Posted on 01/15/2024 8:11:58 AM PST by Red Badger
PINAL COUNTY, AZ — Four people are dead and a fifth is critically hurt after a hot air balloon crash Sunday morning in Pinal County.
Eloy police say it happened around 7:30 a.m. in a rural desert area about five miles north of the town.
The mayor of Eloy said that 13 people — eight skydivers, four passengers, and a pilot — had been in the balloon. Before the crash, the skydivers exited the gondola. Witnesses told officials that the balloon was straight up and down before a hard impact.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other three died at a hospital. One person is in critical condition at a Valley hospital.
The victims' identities have not yet been released.
Family who spoke to ABC15 identified one of the victims as 28-year-old Katie Bartrom, a registered nurse from Indiana. Bartrom's mom, Jennifer Hubartt, says she loved skydiving and adventure.
"It's kind of somber here at home. We're crying about her on and off and talking about her on and off still trying to make it real," said Hubartt. "She was a beautiful person, she recently became an RN and was making it on her own."
Hubartt said Bartrom traveled from Indiana to Arizona with friends.
"I talked to her while she was down there and she was really enjoying the experience and having fun and seeing a new place that she had never seen before."
Several friends in the skydiving community told ABC15 the pilot, Cornelius van der Walt, died in the crash.
Valley skydivers Tanya Toliver and David Boone say they've been on van der Walt's balloon.
"That balloon was the first balloon that I did my first hot, like hot air balloon ride on and skydive on and we've jumped on that balloon so many times," said Toliver.
"It hit me as a shock. Just because, you know, Cornelius is always super careful. He's very, very aware of what he's doing. He's been doing it for a long, long time and he only got better with time," said Boone. "He was just an excellent balloon pilot. It's not like he wasn't experienced to dropping skydivers. There's definitely [a] different way to do it. So he knew what he was doing."
Boone said in order to jump from a hot air balloon, divers are required to have a certain license and have done at least 50 skydives. The balloon also has to be in descent when divers are exiting.
“The hot air balloon takes you up to about 10,000 feet and then you exit accordingly. You know by weight, size, you know... on each side of the gondola," Boone said.
Eloy police are working with federal agencies, including the NTSB and FAA to investigate the crash.
NTSB officials say the balloon crashed after an unspecified problem with its envelope.
This incident remains under investigation.
AVIATION PING!....................
Eight getting off did change the physics of the weight.
8 of 13, leaving 5 in.
I am just guessing, but a sudden loss of ballast weight like that could cause a seam to rip open........................
Back in the 80s I won a ballon ride on a local radio trivia contest.
I cancelled the reservation at the last minute as I began to realize I wasn’t comfortable riding aloft in a craft that there is very limited control of where it might go.
Problem with envelope>seam let go.
Problem with envelope>seam let go.
That’s my guess.
Sudden loss of ballast weight caused the seam to rip................
There are supposed to several panels built in to take up some shock but that seems like a lot.
Unlike a helicopter..........................😎
10,000 ft. Is really some big Air...
RIP
On the next “Fridays with Frank”?
“I cancelled the reservation at the last minute as I began to realize I wasn’t comfortable riding aloft in a craft that there is very limited control of where it might go.”
I live in the foothills overlooking the Gallatin Valley - year ‘round balloons float over the valley and usually once a year a balloon lands near us, this spring it was just across the street. More than a dozen folks exited that basket and I thought ‘MAN! I don’t want to be around these folks if something goes wrong!’
Hot-air balloons are open at the bottom where the burners are.
Any pressure differential would be vented out there.
Very sad, may they RIP. I have NO desire to go up in a hot air balloon. I can’t imagine their terror during the plummet.
Were they vaxxed?
Arizona hot air balloon crash: First victim Katie Bartrom is pictured after four were killed in horrific incident
I listened to a witness describe the crash.
It sounded like the balloon collapsed when the 8 divers all jumped. The witness said the balloon was ‘vertical’.
When the 8 divers weight was offloaded, the balloon apparently shot up collapsing the envelope and there is no recovery possible........................
“Before the crash, the skydivers exited the gondola.”
Smart.
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