June1999
Accidents
In May, California balloons were in-
volved in two major accidents that result-
ing in two fatalities and injuring 16 others.
The first accident took place near the
Morgan Hill on Sunday morning, May 9.
Acommercialrideballoonpilotedby
Doug Spencer, and operated by Balloons
by the Sea of Marina, California, took off
at7:45a.m. nearMorganHill. The bal-
loonfailed toclear a 12,000-volt power-
line across the street from the launch site.
The contact with lines sparkeda fire that
quickly engulfedthe balloon.
The balloon landed in a broccoli field
a short distancedownwind. The pilot ei-
therfellorjumpedbeforethebasket
reachedtheground.Hesufferedafrac-
tured spine, broken legs along with burns
on his face, neck and hands.
Bothpassengers,DougandHolly
Jacobsof Georgia, died later in the week
from extensive burns they received in the
accident. The Jacobs were vacationing in
California.Theyaresurvivedbytheir
seven year old daughter who was staying
withrelatives inGeorgia.
Rescue workers reported that the bal-
loonliftedoffapproximately275feet
upwind of the powerline. According to a
reportintheSan Jose Mercury News,
witnessesreportedthatthelaunchsite
waswindythatday, however, there was
nonearbyweatherreportingstationto
confirm wind conditions.
Thepilotwasincriticalcondition
and could not beimmediately interviewed.
Thecrewchief,whoisJapanese,was
reportedtohavesubmitteda writtenre-
port in Japanese.
Sincetheaccidentalawyerrepre-
sentingthedeceasedcouple’sdaughter
has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, blam-
ing the operators of the balloon company,
balloon manufacturer, and property own-
erswhere the balloon took off from.
The NationalTransportationSafety
Board suggested, in a preliminary report,
thatthepilotdisregardedclearthreats
fromwindsandnearbypowerlines.The
dent and continues its investigation.
OnMay22acommercialridebal-
loonoperatingnear Windsor, California
made ahard landing in strong winds injur-
ing15passengers.Theballoonwaspi-
lotedbyScottvanderHorst,Sonoma
ThunderBalloonSafariofSebastopol,
and a co-pilot not identified. The balloon
isreportedto have lifted off at 7:45 a.m.
Around 8:30 a.m. the pilot contact Sonoma
CountyAirport,whereheintendedto
land,forcurrentwindinformation.The
tower reported windsof 17mph, gusting
22 mph. Van der Horst, surprisedby the
speed, elected to land early and reportedly
briefedhispassengershowtoposition
themselvesinthe partitioned basket.
On impact van der Horst was ejected
fromthebasket.Theballoonbounced
severaltimesacrosstheroughfield,in-
cluding going through a barbed wire fence
before coming to a stop. Three passengers
wereseriouslyhurt.Injuriesincludeda
concussion,broken bones, and acollapsed
lung.Becauseoftheroughnessofthe
field a helicopter was used to evacuate the
wounded. As a precaution ten passengers
were placed on“backboards.”
The morning had started as calm and
warm.MeteorologistEllieBudoiwas
quotedintheWindsor Press Democrat,
“Change in weather conditions in North-
ernCalifornia[Saturday,May22]was
strange.Whathadappearedtobea hot,
calmdayquickly changedbecause of an
upper-levellow-pressure system.”
Mid-morning temperaturesin thearea
were reportedinthemid80’s.Bymid-
afternoon,thetemperaturehaddropped
about20degreesaswindsshiftedfrom
the east to the west. The NTSB is investi-
gating the accident.
The FédérationAéronautique Inter-
nationale has canceled the altitude record
claim byJohn Ninomiya of the US. Last
October Ninomiya flew a homebuilt clus-
ter of72latexballoonstoanaltitude of
meters (22,149feet) inTemecula,
California.Basedon advice givenat the
time he filed his record claim in the AS-4
(lighter-than-airgas/pressurizedenve-
lope) category. The FAI hasdetermined
that this type of balloonmust be consid-
ered as an AA (lighter-than-air gas enve-
lope). Since his performance did not sur-
pass the current sub-class record his claim
wascanceled.
TheFAIhasratifiedtherecordat-
tempts by Janet Folkes oftheUnited King-
dom.Ms.Folkes’ flighttookplaceNo-
vember 4, 1998near Reno, Nevada.She
flew a LindstrandRoziere (AM 3-mixed
balloons)toanaltitudeof 6,844meters
(22,454 feet). The records ratified by the
FAIincludeAM-3generalandAM-3
through AM-15 feminine.
The FAI also ratified a feminine dis-
tance,69.7kilometers(112miles),and
duration,onehour38minutes,inthe
categories AM-3 through AM-15, to Ms.
Folkesfor the same flight.
News
Tina Reeves, chair BFA Junior Bal-
loonist program, announced the four win-
nersofanessaycontest.Eachofthe
winners will be attending the Boise River
Festival, selected byBalloon Life reader’s
asthetopballoonevent,andBoiseJr.
Balloon Academy to be held June 24-28.
The four Jr. Balloonistsselected are
Jessica Turin ofPittsgrove, New Jersey,
JonRadows kiofClarkNewJersey,
HeatherHamiltonofSeattle,Washing-
ton, and Colin Graham of Troutville, Vir-
ginia. They will join JB Jesse Satterlee of
BoisewhoattendedtheBalloonAcad-
emy inAlbuquerque lastOctober.
Ms. Reevesalsoannouncedthat the
first regional Jr. Balloon Academy will be
held at this year’s National Balloon Clas-
sic inIndianola, Iowa.Four Jr.Balloon-
ists from the North Central Region of the
BFA willattend.
FormoreinformationcontactTina
Reevesbyphone at505-792-3484ore-
mail:skyangel@nmol.com.
