Participating In Gordon Bennett Balloon Race

Longtime balloonist Richard Abruzzo is recovering in a Garden City, KS hospital today following 5-hour surgery on a shattered wrist, among the injuries he suffered after falling approximately 15 feet from the gondola of his gas balloon Sunday night.

Abruzzo (file photo, above) was participating in the 49th Coupe Aeronatique Gordon Bennett gas balloon race, an event that first occurred in 1906, and is being held alongside the more recent America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race this year. Both events began Saturday night as gas balloons lifted off from Albuquerque, NM, in conjunction with that city's annual balloon fiesta. The goal in both races is to fly the farthest possible from the starting point.

Initially all was well for Abruzzo's balloon, USA-1, after lifting off Saturday evening. However, according to media reports the balloon encountered strong downdrafts over western Kansas, causing the balloon to descend rapidly and then become entangled in power lines outside of Kendall. While he was attempting to free the balloon from the lines, Abruzzo fell out of the gondola, causing the balloon to ascend rapidly with copilot Carol Rymer Davis still onboard.

After reportedly soaring to nearly 14,000 feet, Rymer Davis was able to land the balloon approximately 10 miles from where Abruzzo fell. She was not injured in the incident.

Besides his wrist, Abruzzo also suffered a broken pelvis and displaced ribs in the fall.

"After the accident, we had an enormous sense of relief when I got word that he was going to be OK and I heard his voice," Abruzzo's wife, Nancy, told the Albuquerque Journal. "With this adventurous sport there is always a concern. Right now, we feel that he is very lucky, and we are thankful for all of the wonderful thoughts and prayers we have received."

Abruzzo is expected to return home in a few days, and his wife fully expects him to be back in the air as soon as possible. "I know my husband, he will be back in a balloon ... He doesn't need my approval," she said.

"These are all injuries that he will recover from, but this is going to be a long haul. I know his spirit and this is something that drives him and makes him tick."

Saturday morning, Abruzzo attended the opening of the Anderson/Abruzzo Albuquerque International Ballooning Museum, co- named after his father Ben.  

FMI: www.aibf.org, www.gasballooning.org