[Breaking news update at 5:17 p.m.]
There is physical evidence to indicate “some component of the balloon” hit power lines, NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt told reporters about Saturday’s balloon crash in Texas. He said Sunday that investigators are “trying to nail down as best we can” whether fog was a factor; though it was foggy after the accident, he is not sure whether there was fog at the time of the crash.
[Breaking news update at 5:11 p.m.]
The FBI has found 14 personal electronic devices from those aboard the balloon that crashed Saturday in Texas, NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt said. They include cell phones, one iPad, and three cameras. The cameras, he said, are destroyed, but he said he hopes NTSB lab technicians can recover the images.
[Previous story published at 4:59 p.m.]
Matt and Sunday Rowan were married less than six months before their lives were cut short in this weekend’s hot air balloon crash that killed 16 people near Lockhart, Texas.
Authorities said they believe the balloon caught fire after crashing into power lines on Saturday. There were no survivors.
The Rowans got married in February, said Brent Jones, the father of Sunday’s 5-year-old son, Jett. “Sunday was a very social person,” Jones said. “They have hundreds and hundreds of friends.”
Sunday Rowan bought the balloon flight for her husband as a birthday gift last year and it had taken them a while to schedule it, Jones said.
“Sunday was messaging her mom before getting on the balloon. Soon after takeoff, she stopped all communication,” he said.
“It’s hard, but I want everyone to understand how great our lives were together and how amazing these two people are.”
The pilot in the crash was also identified on Sunday. He was Alfred “Skip” Nichols, said Alan Lirette, the ground crew supervisor for Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides.
Lirette, who helped load the passengers into the gondola, told CNN that 16 people — 15 passengers and Nichols — were aboard when it went down. The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said there were no survivors. Lirette said there didn’t appear to be any children on board.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash together with the Federal Aviation Administration, has not yet given a death toll.
Lirette described Nichols as his “best friend, boss and roommate.”
Philip Bryant, a balloon pilot, told CNN he knew Nichols.
“I knew him to be a safe, competent pilot,” Bryant said. “He has done this for a very long time.”
The balloon went down around 7:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. ET) Saturday about 30 miles south of Austin, in farm pasture often used for balloon landings, a county judge and public safety source told CNN.
Federal and local authorities said the balloon may have struck power lines. Federal Aviation Administration officials said it caught fire before crashing.
“First I heard a whoosh,” Margaret Wylie, who lives near the crash site, told CNN affiliate TWC. “And then a big ball of fire (went) up. I’d say it got as high up as those lower electric lines.”
Investigation underway
NTSB spokesman Christopher O’Neill provided a timetable for part of the investigation: Several days will be spent on field work — interviewing people and gathering evidence at the scene. Seven to 10 days after field work ends, the agency will issue a preliminary report — “basically a snapshot of what facts do we know at that point in time.” The preliminary report will not include a probable cause of the crash, he said.
The death toll of 16 makes this the most fatal hot air balloon crash in U.S. history, according to NTSB figures.
Before Saturday, the deadliest hot air balloon crash in the United States was a 1993 accident in Colorado that killed six people, according to the NTSB.
In 2013, 19 people died in a hot air balloon crash in Egypt, near the ancient city of Luxor. That was the world’s deadliest hot air balloon accident in at least 20 years.
Clashes over regulations
Federal regulators have clashed in the past over how to best oversee hot air balloon regulations.
The FAA sets federal regulations for manned balloons. But the NTSB, which can recommend new regulations, has said more accidents would occur without more regulation.
The former chairwoman of the NTSB, Deborah Hersman, urged the FAA in 2014 to address “operational deficiencies” in hot air balloon activities after several incidents resulted in injuries and one death, according to a letter published on the NTSB’s website.
Hersman cited accidents in 2007, 2008 and 2013, according to the letter, which also urged more stringent regulations and oversight.
“The FAA has not responded in an affirmative way,” she told CNN’s Sara Ganim on Saturday. “The NTSB (has) classified that recommendation ‘open-unacceptable,’ which means they really haven’t done what the NTSB asked.”
Hersman added, “Unfortunately in aviation, they say that the lessons are often written in blood, and it takes more than one event for an action to occur.”
NTSB recommendations
“Depending on gondola capacity, balloons can carry more than 20 passengers per flight. Given the various safety deficiencies noted in the NTSB’s investigations of the above balloon accidents, 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,” Hersman said in the 2014 letter, referring to the 2013 accident in Egypt.
In the letter, Hersman recommended requiring commercial balloon operators to acquire and maintain letters of authorization to hold air tour flights and to give passengers “a similar level of safety oversight as passengers of air tour airplane and helicopter operations.”
In 2015, the FAA responded to the NTSB request, saying the proposed letters of authorization “would not result in a significantly higher level of operational safety.”
The NTSB fired back in a 2016 statement, saying the FAA’s reply was an “unacceptable response.”
The NTSB argued the letters of authorization would allow for competency checks including pilot certification, safety checklists, and proper flight operation procedures.
“We are concerned that, if no action is taken to address this safety issue, we will continue to see such accidents in the future,” the NTSB response said.
It is unclear whether Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides implemented any of the NTSB’s recommended measures.
Twenty-five balloon accidents, resulting in four fatalities and 25 serious injuries, have occurred since Hersman’s 2014 letter and the last warning issued by the NTSB in March 2016, according to the exchange posted on its website.
The number does not take into account the fatalities from Saturday’s crash.
