“[L]aunching a balloon is never mandatory, but landing it always is.”
The above from hot air balloon pilots quoted in the Albuquerque Tribune in a story about a fatality as a woman fell about 80-feet from a balloon gondola Monday morning. The balloon, Heavenly Ride, was carrying four paid passengers when it collided with a utility line. A tether to people on the ground was used to steady the balloon; the line snapped, tipping the wicker gondola as the balloon rose quickly.
The last fatality at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta was in 1998. It too was a balloon carrying paid passengers. Balloon pilots NewMexiKen knows told me last night that accidents are often (usually) commercial balloons, as they tend to fly in more borderline conditions.
On Saturday, balloonists in the second (and later) wave of launches were told the wind was increasing and to treat their flight like a first date: “Don’t go far and come home early.” Commercial balloons don’t always have that prerogative.