Aviation Authorities Said He Should Not Have Been Flying On The Day Of The Accident

The pilot of a balloon that went down in Carterton, New Zealand in January, 2012 had an expired medical certificate and should not have been flying, according to civil aviation authorities in New Zealand. Pilot Lance Hopping and 10 others were fatally injured in the accident.

Hopping's medical certificate reportedly expired about six weeks before the accident, according to a report appearing in on TVNZ. The balloon Hopping was piloting struck a power line at about 0722 local time on January 7th, 2012 and caught fire, going down in a farmer's field. Two of the passengers reportedly jumped from the basket of the aircraft in an attempt to escape the fire, but were among those fatally injured.

An interim report from New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission said that a toxicology test on Hopping conducted four days after the accident returned a positive result for cannabis. The report went on to say that Hopping should have been able to open a safety valve at the top of the balloon which allows a quick but controlled descent, but there is no evidence to show that he did so. CAA Director Graeme Harris told reporters this week that it also did not appear that passengers had been given a briefing on the safety features of the balloon, and that "insufficient communications between the balloon and the ground crew, particularly during the landing phase of the flight" was also a contributing factor in the accident.

The CAA did not find any mechanical issues with the balloon. The accident is still under investigation.

FMI: www.caa.govt.nz