So...you operate a hot air balloon for a living...and don't wear a parachute?

[MichaelD]

Dumbass Hot Air Balloon Operator Dies After Falling 17,000 Feet

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/19/us/georgia-missing-balloonist/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

A search-and-rescue team on Monday found the body of a missing hot air balloonist who crashed in Georgia three days earlier.
Acting on a tip from a witness who saw an object falling Friday, authorities dispatched a helicopter in the direction she described and quickly found the body of Ed Ristaino of North Carolina, according to Ben Hill County Sheriff Bobby McLemoreRistaino had taken five skydivers up in his hot air balloon around 6:45 p.m. Friday when he noticed the wind picking up and realized he was driving the balloon toward a large incoming storm system, McLemore said.

"The storm was pulling the balloon closer towards it so he asked the skydivers to bail out. He had them jump from about 5,000 feet."

While the five skydivers landed safely and were picked up, Ristaino and the balloon continued heading southeast and rose another 2,000 feet, McLemore said.

"He went up into the clouds and had radio contact with his ground crew and told them it was hailing on him, there was lightning and rain and heavy wind," he said.

Where the hell was YOUR parachute, dumbass? No way in hell, not for a million dollars would I go up in a hot air ballon with no parachute on. That's just spitting in Darwin's face just to see what happens.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Jetpacks

 

[j&j]

what? they do hot air balloon rides all the time all over the country, no parachutes around buddy. this is a freak accident.

 

[Blackjack200]

what? they do hot air balloon rides all the time all over the country, no parachutes around buddy. this is a freak accident.

He also had the guts to get the skydivers out of the balloon. With the weight of five more people in the basket he would have had a much better chance of bringing it down. Very selfless of him to tell them to jump.

 

[JTsyo]

I don't understand why he didn't start going down as soon as the others jumped. hmm 5 people and equipment say about 200lb each. That's a 1000lb lift once they jumped. Not sure what the weight of hot air balloon would be but I would guess there would be time to react before going up 2,000 ft and he's surely done this before.

 

[Lash444]

If your plan is to jump out of your balloon to safety, you are probably doing something wrong.

 

[Blackjack200]

I'm sure he was trying to get down. He lost 1,000 lbs of weight, imagine how light that balloon was. You can't dump air too quickly or you'll just go down like a rock.

 

[Zedtom]

Could he have strapped himself to one of the skydivers and jumped tandem, or is that too much weight for one parachute?

 

[brainhulk]

Maybe he had a fear of silverware coming out of his pack when he pulls the cord?

 

[OutHouse]

Could he have strapped himself to one of the skydivers and jumped tandem, or is that too much weight for one parachute?

you need a tandem harness
you need a LARGE parachute to accommodate another 200 or so pounds.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

You make it sound like he fell out of the thing.

The balloon collapsed. Shit happens.

 

[IcePickFreak]

A search-and-rescue team on Monday found the body of a missing hot air balloonist who crashed in Georgia three days earlier.
Acting on a tip from a witness who saw an object falling Friday, authorities dispatched a helicopter in the direction she described and quickly found the body of Ed Ristaino of North Carolina, according to Ben Hill County Sheriff Bobby McLemoreRistaino had taken five skydivers up in his hot air balloon around 6:45 p.m. Friday when he noticed the wind picking up and realized he was driving the balloon toward a large incoming storm system, McLemore said.

Three days is quick?

 

[OutHouse]

i dont understand why he didnt do an emergency decent and have a controlled crash instead of getting sucked into a violent thunderstorm.

i guess he didnt want 80K balloon get tore up in the woods.

 

[TheNinja]

I guess a hot air balloon ride doesn't always lift your spirits.

 

[destrekor]

i dont understand why he didnt do an emergency decent and have a controlled crash instead of getting sucked into a violent thunderstorm.

i guess he didnt want 80K balloon get tore up in the woods.

Yep, probably stems from the same reason he didn't have a parachute for himself. He had no intention of abandoning his investment, his entire plan was to try and bring it down with minimal harm/damage... that plan failed, unfortunately.

I imagine the instructions to jump at 5000ft had been a combination of selflessness and "I don't want to use y'all for weight management and deny you the chance to do the jump y'all paid for."

 

[sixone]

If you get hit by a downdraft, a parachute isn't going to save you. You're no safer with one than you would be in a balloon basket. If the downdraft is strong enough, even being in a plane isn't going to protect you.

 

[SKORPI0]

Looks like a was an experienced skydiver, RIP. :\

http://hotairballoon.ning.com/video/video/listForContributor?screenName=LakeNorman

 

[alkemyst]

Could he have strapped himself to one of the skydivers and jumped tandem, or is that too much weight for one parachute?

you usually need a harness to do this without killing the other guy in the parachute and/or just falling off of them.

 

[gorcorps]

He also had the guts to get the skydivers out of the balloon. With the weight of five more people in the basket he would have had a much better chance of bringing it down. Very selfless of him to tell them to jump.

:hmm: I think the word you're searching for is stupid

 

[JTsyo]

Three days is quick?

It was quick after the helicopter was dispatched.

 

[PingSpike]

Maybe he had a fear of silverware coming out of his pack when he pulls the cord?

I think the funniest part of this classic cartoon gag is...when have you ever filled your backpack with silverware?

Anyway, most of the posts here lead me to believe people think he jumped out in desperation or something. I think he fell out by accident. I mean, storm or no storm...I don't think the best strategy would have been to bail out without a chute. I think he was desperately trying to save the balloon and a draft or something jarred the balloon sending him over the side.

 

[brainhulk]

I think the funniest part of this classic cartoon gag is...when have you ever filled your backpack with silverware?

Anyway, most of the posts here lead me to believe people think he jumped out in desperation or something. I think he fell out by accident. I mean, storm or no storm...I don't think the best strategy would have been to bail out without a chute. I think he was desperately trying to save the balloon and a draft or something jarred the balloon sending him over the side.

don't those thing have seatbelts or something

 

[Anubis]

don't those thing have seatbelts or something

not that im aware of, ive been in 5 never seen a belt, the basket is normally pretty tall. but in a violent storm its not hard to imagin getting tossed out of the thing

 

[BrokenVisage]

He had balls of helium.

 

[LTC8K6]

Three days is quick?

Fast once they got the tip.

Without the tip, the search area was much larger.