| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 23 August 2012 |
| Summary | Collision with trees and fire on landing |
| Site | Ljubljana Marsh, Municipality of Ig, Slovenia 45°59′20″N14°31′37″E / 45.988754°N 14.526944°E Coordinates: 45°59′20″N14°31′37″E / 45.988754°N 14.526944°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Lindstrand LBL 600C |
| Registration | S5-OLO |
| Occupants | 32 |
| Passengers | 30 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 6 |
| Injuries | 26 |
| Survivors | 26 |
On 23 August 2012, a hot air balloon on a commercial sightseeing flight crashed in stormy weather on the Ljubljana Marsh in central Slovenia, killing 6 of the 32 people on board. [1] [2] [3]
On 23 August at 7:54 am CEST (05:54 UTC), a hot air balloon carrying 32 passengers, mostly tourists, crashed and caught fire during a thunderstorm on the Ljubljana Marsh, in the Municipality of Ig, 7 km (4 mi) south of Ljubljana. [2] A sudden weather change caused the pilot to try to land immediately. However, the emergency landing was thwarted by wind shear [4] and the balloon hit nearby trees. A fire then broke out. [5]
The balloon was a Lindstrand Balloons LBL 600C. It was the largest balloon in the country and the largest serially manufactured balloon in the world. [6] The basket of the balloon was 5.20 meters (17.1 feet) long and 1.70 metres (5 feet 7 inches) wide, and had four compartments. [7]
Four people on board were immediately killed during the accident and 28 others were injured. The four dead at the scene were charred beyond recognition. All four were from Ljubljana: a couple, their 11-year-old daughter, and a 56-year-old woman. [5] Ten people had to be resuscitated. All of the survivors, aged from about 10 to about 60 years, received medical care. [4] Two of the injured people were British and another two were Italian citizens. [8] Two of the injured later died: a woman who died two weeks after the accident in Ljubljana, [9] and a 59-year-old man from Ljubljana who died a few days after in Maribor. [10]
On the same day at 7:00 pm, a mass for the dead and injured was held in St. Michael's Church on the Marshes in Črna Vas by Anton Jamnik, the auxiliary Bishop of Ljubljana. It was attended by about 400 people.
Slovene Civil Aviation Agency reported on 27 August 2012 that commercial hot air balloon flights were banned temporarily. The duration of the ban was not given, but the balloon crash was cited as the reason for the ban. [5] Throughout the next year, all involved parties coordinated proposals for stricter rules, which were accepted, and new licenses were granted again starting in August 2013. In the meantime, several operators closed because they were prevented from selling flights, while the remaining ones faced severely reduced sales even after the ban was lifted. [11]
The investigation by the Slovenian Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission found that the main cause of the accident was the "improper technique used in operating balloon type LBL 600C in the landing phase." Contributory factors were "insufficient meteorological planning" and lack of consideration for the weather conditions at the time of the flight. [12]
In a preliminary hearing, the pilot denied all these statements, pleading not guilty to the charge of causing general danger. [13] The court trial began in November 2016. [14] Two years later, the district court exonerated the defendant, based on an opinion of a foreign expert. [15]
A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket, which carries passengers and a source of heat, in most cases an open flame caused by burning liquid propane. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant, since it has a lower density than the colder air outside the envelope. As with all aircraft, hot air balloons cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. The envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom, since the air inside the envelope is at about the same pressure as the surrounding air. In modern sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric, and the inlet of the balloon is made from a fire-resistant material such as Nomex. Modern balloons have been made in many shapes, such as rocket ships and the shapes of various commercial products, though the traditional shape is used for most non-commercial and many commercial applications.
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport, also known by its previous name Brnik Airport, is the international airport serving Ljubljana and the largest airport in Slovenia. It is located near Brnik, 24 km (15 mi) northwest of Ljubljana and 9.5 km (5.9 mi) east of Kranj, at the foothills of Kamnik–Savinja Alps.
A hopper balloon is a small, one-person hot air balloon. Unlike a conventional hot air balloon where people ride inside a basket, there is no basket on a hopper balloon. Instead, the hopper pilot usually sits on a seat or wears a harness similar to a parachute harness. Hoppers are typically flown for recreation. These aircraft are sometimes called "cloud hoppers" or "cloudhoppers". However, these terms formally refer to the products of a particular manufacturer, specifically Lindstrand Balloons. Nonetheless, "cloudhopper" is used by many people as a genericized trademark, which refers to all craft of this general type. Most hopper balloons have envelopes that range in volume from 14,000 to 35,000 cubic feet and have a maximum flight duration of 1 to 1.5 hours. The two principal commercial balloon manufacturers today offering hopper balloons for sale are Cameron Balloons and Lindstrand Balloons. Most other hopper balloons are experimental aircraft designed and built by amateur constructors.
