2 Coloradans killed in balloon crash
Fort Collins, Littleton men die after balloon went down in Iowa
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published November 16, 2007 at 11:39 a.m.
Updated November 16, 2007 at 8:29 p.m.
A helium balloon that took off Wednesday night from Greeley collided with a power line and crashed in Iowa on Friday morning, killing two men from Colorado and injuring a third man from New Mexico.
The balloon's pilot, 62-year-old Thomas Boylan, a physician from Fort Collins, died at the scene, along with Bradley Brookhart, 37, of Littleton, authorities in Iowa's Franklin County said.
The balloon was descending when it struck a power line about 9:14 a.m. in the small town of Dows in north-central Iowa, Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said.
The Franklin County Sheriff's in Iowa identified the third passenger as Doug Chaplin, 58, from Albuquerque. He was listed in fair condition Friday evening at Mercy Hospital in Mason City, Iowa, according to the sheriff's office.
Chaplin told authorities the crew was attempting to land when the balloon hit the power line, but he wasn't able to explain why the crew was landing, KCCI-TV in Des Moines reported.
"For some reason (they) were coming down," Richtsmeier told KCCI. "We got witnesses that watched and . . . they caught the top wire. And at that point the balloon and the basket separated, and it's about a 65-foot drop."
Until the moment the balloon hit the power line near her farmhouse Friday morning, Marilyn Korth was thrilled by the airborne visitor.
"We were excited, of course," said Korth, who lives in Dows with her husband, Delvern.
"We were north of it," she said. "As I looked to the south, I could see it moving. I was raring to get my shoes on so I could go outside and wave at them.
"Suddenly it seemed like the balloon held (on something)," she said.
The power lines outside her home are about 60 feet high, she said.
"The balloon itself took off," Korth said. "That's when the gondola went down."
She sent her son, Jonathan, to find out what happened. Her son and a man from the Department of Transportation told her that three men were in the gondola and one had already died, she said.
Residents had come out of their house to wave at the balloonists, Richtsmeier said. When they saw it hit the lines they called 911, then rushed about a mile up a gravel road where they found the basket on its side in a grassy field.
The balloon was blown into a plowed field about a mile away.
Later, Korth got closer to the gondola and saw the balloonists' cold-weather gear scattered. "It was very traumatic," Korth said. "I didn't know these people, but it's sad. We sure feel bad for their families."
Ginger DeLaney, 68, a friend of Brookhart, said he leaves behind a wife and a 3-year-old daughter. "He was very young but he died something that he loved," DeLaney said. "He was young man that like a new conquest, a new challenge."
DeLaney said Brookhart's wife, Donna, was with her husband before he flew off.
"Ginger," DeLaney remembers Brookhart's wife telling her, "if you could've seen his face when he lifted off. He was very happy."
Vikki Cole, of Greeley, said said her husband, Tim Cole, a well-known Greeley balloon engineer, helped launch the ill-fated balloon Wednesday night.
Tim Cole was in Fort Collins today comforting Boylan's wife, Vikki Cole said. Tim Cole told the Greeley Tribune that the three men were taking a training flight in the helium craft.
John Kugler, a ballooning enthusiastic from McCook, Neb., was aware of the crew's flight. He said it wasn't a formal competition, just some friends in the ballooning community enjoying an adventure, Kugler said.
The men in the balloon's gondola took off from Greeley about 11 p.m. Wednesday night, Kugler said.
"They flew all night, all the next day and night — some 35 hours," Kugler said.
Federal Aviation Administration accident investigators are on the scene, Heilskov said.
A helium balloon is inflated with helium for lift, unlike a traditional hot-air balloon that is fueled by propane that heats the air inside and lifts the balloon. The Goodyear blimp is a well-known helium balloon.
Staff writer Ivan Moreno and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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November 16, 2007
2:58 p.m.
Suggest removal
Herb Himes writes:
What a tragedy.
November 17, 2007
7:17 a.m.
Suggest removal
ohana_amen writes:
As information of this sad event still unfolds, as neighbors and freinds let us think of Brad not by Fridays events, but for how he lived his life. Brads passion for hot air balloning and life were only matched by his love for his daughter and wife. He will be missed.