The Unidentified Falling Object (UFO)

by Captain Jim Gibson of the Starship Freedom II

It was Sunday, October 8, 1995 and we were flying our second day of the 24th Annual Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Our launch site number was R-7, and we were to go on the second wave of the mass ascension. This was our fourth pilgrimage to the holy Mecca of hot air ballooning; since 1989, we have religiously attended every other year.

We had a long hold on cold air inflation. Then we finally received the signal from our zebra launch director to "go hot". As soon as we got the balloon upright, I noticed that the top cap was partially pulled out of our Aerostar Rally RX-7 balloon. I thought it was strange because this had never happened to us before. Our balloon has a spring top deflation system and I was sure it was doubly checked before beginning our cold air inflation.

We quickly deflated the balloon and prepared to reinflate for the third wave, the last ascension. Though I was pilot-in-command of this aerostat, I naturally blamed my Crew Chief (lovely wife Jane) for failing to double-check insertion of the top cap before beginning the cold air inflation.

I was personally putting the springs back in their pockets on the top cap in the balloon when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an unidentified falling object (UFO) flying through the air. Then I heard a loud "thud". Quickly I turned around and saw one of the spectators, a middle-aged man, lying on the ground nearly unconscious and in great bodily pain. Next to the man’s head was a black aircraft radio that had actually broken in half from the impact. Again, I had never seen this happen before in my ten years as a lighter-than-air pilot.

The launch directors called paramedics, who were soon on the scene to aid the innocent victim. Luckily, it turned out that the heavy hand-held radio just missed his head, but it did break his collar bone and upset his otherwise enjoyable weekend.

After all this excitement, we finally launched in calm winds and flew low to the West. We maneuvered vertically up and down a quarter mile from Fiesta Park for about 45 minutes and then caught a gentle breeze that started to take us back in the direction of the launch field. After playing with the winds for about 15 minutes we ended up landing back on the launch field within 50 feet of our original launch site. Our chase vehicle never had to leave our assigned space. What a unique flight day! I had never had this happen to me before, either at Albuquerque, or any other location.

By the time we were back on the launch field most of the thousands of spectators had dispersed, and the injured man had been transported to medical care.

Later, we were able to determine that the top cap was put in correctly during layout of the balloon, but when I went under the fabric during the cold air inflation and stretched the balloon out, this caused the internal lines to snag and pull a few of the springs securing the top cap from their pockets. One of the lessons we learned from this flight was the need to carefully inspect down the inside throat of the balloon before beginning the hot air inflation, even though we carefully check the top cap before beginning the cold air inflation.

The injured civilian just happened to be at the wrong place at precisely the wrong time. However, if it wasn’t that particular person, there were plenty of other individuals, including my crew and me, who could have become similar victims. Albuquerque features up to 650 balloons and attracts more than 1.5 million visitors over the nine-day event. With crowded air traffic above, and massive numbers of spectators below, there is ample potential for other "unlucky" incidents such as this.

Our family dearly loves the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We think it is a very well run, world-class event. However, what was somewhat disappointing to us was that at the next day’s early morning pilot briefing no mention was made of this accident. No pilot or balloon was reported in violation of material safety standards. In fact, we have never seen it mentioned anywhere that this incident ever took place.

As balloon pilots we are responsible for not dropping anything from our balloon baskets. Passengers and pilots need to keep their arms within the basket at all times. An aircraft radio or video camera dropped from a balloon basket over a crowded spectator field could easily kill someone.

When we go to Albuquerque, our "number one" job is to fly safely and avoid the multitude of potential distractions. So that we can continue to have fun ballooning, we now want to avoid UFO’s from above. For our own precaution, we have vowed never to find ourselves standing directly under an ascending balloon at any fiesta.

On this one flight day, three different things happened that, in over 100 hours of ballooning, I had never experienced before. One of the incidents was positive, but the other two were negative.

Every flight is different-we now expect the unexpected, and we always apply our experience to future flights. Though we realize we will constantly encounter new situations, we hope we never sight another UFO while ballooning.