Fiesta Balloon Collides With Broadcast Tower

At some point just before he hit, 69-year old Bill Chapel knew there was no way to avoid the 700-foot broadcast tower.

Piloting the Smokey Bear balloon, Chapel and his two young passengers were blown by errant winds toward the structure Sunday, on the last day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival.

"All you can do is grit you teeth and hold on to your passengers and prepare them for the impact," he told the Albuquerque Journal.

As soon as they learned of the accident, engineers at KKOB-AM radio shut down their transmitter, de-energizing the tower.

Chapel had two passengers on board -- 10-year old Aaron Whitacre and 14-year old Troy Wells. When the balloon collided with the tower, the gondola came to rest against the tower itself.

"I hung onto the tower with all my strength, and I got them calmed down," Chapel told local reporters. Once the boys were calm enough, Chapel said they figured out what to do for themselves. "They climbed down the tower and I followed them."

The three were met by rescuers about 100 feet from the ground. They were secured with harnesses and escorted the rest of the way down. Steve Traynor, a passenger in the gondola of a nearby balloon, told the Associated Press, "We were praying we wouldn't see any bodies on the ground. Our pilot was really shook up by it."

Chapel's ex-wife, Sally, also a balloonist participating in the festival, rushed to the tower as soon as she heard what happened. But she was more confident in her former husband.

"This fellow is retired Forest Service. He is familiar with crisis; he is a strong man. He obviously kept his head and took care of his passengers."

When everyone was finally on the ground, Sally said her ex-husband told her, "Everything's fine but my knees. That was one long ladder."

FMI: www.albf.org