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[1] (August 4, 2016)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthabghi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS INSIGHT Fatal Balloon Accident Highlights Disagreement Between Safety Agencies August 4, 2016 (IN10543) Related Author Bart Elias Bart Elias, Specialist in Aviation Policy (blias~crs bc Sov 7-777 1) On July 30, 2016, a hot-air balloon tour flight crashed about 30 miles south of Austin, TX, killing the pilot and all 15 passengers on board. It was the deadliest balloon crash in U.S. history, and exposed a disagreement among U.S. safety agencies: the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has urged tougher federal regulation of balloon flights, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has rejected the NTSB's recommendation. How Safe Are Balloons? While balloon crashes are uncommon, accidents involving balloon tours can involve large numbers of passengers: a 2013 crash in Egypt killed 19 of the 21 persons on board; a 2012 crash in New Zealand killed all 11 occupants; and a 1989 crash in Australia resulted in 13 deaths. Prior to the July 2016 crash in Texas, the deadliest crash in the United States had occurred near Woody Creek, CO, in August 1993. In that accident, six were killed when a commercial sightseeing balloon collided with a power line, severing the basket from the balloon. Ballooning has inherent risks. Balloons are slower and less maneuverable than powered aircraft. They are consequently vulnerable to deteriorating weather conditions and obstacles. They operate from and to nondedicated departure and landing sites, and they lack specific safety features to protect occupants in the event of a crash. Obstacles, particularly power lines and antenna towers, pose unique hazards to balloons. Reliable statistics comparing the relative safety of commercial balloon tours to other aviation activities are lacking because there are no formal requirements to record or track balloon flights. CRS analysis of the NTSB aviati onaccident dataka5 identified 45 fatal hot-air balloon accidents in the United States between 1982 and 2015. More than half involved collisions with power lines. The other main causes of fatalities were on-board fires, falls from balloons, and crew becoming entangled in mooring lines. The CRS findings are in line with a 1998 study that determined that power- line contact was the most significant predictor of accident fatality among balloon crashes occurring in the United States between 1964 and 1995. Ali!_audy of risks to balloon occupants examined both fatal and nonfatal crashes in the United States between 2000 and 2011. It found that roughly half of these accidents occurred on paid hot-air balloon tours, and concluded that the