Richmond Basketball Coach Feared Dead in Hot Air Balloon Crash

[superman7515]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10913385/richmond-spiders-associate-women-basketball-coach-presumed-dead-hot-air-balloon-tragedy


Two members on the staff of the University of Richmond women's basketball team were among those feared dead after a hot air balloon drifted into a power line and burst into flames in front of hundreds of horrified spectators.
Associate head coach Ginny Doyle was one of the three feared dead, the victim's sister told the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/two-die-after-hot-air-balloon-catches-fire/2014/05/10/47d6ec8c-d864-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html).

Family spokeswoman Julie Snyder told The Associated Press that Natalie Lewis, director of basketball operations at Richmond, was also in the balloon, and that her body has not been found.

Bodies of two occupants of the balloon have been recovered. Doyle's sister told the Post that as of Saturday afternoon the family had not been notified if her body was one of the two recovered.

Rescuers were still searching Saturday for the third victim and any remnants of the balloon or its basket, state police said....

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Man, tough to hear about a tragedy coming out of what should have been a day of fun like that. Thoughts go out to the family and the extended Richmond family as well.

[AshevilleApp2]

Agree.

[Laker]

Terrible news. I've always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride- my brother has done it (he is also a pilot) and we tend to forget how dangerous it can be. Very sad.

[FormerPokeCenter]

I had to investigate a hot air balloon fatality back in...2005, I think. Two HAB pilots were coming up on their recertification deadlines and they were both instructors. They were going to eval each other...anyway, almost identical story...they took off, at some point hit a power line, electrocuting them both....the burner was in the ON position and caused the balloon to climb up to some ridiculously high altitude. Meanwhile, the gondola had caught on fire from the arcing (made of wicker, but with a metal frame) and the bottom burned out, with the bodies falling out and landing in different locations...finally, the fuel bottle fell out, the flame extinguished and the balloon dropped, crashing into a local mall...

The aviation policies that cover balloons are kinda specific. The pilot has no coverage, but the passenger was entitled to recover the policy limit. I had to figure out who was at the controls when the electrocution happened, with limited information. A witness saw them initially go up...but nobody saw the contact with the power line...anyway...it was an interesting case...

Learned all sorts of stuff about hot air balloons...namely that I ain't gonna go flying in one! ;)