aboard the balloon and that there were no survivors. The Texas Department of Public Safety also confirmed that 16 people were dead.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-balloon-crash-idUSKCN10A0IX

[freedumb2003b]

I have always wanted to do that (take a balloon ride, nit come crashing down).

This sort of puts a damper on that, although intellectually I am pretty sure this is one in hundreds of thousands.

Prayers for the families.  It must have been a horrific death.

[Eupher]

Read just a headline this morning -- the pilot had had a DWI conviction 16 years ago, and the Better Business Bureau had posted some less-than-stellar stuff on the guy's business.