Fine wine, fine food and ballooning. Despite the recent deaths of a vacationing Georgia couple who crashed, balloon owners say the sport is safer than walking. On May 9, Douglas and Holly Jacobs died when their balloon was pushed into power lines by gusting winds near Morgan Hill. The National Transportation Safety Board says that from 1994 to the present, there have been 100 reported hot-air balloon accidents. Seven were fatal, claiming 10 lives.
Safety is constantly emphasized, say company owners.
The pilots must be licensed, and the balloons themselves are inspected at least once a year. Tom Reusse, chairman of IMC Agency Inc., in Burnsville, Minn., which insures more than half the hot-air balloons in the country, says ballooning is one of the safest sports around. You can be a mile high and even if you lost power, you would basically glide down slowly and hit the ground about as hard as a parachute landing. Balloons can land in a very small spot, and most flights are local, so the pilot becomes very familiar with the area, he says. It's such an inherently safe aircraft.