Some Thoughts on the Tragic Texas Hot Air Balloon Crash

If you've ever been up in a hot air balloon, then you can relate to the horrors of the Texas crash that killed 16 people over the weekend just south of Austin.

CNN has an update on that horrible story HERE. But, having been lucky enough to ride in a hot air balloon twice, I can attest that, while they're very peaceful and most rides are harmless, I was a little freaked out about the take-off.

My wife and I bought a sunrise hot air balloon ride when we were vacationing out in Napa, California, a few years ago. Because of heavy fog right in Napa that morning, we were bused out to the launch site about an hour away.

When we got there, the rush to get everyone loaded in various gondolas and get the balloons up in the air before the weather warmed up too much (and it's tough to get a balloon launched) was pretty intense. And, seeing as there were probably around 10 to 12 balloons launching at the same time, I was worried our balloon was going to bump into another balloon, catch fire and crash -- similar to what it sounds like might have happened down in Texas.

Also making me nervous was knowing that, in a hot air balloon, you can really only control its ascent and descent (using those high-powered propane heaters in the gondola), but that steering it left and right is pretty much up to the prevailing breezes.

Which is why setting one down can be a bit tricky, and it often ends up a ways away from where the landing was planned. In our case, we had a great ride over the farm fields of central California and our landing, while a few miles away, was fairly smooth. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way in Texas. My thoughts are with the families of everyone involved!