fossils retreat: Hot Air over the Countryside Again

Wikipedia Report :

On 7 January 2012, a scenic hot air balloon flight from Carterton, New Zealand, collided with a high voltage power line while attempting to land, causing it to catch fire, disintegrate and crash just north of the town, killing all eleven people (ten passengers and the pilot) on board. It was the deadliest air disaster to occur in mainland New Zealand since the July 1963 crash of New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 in the Kaimai Ranges, and the deadliest crash involving a New Zealand aircraft since the November 1979 crash of Air New Zealand

Flight 901 into Antarctica's Mount Erebus.It was also the second-deadliest hot air balloon disaster on record after a 1989 balloon crash in Australia that killed 13 people.

The balloon was a Cameron A-210 model, registered ZK-XXF and named Mr Big. The envelope was manufactured in the United Kingdom in 1997, and was initially used in the United Kingdom before being purchased and imported into New Zealand by Early Morning Balloons Ltd in 2001. The basket and burner system, capable of carrying ten passengers plus pilot, were manufactured in 1989 and were previously used with a Thunder and Colt 160A envelope before the envelope was retired at the end of its useful life

ZK-XXF, the balloon that crashed

The balloon took off at 6:40 am from its launching area in Carterton, a town of 4100 people in north-eastern Wellington Region, on a 45-minute scenic flight over the Carterton area, carrying ten passengers. The Masterton-based pilot was one of New Zealand's most experienced balloon pilots, with more than 10,000 hours flying time, and was the safety officer for the "Balloons over Wairarapa" hot air balloon festival, held annually in March around the Carterton and Masterton area. The ten passengers were all from the greater Wellington Region. At the time, the weather was clear, with sufficient light and little wind. Data collected from weather stations at six nearby vineyards confirmed that the wind was mostly calm with occasional gusts up to 11.4 kilometres per hour (7.1 mph) from the north-east

The accident occurred around 7:20 am, when the balloon was attempting to land after completing a partial figure-8 flight pattern over the Carterton area. The pilot had indicated to the chase team he was likely to land near Somerset Road, a rural through road just north of Carterton in the locality of Clareville. At first the balloon was heading north-east over Somerset Road, around 700 metres east of the road's intersection with State Highway 2. Around 400 metres north of Somerset Road, the balloon reversed direction and headed back towards the road. The two chase vehicles, carrying some of the family members of the passengers, positioned on the road ready to assist with the landing.

Eyewitnesses saw the balloon climb and drift east towards a 33 kV subtransmission power line running perpendicular to the road, one of the two sub-transmission lines that connected the Clareville zone substation, which supplies the Carterton township and the surrounding rural area, to the national grid at Transpower's Masterton substation. The pilot was heard shouting "duck down" as the balloon came in contact with the power line around 85 metres from the road. One of the conductor wires was caught over the top of the pilot's end of the basket, and the pilot attempted to get the balloon to climb, but the tension of the wire prevented it rising and instead the balloon slid along the conductor. Around 20 seconds later, electrical arcing occurred, causing the cane basket to ignite in flames, and causing a phase-to-phase short circuit, tripping the line and causing the 3800 properties supplied by the Clareville zone substation to lose power.

Two of the passengers jumped from the balloon, still ten metres in the air, to avoid the fire, falling to their deaths below. The conductor wire on the power line then snapped, sending the balloon shooting upwards, as the balloon basket fire intensified and began to catch onto the envelope. One hundred and fifty metres in the air, the envelope disintegrated, causing the balloon to fall towards the ground, with the wreckage landing in a field just south of Somerset Road, around 600 metres east of the SH2 intersection.

Emergency services were quickly on the scene but, shortly after they arrived, ambulance staff found that all eleven people had died at the scene, and this was later confirmed by police. The bodies of the two people who jumped from the balloon were located 200 metres (700 ft) from the crash site. One of the four propane gas cylinders from the balloon was found leaking at the scene, with the other three found empty.

Weather conditions in the Wairarapa between the months of January and end of April are considered ideal for hot air balloons. These flights are usually organised first thing in the morning when there is little or no wind. All the hot air balloons in the country were grounded after the tragedy while they underwent comprehensive safety checks. Every year, the Wairarapa town of Masterton hosts the 'Balloons Over Wairarapa Festival' in early March and this year, it was unknown for some time whether or not the festival would go ahead. In the end, the vote was to hold the festival with a special tribute to those who died in the tragic crash on 7 January

Balloons Over Wairarapa 2012

We often get to see balloons in the skies when we are up early in the morning. We saw the ill-fated ZK-XX, the balloon that crashed, to the north about 20 minutes before it went down.