first hot air balloon

Although a hot air balloon accident can happen they are, fortunately very rare when compared to other aircraft. Although hot air balloon flights have increased significantly over the years data on injuries and fatalities are very limited.

Between the years of 1964 and up to 1995 the amount of hot air ballooncrashes was 495, there were 92 fatalities with 384 serious injuries. These figures of course are only those reported incidents

there are many hundreds more incidents that can be put down to a hot air balloon accident.

Power lines are the biggest threat to a fatality happening when taking hot air balloon ride and crashes to the ground are the largest contributor to a serious injury.

Since the early sixties hot air ballooning has become very popular and the number of balloons registered has reached thousands. With the increase of registered owners, a hot air balloon accident

happening has also increased.

Because a hot air balloon is non powered basically it has little steering and has to rely mainly of the direction of the wind as to which direction it will travel. The only way a pilot has of steering a hot air balloon is to try to find a air mass that is travelling in a different direction.

If power lines are ahead a pilot has to increase altitude as quickly as possible to avoid another hot air balloon accident. It is a matter of planning your journey before hand and to study the weather charts before any flight takes place. Visibility should be good and remain in a good stable condition throughout the flight, pilots should avoid flying in the fog or if there is low cloud that will obstruct the pilots view.

The take of point should be a large area of open land with no obvious hazards ahead of the initial flight path. The landing area, sometimes cannot be selected accurately but measures to combat any hot air balloon accident happening can be made, planning a direction of flight before take off should be made.

Most hot air balloons are launched curing the colder part of the day sunset for instance brings lighter winds, this makes it easier to take flight and landing the balloon is much easier in these conditions. This of course means that it is much safer to fly and a hot air balloon accident statistically is less likely to happen during these hours of the day.

Burner problems do not really happen, as often a balloonist will usually have a back up system in place. To pierce a propane gas bottle would take a high velocity bullet. The material used on the envelope of the balloon is made of flame resistant material so this would not really burn either but could melt.

It should be remembered that a hot air balloon accident is rare in comparison to the amount of flights that take place and a hot air balloon accident is usually down to pilot error. If the planning is made correctly before a flight and suitable checks are made before hand then accidents can usually be avoided.