Call for heightened oversight of balloons rejected by FAA

By JOAN LOWY

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Warning about potential high-fatality accidents, safety investigators recommended two years ago that the Federal Aviation Administration impose greater oversight on commercial hot air balloon operators, government documents show. The FAA rejected those recommendations.

A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people crashed Saturday in Central Texas. Authorities say it’s unlikely anyone survived.

If 16 people were killed, it would be the one of the worst such disasters, possibly the worst in U.S. history.

In a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in April 2014, the National Transportation Safety Board urged the FAA to require tour companies to get agency permission to operate, and to make balloon operators subject to FAA safety inspections.

“The potential for a high number of fatalities in a single air tour balloon accident is of particular concern if air tour balloon operators continue to conduct operations under less stringent regulations and oversight,” then-NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman wrote. She pointed to a 2013 commercial balloon tour accident in Egypt that resulted in 19 deaths.

Although “such an accident has yet to occur” in the U.S., Hersman wrote at the time, “based on the number of recurring accidents in the United States involving similar safety issues, the NTSB believes that air tour balloon operators should be subject to greater regulatory oversight.”

The FAA’s Huerta responded that regulations were unnecessary because the risks were too low.

“Since the amount of ballooning is so low, the FAA believes the risk posed to all pilots and participants is also low given that ballooners understand the risks and general hazards associated with this activity,” Huerta responded last November.

The NTSB had based its warning on three prior balloon accidents that it had investigated.

Those investigations highlighted “operational deficiencies in commercial air tour balloon operations, such as operating in unfavorable wind conditions and failure to follow flight manual procedures,” Hersman’s letter said. The board noted that balloon tour operators aren’t subject to the same safety oversight as somewhat similar airplane and helicopter tour operations.

After Huerta’s reply, the NTSB classified the FAA’s response to the two balloon safety recommendations as “open-unacceptable,” which means the safety board was not satisfied with the FAA’s response.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said it’s difficult to say whether the Texas crash will cause the agency to reconsider NTSB’s recommendations “until we’ve had a chance to gather and examine the evidence in this particular case.

Saturday’s crash happened at about 7:40 a.m. in a pasture near Lockhart, which is about 30 miles south of Austin.

Authorities have not said where the hot air balloon was based out of or which company was flying it, though Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel C. Law told The Associated Press that it’s the kind of situation where people can walk up and buy a ticket, unlike an airplane, which would have a list of names.

The land near the crash site is mostly farmland, with corn crops and grazing cattle. Cutting through that farmland is a row of massive high-capacity transmission lines about 4 to 5 stories tall.

The site of the crash appears to be right below the overhead lines, though authorities haven’t provided further details about what happened.

Margaret Wylie lives about a quarter-mile from the crash site and told the AP that she was letting her dog out Saturday morning when she heard a “pop, pop, pop.”

“I looked around and it was like a fireball going up,” she said, noting that the fireball was located under large power lines and almost high enough to reach the bottom of them.

Wylie, who called 911, said the weather seemed clear and that she frequently sees hot air balloons in the area.

Erik Grosof with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference Saturdaythat the agency has deemed it a major accident and a full-bore investigation will begin today when more federal officials arrive.