Lindstrand Balloons was a manufacturer of hot air balloons and other aerostats. The company was started by Swedish-born pilot and aeronautical designer Per Lindstrand in Oswestry, England, as Colt Balloons in 1978. Lindstrand Balloons was known for its leading-edge engineering, which included sophisticated testing and production facilities.
Hot air ballooning is the activity of flying hot air balloons. Attractive aspects of ballooning include the exceptional quiet, the lack of a feeling of movement, and the bird's-eye view. Since the balloon moves with the direction of the winds, the passengers feel absolutely no wind, except for brief periods during the flight when the balloon climbs or descends into air currents of different direction or speed. Hot air ballooning has been recognized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as the safest air sport in aviation, and fatalities in hot air balloon accidents are rare, according to statistics from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Per Lindstrand is a Swedish aeronautical engineer, pilot, adventurer and entrepreneur. He is particularly known for his series of record-breaking trans-oceanic hot air balloon flights and, later, attempts to be the first to fly a Rozière balloon around the Earth – all with British entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson. He is also the founder of eponymous Lindstrand Balloons hot air balloon manufacturer based in Oswestry, England.
Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 was a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 aircraft operating a Yugoslavian charter flight to the French island of Corsica. On 1 December, 1981, the flight crashed on Corsica's Mont San-Pietro, killing all 180 people on board. The crash was the deadliest and first major aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-80.
Tivoli City Park or simply Tivoli Park is the largest park in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is located on the western outskirts of the Center District, stretching to the Šiška District to the north, the Vič District to the south, and the Rožnik District to the west. Several notable buildings and art works stand in the park. Since 1984, the park has been protected as part of Tivoli–Rožnik Hill–Šiška Hill Nature Park. It is home to a variety of bird species.
During the 1990s, a series of issues affecting the rudder of Boeing 737 passenger aircraft resulted in multiple incidents. In two separate accidents, pilots lost control of their aircraft due to a sudden and unexpected rudder movement, and the resulting crashes killed everyone on board, 157 people in total. Similar rudder issues led to a temporary loss of control on at least one other Boeing 737 flight before the cause of the problem was ultimately identified.
The history of ballooning, both with hot air and gas, spans many centuries. It includes many firsts, including the first human flight, first flight across the English Channel, first flight in North America, and first aircraft related disaster.
On 13 August 1989, two hot air balloons collided near Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, causing one to crash to the ground, killing thirteen people. It was the world's deadliest ever ballooning disaster until February 2013, when a balloon accident near Luxor, Egypt killed 19 people. As of July 2016, it remains the deadliest ever ballooning accident in Australia, and the third-deadliest worldwide, surpassed only by the Egypt crash and a balloon accident in Texas in 2016 that claimed the lives of 16 people.
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 on board.
The Fabiani Bridge is a two-level bridge over the Ljubljanica River in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It links Njegoš Street with Rog Street and thus completes the Ljubljana's inner ring road. The bridge has been named after its original conceptor Max Fabiani (1865–1962) and was opened to the public on 22 August 2012. The architect in charge of the design was Jurij Kobe.
The Ljubljana Marsh, located south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is the largest marsh in the country. It covers 163 square kilometres (63 sq mi) or 0.8% of the Slovene territory. It is administered by the municipalities of Borovnica, Brezovica, Ljubljana, Ig, Log-Dragomer, Škofljica and Vrhnika.
On 26 February 2013, a hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 out of the 21 people on board. A fire developed in the basket due to a leak in the balloon's gas fuel system, causing the balloon to deflate mid-air and crash to the ground.
On July 30, 2016, sixteen people were killed when the hot air balloon they were riding in struck power lines, crashed and caught fire in the unincorporated community of Maxwell, near Lockhart, Texas, 30 miles (50 km) south of the state capital Austin. It is the deadliest ballooning disaster to ever occur in the United States.
Hot air ballooning in Luxor is an aspect of the Egyptian tourist industry. Tour companies offer sunrise rides in hot air balloons to tourists who enjoy views of ancient Thebes, the temple complexes of Karnak and Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.
Air India Express Flight 1344 was a scheduled international flight on 7 August 2020 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Kozhikode, India, landing at Calicut International Airport. The flight was part of the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals stranded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The flight crew aborted two landing attempts because of heavy rain and tailwind. On the third landing attempt, the aircraft touched down on runway 10, but skidded off the end of the tabletop runway and slid down a 9–10.5 m (30–35 ft) slope, killing 19 passengers and both pilots. The four cabin crew members and 165 passengers survived, of whom all but two were injured. This was the second fatal accident involving Air India Express, after the 2010 Mangalore crash.