December 2000
George Denniston
niston is presented to enhance safe flying
by providing balloonists the opportunity
to gain experience from others without
actually flying. The column is edited b y
George Denniston who is a doctor and
balloonist living in Seattle, Washington.
Articles may be signed or anonymous to
protect the privacy of those involved, as
the author wishes. If you have an experi-
ence th at you would like to share with
others, send your manuscript to Balloo n
Life magazine, Hangar Fly ing wi th
George Denniston, 2336 47th Ave SW,
Seattle, WA 98116-2331. Submissions
may be typewritten, submitted on disk
(Mac or IBM format), or e-mailed to
tom@balloonlife.com. Balloon Life pays
$35 for each story used.
isthestoryabouthowteth-ered
balloonswentfromhavingfew rulesto
becomingregulated. In 1979,thecity of
Helen, Georgia had just purchased a new
Spirit of Helenballoon. The new balloon
was up for its initiation ceremony so some
of the guys decided to put up the original
Helen Balloon,oneofthefirstAdams
balloonsever built,beside thenewbal-
loon. The old Helen balloon had not been
airworthy for some time with a couple of
the 16 suspension cables already missing
or disintegrated.
The plan was simply to tether the two
balloons alongside each other, while the
mayorgavehiscustomaryspeech.The
pilotincommand,arealestatebroker,
was not a licensed pilot but he had soloed.
Hisassistantforthetetheringwasan
innkeeper,whohadnever flown. At the
time they were not required to belicensed,
norwastheballoonrequiredtobein
airworthy condition. They were only go-
ingtotetherit!Howcouldthathurt?
Tethering is safe—right?
Well,bothballoonsareinflated.In
those days, they did not use crown tethers,
so the balloon was probably tied off at the
level of the burner. What happened next is
still unclear, but the old balloon broke free
of its tethers.
Helen is in the foothills of thewooded
AppalachianMountains,withfew land-
ing sites. From the moment they took off,
aplacetoland.About3milesnorth-
northeastofHelen(aparticularlybad
directionforlandingsites),theyfinally
spota field. Aswe are alltaughtto land
hereinthemountains,thenewpilot
brushed through the trees to slow down to
land. At that point the basket got hungup
ina talloaktree. Apparentlyoneof the
branchesgottangledupwithoneof the
rope handholds at the base of the basket.
Tobreakfree,thepilothadtoadda
considerable amount of heat. As the bas-
ket brokefree, the balloon started to oscil-
lateputtingunevenpressureonthere-
mainingoldsteelsuspensioncables. On
the ascent, the cables snapped one by one
till theywere all gone!
The actual height they dropped from
isalso unclear. I have heard estimates of
anywherefrom100feetto500feet.As
they fell they broke through the tops ofthe
trees andimpacted onthe side of a steep
hill,stillinthebasket.Thepilothada
broken back, legs, and arms, andthe pas-
senger was in a coma for quite some time.
Bothwereluckytohavesurvived!The
doctorssaidthatthepilotwouldnever
walkagain.
Nowalmost 20 years later, thepilot is
walking 3 miles a day and the passenger is
in great health operating the Hofbrau Haus
Inn in Helen. If you are ever in town, stop
by and have abeerwith him.But Iwouldn’t
pilot has any plans of taking a balloon
flight ever again!
This incident triggered an FAA in-
vestigation which led to the clarification
of rules for tethering balloons. See Bal-
loon Life August 1996, Tethered vs.
Moored Balloons.
